Symmetries and Proportions in Architecture (Editorial) (original) (raw)
Related papers
Symmetry: Culture and Science, Vol. 29, No. 3 (2018)
Symmetry in Architecture, 1
On 18 August 1418, the Florentine Arte della Lana announced an architectural competition for building the dome of Santa Maria del Fiore Cathedral using Neri di Fioravanti’s design. The two main competitors were two master goldsmiths, Lorenzo Ghiberti (by whom the concept of symmetry was first explained in vulgar Italian) and Filippo Brunelleschi. Lifelong competition between the two remained sharp, but Brunelleschi received the commission, and completed the dome in 1436. It was the first “octagonal” dome in history to be built without a temporary wooden supporting frame, and was one of the most impressive projects of its time. A thorough understanding of the physical laws and the mathematical tools for calculating stresses were centuries ahead in the future, but Brunelleschi’s intuitive design marked a break with the medieval logic of construction (or “scholasticism”, according to Panofsky), as well as a return to the classic Pantheon, thus, to a different concept of geometrical compactness and balance. This turnaround resulted in centuries of development and experiments on space, symmetry, scale and proportion that would give rise to 20th-century constructivism and various trends in modern and postmodern architecture. Contemporary praxis is still challenged by such experiments from minimalism to parametricism, from the complexity of space to the variability of generative structures. This provides enough reason to the architects’ community for celebrating the 600th anniversary of Filippo Brunelleschi’s revolutionary design for the dome of Florence Cathedral, the symbolic event which can lay claim as the birth of modern architectural thinking.
Symmetry: Culture and Science, Vol. 30, No. 1 (2019)
Symmetry in Architecture, 2, 2019
On 18 August 1418, the Florentine Arte della Lana announced an architectural competition for building the dome of Santa Maria del Fiore Cathedral using Neri di Fioravanti’s design. The two main competitors were two master goldsmiths, Lorenzo Ghiberti (by whom the concept of symmetry was first explained in vulgar Italian) and Filippo Brunelleschi. Lifelong competition between the two remained sharp, but Brunelleschi received the commission, and completed the dome in 1436. It was the first “octagonal” dome in history to be built without a temporary wooden supporting frame, and was one of the most impressive projects of its time. A thorough understanding of the physical laws and the mathematical tools for calculating stresses were centuries ahead in the future, but Brunelleschi’s intuitive design marked a break with the medieval logic of construction (or “scholasticism”, according to Panofsky), as well as a return to the classic Pantheon, thus, to a different concept of geometrical compactness and balance. This turnaround resulted in centuries of development and experiments on space, symmetry, scale and proportion that would give rise to 20th-century constructivism and various trends in modern and postmodern architecture. Contemporary praxis is still challenged by such experiments from minimalism to parametricism, from the complexity of space to the variability of generative structures. This provides enough reason to the architects’ community for celebrating the 600th anniversary of Filippo Brunelleschi’s revolutionary design for the dome of Florence Cathedral, the symbolic event which can lay claim as the birth of modern architectural thinking.
2012
This study, started by a collaboration of representation and mathematic researchers, intends to verify the correspondence between the geometrical and the built shape of the dome of San Carlino in Rome, designed by Francesco Borromini. The transition from a geometrical model to its construction, in fact, is also influenced by factors related to the building yard practice, which can also lead to significant changes over the initial idea. For this reason a new survey has been conducted, which analyzed the vault in detail, especially in the sequence of panels which characterize the soffit. The comparison between the model derived from instrumental survey and a mathematical-analytic model, based on parametric curves and arithmetic progressions, has allowed us to understand the transition from geometrical form, measured on the impost of the vault, and his space development; at the same time, the comparison between design drawings and the survey model has allowed us to formulate some new hypotheses about the relationship between Borromini's design and constructive method.
Antonelli’s Dome for San Gaudenzio: Geometry and Statics
Nexus Network Journal, 2009
In this brief note the authors describe the studies undertaken to date regarding the dome of the Basilica of San Gaudenzio in Novara designed by Alessandro Antonelli, with particular emphasis on the geometry and statics of the external dome. Following a brief summary of the events and vicissitudes attendant on the construction of the dome, the structure will be examined from the point of view of the geometry, the construction techniques, and the materials used, in order to clarify the static behaviour and the stability of the whole set of structural and constructive elements of which the dome is composed. These studies have allowed us to obtain the necessary information for evaluating the complex and ambitious structural achievement of a significant element of Antonelli's basilica.
2021
This article deals with the survey and representation of the dome of Santa Maria della Sanità in Naples (Italy). The survey led to a geometric analysis of the spatial configuration of the dome, the drawing of its majolica decoration and its structural behavior. The overall objectives of this research can be briefly outlined as follows. First, the study focuses on defining the correct geometry of the dome obtained through accurate surveys. Finally, the study performs a simplified structural analysis of the compound dome-buttress system set within the theoretical framework of the Limit Analysis through the graphical statics.
Brunelleschi's dome in Florence: The masterpiece of a genius
2010
After a brief description of the main geometric characteristics and the relevant constructive aspects ideated by Brunelleschi to build the Dome of Santa Maria del Fiore the paper sketches the actual cracking pattern together with recent results concerning the static behavior of the Dome. The F.E. model built to assess the Dome's structural behavior is described, and the identification procedure (based on the results of previous in-situ experimental investigation) is illustrated. The paper offers a contribution in the assessment of the safety and vulnerability of one of the most emblematic masonry domes all over the world.
dica.unipg.it
A trail that winds through archival documents connects Galeazzo Alessi to the construction of the Basilica of Saint Mary of the Angels in Assisi until nearly 1678, when the cupola was completed directly over the Porziuncola Chapel. The cupola becomes the true cornerstone of the Basilica project: almost to reassert this role it is deformed to the point of a construction characterized by an unusual verticality. It is interesting to make a geometrical comparison between the dimensions of the Alessi"s drum-cupola structure and the relationships between them shown in the 1694 book Il Tempio Vaticano e sua origine (The Vatican Temple and Its Origins) by Carlo Fontana: the height of the drum of the Assisi Basilica is almost twice the amount suggested by Fontana. The cupola is really a domed stone skyscraper: its upward motion may be considered a sign of the search that opens the doors to the daring Baroque verticality.
Numerical Modeling of the Structural Behavior of Brunelleschi’s Dome of Santa Maria del Fiore
The study discusses some recent results regarding the identification of the static and dynamic behavior of the Brunelleschi’s Dome of Santa Maria del Fiore in Florence, which was declared part of the UNESCO World Heritage sites in 1982 together with the city center. First, a brief sketch of the main geometric characteristics and the relevant constructive aspects conceived by Brunelleschi are outlined with a description of the present crack pattern. Then a finite element model was built to assess the static and dynamic behavior of the monument and identified taking into account the results of an in situ investigation developed in the 1980s. The numerical model was used with an ad hoc nonlinear procedure to replicate the mechanical behavior of masonry. Obtained results allowed to assess and to discuss both the Dome’s internal stress and cracking pattern. The identified numerical model was subsequently employed to provide a first evaluation of the seismic behavior of the Dome. While showing how advanced numerical analyses can provide useful hints to evaluate the existing damage on monumental heritage, this study aims at contributing to the assessment of the safety and vulnerability of one of the most emblematic masonry domes all over the world
The Secrets of the Florentine Dome
Fusion, 2007
Another architect, Leon Battista Alberti (1404-1472), in the prologue of his treatise on perspective, "De Pictura" (1435), said of him: "Which man, whatever harsh or jealous, would not praise Filippo when seeing this enormous construction rise to the heavens, so vast that it could cover all the people of Tuscany with its shadow, and executed without the aid of beams or wooden struts." As we will see in this article, this great building site, challenging all of human knowledge at that epoch, was the locomotive provoking a scientific and technological revolution. Raising the great dome drew new horizons, which far beyond the construction of a building sent ripples and shockwaves of philosophical optimism to the great benefit of future generations.