Architecture: A Review
Gothic versus Romanesque Architecture
Romanesque
Gothic
• The earliest churches were based on
Greek temples and Roman basilicas
(secular government buildings);
essentially there was a substitution of a
church plan for a temple plan:
colonnades were shifted from the
interior to the exterior; an arch was
placed directly on a pier instead of
placing a lintel directly on a pier
(column)
•The classic temple is a system of
sturdy walls and colonnades all helping
to sustain a solid roof. A Romanesque
church follows essentially the same
principles, except that an arch is placed
over the colonnades.
•All the parts of a Romanesque building
contribute their share to the stability of
the whole.
•The structure stands through virtue of
inertia.
• In a Gothic church the highly
organized framework of piers, arches,
and buttresses are organized so that
the spaces of the wall and roof
between them serve merely as an
enclosure.
• A Gothic church is a skillfully
balanced systems of thrusts and
counterthrusts that are concentrated
on special points of support.
• All the different levels of the church
interior are brought into homogenous
composition: great vaulting shafts that
articulate the massive piers rise from
the floor; at the clerestory level these
shafts become more decorative than
supportive and spring from corbels in
order to trace the vaulting that
articulates each bay.
•Flying buttresses allowed the walls to
be dissolved.
Roman barrel vault
The force lines converge at the
point where the barrel vault
springs from the wall.
In order to support a heavy
roof—one that is very wide--the
walls of the nave would have to
be very, very thick.
Flying Buttress
The lines of force created by the
weight of the roof and the arches is
redirected (or distributed) by the
flying buttresses past the walls of the
church to external piers (outside the
child walls).
As a result, windows can larger and
the nave can be taller.
floor plan
Abbey Church of Sainte-Foy
Conques, France 1125-1135
floor plan
Amiens Cathedral
Amiens, France
1220-1288
Abbey Church of Sainte-Foy
Conques, France 1125-1135
Abbey Church of Sainte-Foy
Conques, France 1125-1135
transept looking into the crossing
Amiens Cathedral
Amiens, France
1220-1288
standing on the steps of the choir
looking into the apse
Amiens Cathedral
Amiens, France
1220-1288
looking down the nave toward the apse
Amiens Cathedral
Amiens, France
1220-1288
Gothic Architecture
Please explain:
a. in which direction are
you looking
b. through what part of
the cathedral you are
looking
c. what prominent
architectural feature the
master builder has used
to unify this space
Rheims Cathedral
begun in 1211;
almost “complete” by 1285
What is the space
delineated by E called?
What is the space
delineated by F called?
What is the structural
element labeled C called?
What is the structural
element labeled D called?
This section of the nave
is called?
This section of the nave
is called?
This section of the nave
is called?
Amiens Cathedral
begun in 1220;
almost “complete” by 1375
Please describe what you
are looking at.
Try to use as many specific
technical terms as you can.
Rheims Cathedral
begun in 1211;
almost “complete” by 1285
Please describe
what you are
looking at.
Make sure that you
explain the
structural purpose
of this architectural
feature.
What is the name of
this architectural
feature?
How are these
different from the
one shown in the
previous slide?
Notre Dame, Paris
You are looking at
the exterior of the
nave.
What language would
you use to describe
how the surface of
the windows and the
window frames has
been highly
decorated?
Amiens Cathedral
begun in 1220;
almost “complete” by
1375
You are looking at the
west façade.
Why do you know that
this façade is definitely
“Gothic” and not
“Romanesque?”
Amiens Cathedral
begun in 1220;
almost “complete” by 1375
Why do you know that
this west façade is
definitely Romanesque?
St Peter's Cathedral
Angoulême,
Charente, France
This is a floor plan of a cathedral.
Is this a Gothic cathedral? How
can you tell?
Cathédrale Saint-Lazare d’ Autun
How can you tell that
this plan represents
a pilgrimage church?
Plan of the Cathedral
of Santiago de
Compostela, Spain
How can you tell that
this plan represents a
Gothic cathedral?
Which one?
Florence Duomo
•begun in 1296
•redesigned in 1357 and 1366
•drum and dome by Brunelleschi, 14201436
• a tall nave arcade; short clerestory
with a single oculus in each bay, and
no triforium
•there are no flying buttresses—the
wall began to crack in 1366—unsightly
iron tie bars were installed
Florence Duomo
begun in 1296
redesigned in 1357 and 1366
drum and dome by Brunelleschi, 14201436
Filippo Brunelleschi Dome of Florence Cathedral 1417-36
Pisa Baptistry, Pisa Cathedral, Pisa Campanile
Thinking About
Renaissance Ideas
What distinguishes Brunelleschi as
an architect?
What is the most marked
characteristic of his
artistic/architectural style?
The Spedale degli Innocenti was a foundling
children’s orphanage established in 1419
and designed by Filippo Brunelleschi.
This Foundling Hospital is regarded as a
prime example of early Italian Renissance
architecture.
Why? What do you see?
• Each bay of the arcade encloses a cube of
space defined by the 10-braccia (20 foot)
height of the columns and the diameter of
the arches.
• Hemispherical pendentive domes half as
high as the columns cover the cubes
The Guild of the Silk
Manufacturers and
Goldsmiths in
Florence established
this orphanage.
Why does this
building have a
portico?
What type of capital is
on this column?
What craftsman made
the medallion? Out of
what medium?
The nocentini, or “little innocents”, were left at the doors of the hospital in
the hopes that they would be able to sustain a better life in a time of severe
economic destitution and social hardships. A unique rotating wheel system
allowed parents to leave their children at the doors of the hospital without
being seen. Parents could depend on this hospital to care for their
newborns on either a permanent or a temporary basis.
Many parents, though reluctant to give over their child,
knew that they would be properly cared for at the hospital
and hoped that one day they would be reunited. This
anticipation of reunion can be seen in the many different
types of jewelry that were broken in half, one piece left
with the mother and the other given to her child, in the
hopes that the two separated pieces would one day be
whole again.
What distinguishes Brunelleschi as an
architect?
What is the most marked characteristic
of his artistic/architectural style?
Rationality
Mathematical Resolution
Proportion
Extreme Formalism and
Balance--in other words:
Classical Form
Filippo Brunelleschi
Dome of Florence Cathedral
1417-36
Leon Battista Alberti
Sant’Andrea, Mantua
façade and interior of Church of Sant’Andrea
Leon Battista Alberti
façade of Church of Sant’Andrea
Leon Battista Alberti
Reconstruction of the Basilica of Maxentius
Interior of Sant’Andrea
Donato Bramante
Tempietto
1502-1510
Bernini
Baldacchino
1624-1633
Temple of Vesta at Tivoli
early 1st century BCE
St. Paul’s Cathedral
Christopher Wren
1675-1710
London
English Baroque
Palladio and Jefferson and Boyle
Church of San Giorgio Maggiore, Venice
1565-80
Palladio
Villa Rotunda
Andrea Palladio
•He pursued mathematical clarity in both plan and
elevation, stemming from the Renaissance belief that
beauty could be attained through the use of geometry and
measurement.
•His buildings were largely intended as reconstructions of
antique architecture, based on his reading of Vitruvius’
De Architectura.
•His villas, the most influential part of his work, use the
temple front, because Palladio believed that this was also
a feature of antique domestic architecture.
•Palladio conceived of architecture as something rational,
which obeyed rules: if a work is created according to
rules, it can be imitated and taught, assuming that the
same basic precepts are imparted.
•Expect geometrical symmetry
The White House
The Jefferson Memorial
University of Virginia
Monticello
Chiswick House
1724-1729
Richard Boyle, the third earl of Burlington
East London, England
Chiswick House
1724-1729
Richard Boyle, the third earl of Burlington
East London, England
The Pantheon Jacques-Germain Soufflot
1755-1792
The Pantheon
Jacques-Germain Soufflot
1755-1792
• the portico is modeled directly on Roman temples
• the dome is inspired by Wren’s dome in London (St. Paul’s)
• the central-plan Greek cross was inspired by Chiswick House