Firenze, Filippo Brunelleschi: The Mystery Behind The Dome

-Arnolfo’s design called for an octagonal structured dome that was higher (15 ft) and wider (30 ft) than any other dome in history

Filippo Brunchelleschi, who was born on 1377, was one of the key figures that contributed to the renaissance architecture. This Italian architect is known for building the dome in the Santa Maria del Fiore. During his early years, Brunchelleschi was coached and trained as a gold smith and sculptor. Enrolled in the Arte della Seta, this silk merchant guild, which also include goldsmith, he was designated a master goldsmith. In his early architectural years, Filippo rediscovered the principles of linear perspective that was lost during the middle ages. All his work was displayed with two painted panels of the Florentine streets and building. With this principle in place, artists were able to use two-dimensional canvases to construct three-dimensional

In Italy during 1418 the Florentine fathers announced a contest for the ideal dome design with the prize of 200 gold florins. One of the candidates was a goldsmith named Filippo Brunelleschi who promised to build not just one dome but two domes. When Brunelleschi was a boy he had mastered drawing and painting, wood carving, sculpture in silver and bronze, stone setting, niello, and enamel work. And later he study optics and tinkered with wheels, gears, and weights and motion, building a number of ingenious clocks including what may have been one of the first clocks in history. The first problem was purely technical because in those times there was no lifting mechanisms capable to lift heavy materials like the dome. Brunelleschi made a

The city of Florence, Italy lays claim to the world’s largest dome that stands atop the Cattedrale di Santa Maria del Fiore or the “Cathedral of Saint Mary of the Flowers”.1 The main cathedral was built in 1296 but the dome was not started until 1420. It was designed by Filippo Brunelleschi, a master goldsmith, who had been preparing for the honor of constructing this dome all his life. As a young apprentice, he sketched and painted, carved in wood and worked with stone, metals and enamels. Using wheels, pulleys, weights and gears, he built clocks and learned about motion. But it was his observations in linear perspective that would give him the knowledge to build the world’s largest brick

Brunelleschi solved a problem that was huge in the year 1418 in Florence, Italy.  There was a cathedral that had begun to be built, that no one knew how to finish.  The top of the building was needing to be covered, but due to its octagonal shape, the height of the building (which was already built), and originality of the building no one had any idea how to go about completing the roof.  So a contest was put out to the city, many came forward with ideas on how to finish the building.  Two big worries of the leaders of the city were cost of materials and the weight of the roof.  Brunelleschi, came forward with a design that would alleviate much cost, compared to his competitors, and he was certain would not cave in.  Many discoveries were made

Brunelleschi’s dome is an engineering marvel, constructed in the 1400’s without the benefits of modern technology. Experts puzzle how Brunelleschi, accomplished the construction without the use of scaffolding to prevent the masonry from collapsing as the eight steep walls of the dome curved inward, and how he was able to get them to meet in the center top.

Brunelleschi was aiming to achieve to build the world's best Dome. He invented his way to success as he solved one of the greatest architectural problems. He was a man with a great ambition and has left a great legacy that even after 600 years American and European architects will follow in his footsteps. His Dome still dominates the horizon of Florence today, as it remains as a long lasting legacy to a very great architect.

Filippo Brunelleschi invented new technology for the dome and created far more advanced technology to help the dome be built. He began studying the science of motion and “particular weights, wheels, and gears” and it lead him to invent some of the first alarm clocks, as well as some of the equipment to raise the bricks from the ground to the roof (King, 13). In addition, Brunelleschi also made sure that the dome was being built to his standard and it was going to last a long time. For example, he inspected every one of the four million bricks that he was going to use for the structure. Another important quality of the dome was the mortar used to hold the bricks together. It was made by mixing sand and water with quicklime (King, 93). The quality of the bricks and mortar was only the beginning. He worked out how to set the bricks for the greatest strength to support the weight of the dome by having them set in a criss crossing herringbone pattern (Mueller, 84). The brickwork was crucial because the bricks needed to make up the dome without any outside support. In order to do this Brunelleschi linked the bricks in a spiral going up to the top, called a herringbone pattern. The vertical bricks acted as book ends to keep the horizontal bricks in place. The ll Duomo di Firenze was built to be an eight sided dome that stood taller and stronger than others during that time period.

In fact, he had been involved in another city-wide competition before: the competition to cast the giant bronze doors of the Baptistery of San Giovanni. He lost this competition narrowly to Lorenzo Ghiberti, an individual Ross King touts as Brunelleschi’s primary contemporary and lifelong rival. This rivalry is a persistent theme throughout the narrative, as Lorenzo also entered the competition for the dome and was actually hired alongside Brunelleschi and another architect as one of three new capo maestri devising the dome’s construction. None of them ever received the prize of 200 florins. If Lorenzo or Battista d’Antonio - the third capo maestro - made any truly significant contributions to the dome’s design, it is seriously downplayed by King, as Brunelleschi is portrayed as the primary source of ingenuity throughout the narrative. Indeed, his salary was raised to three times that of the other capo maestri, and Lorenzo spent far more time in his workshop casting bronze masterpieces - a far more lucrative

During all of this Brunelleschi not only built the dome in the Santa Maria del Fiore cathedral (what today is still the biggest dome in the world), but mechanical marvels of worker platforms and lifts that managed to carry workers and hundreds pounds of materials hundreds feet in the air over the course of 28 years with only a single death. This showed how Brunelleschi was a mastermind in architecture and how he revived it.

While construction of the cathedral in Florence, Italy began in 1296, the building still sported a large hole in the roof in 1418. The cathedral was supposed to be capped with the largest dome ever built. It was supposed to be 150 feet wide and begin 180 feet in the air, and no one knew if it was possible. They didn’t even know how to support such a large structure. In 1418, the city fathers held a contest for the best dome design and Filippo Brunelleschi won out. He faced several engineering issues. The first was how to lift his materials so high in the air. Brunelleschi invented a hoist using gears and pulleys to do the job. It was powered by oxen. He also came up with a design of a dome within a dome, which helped reduce the weight.

Among the great artists of this period was Filippo Brunelleschi, a true "renaissance man." This young artist, initially trained as a goldsmith, competed in a contest to test the skill of artists in creating bronze works to adorn the doors of te Florence Cathedral baptistery. Bunelleschi's initial work was a powerful, emotional, raw rendition of Abraham's sacrifice of his son, Isaac. His work exhibited extreme skill and conveyed the story in an explosive manner, leading him to the final round of this competition. While his biographer claims that Brunelleschi forfeited the commission to the other competitor after being asked to share the responsibility, the truth behind this statement is not known. It is, however, known that he will forever be regarded for one of his greatest masterpieces of all time... the dome of the Florence cathedral. The development of the Cathedral was delayed, as no architect could quite solve the problem of how to safely, effectively construct the massive dome. Brunelleschi solved this issue by creating an intricate set of interlocking vertical and horizontal ribs, also creating a temporary support system that could be

I choose this topic because reminds me when I was study Architecture and used to read all this kind of lecture. For years, the town fathers of Florence were worried about a hole in the roof of their cathedral, so they announced a contest for a new design dome. The two main competitors were Lorenzo Ghiberti and Filippo Brunelleschi. They didn’t have a good relation. Brunelleschi say that he would build two domes, one nested inside the other, without elaborate and expensive scaffolding. He say that he would built the first 46 feet in stone, and then he would use lighter materials, like spugna or brick. They had technical problem , because he didn’t know about a “lifting mechanisms were capable of raising and maneuvering

The structure of the building is actually inherently modern, built using a conventional steel framing system inset behind the façade. Structurally, the building employs tube frames in its framework, with the tubular columns tied with trusses at the top and bottom. As with all architecture in the postmodern tradition of the “decorated shed, the superficiality of this signage not only fails to detract form its effectiveness but reflects a deliberate prioritization of architecture’s affective capacity.

His many works include the “Palazzo di Parte Guelfa,” the “Rotonda degli Angeli,” and the “Ponte a Mare at Pisa.” There is however some debate to whether Brunelleschi was responsible for the original designs for the Pitti Palace. After his death he was buried in Santa Maria del Fiore. However, his tomb was not discovered until 1972 (Lombroso 5).