The “Brunelleschi’s Dome: How a Renaissance Genius Reinvented Architecture”is a nonfiction book by Ross King that describes the city of Florence at the beginning of Renaissance era. The author uses Filippo Brunelleschi to describe the history of Florence. Primarily, the book focuses on the building of Santa Maria del Fiore’s and the numerous competitions held by renaissance architectures to find the best designer for her dome and its construction. The book also describes the life of Lorenzo Ghiberti, an arch rivalry of Filippo Brunelleschi. However, king's main point of focus is the magnificent dome on top of this superb Santa Maria del Fiore cathedral. It is considered to be one of the finest works of the Renaissance. The work on this dome began in 1420 and ended in 1436.
Impacts of the Structure
The structure of the dome is quite fascinating due to its ingenious design. It has a thirty-fivemeters long impost rising from fifty-fourmeters above ground. Its octagonal base is made up of two edges that are thirty-five meters apart. On top of this dome is a lantern which is more than twenty-two meters in height. The ratio of the radius to the diameter of the inner vault of the dome is 4:5 while that of the outer dome is 3:5. By estimation, this dome is more than 37,000 tonnes. Presently, most architectures claim that Brunelleschi constructed this dome using four million blocks. Compared to other domes, Brunelleschi's dome is the most significant dome ever builds without using centering to support its masonry. The main reason why the dome was constructed on top of the cathedral was to prevent the winter rain and summer sun that used to stream in the cathedral and especially over the Santa Maria del Fiore’s alter.
Advantages
The Brunelleschi’s dome brought many benefits to people that lived at the time of its construction. One of the benefits of this dome was that it paved the way for the cultural and social revolution of the Renaissance. In other words, it instilled in people the notion that the ancient manuscripts were of great value. The structure made people believe that education was one of the driving forces that shaped Renaissance (King 56). Fillipo’s prowess in architecture can only be attributed to his studying of the ancient architecture. He explored the old ruins of buildings from ancient Greece and Rome and learned their secret techniques of designing complex structures. Brunelleschi’s dome also influenced many great minds of the renaissance era like Michelangelo and Donato Bramante.
Another benefit that resulted from the creation of the Brunelleschi's dome was that it affected the architecture of the Italian Renaissance. The structure became a model of all the architectural designs that followed because most artists relied on it to design other domes(King 56). The dome benefited the people during the renaissance era because other artists also used the tools that were used to construct it. For instance, Verrocchio, one of the prominent renaissance artists utilized the Fillipo’s Castello to hoist things. Likewise, Leonardo da Vinci made a series of sketches of some of Brunelleschi’s tools and used them to design some of his machines (King 56). The Brunelleschi’s dome was meticulously designed that it managed to live to outlive its expectations. In other words, this structure survived for long despite the fear from the public that it would one day collapse.
Disadvantages
Despite its many benefits to the public, Brunelleschi's dome had a few drawbacks as well. One of the disadvantages was that it claimed the lives of three people during its construction despite Filippo’s safety measures to minimize accidents. Another disadvantage was the huge funds, workforce, and technology innovation required during the construction. People felt that the overall cost of developing the dome outweighed its benefits.The dome was a scene of rivalry between Filippo and his arch enemy Lorenzo Ghiberti.
Sustainability
The structure was designed to last for many years. The dome is light and slim in both form and design. The architect incorporated regular courses of herringbone brickwork into the dome’s texture thereby increasing. These two features increase the structure's strength and solidity. The designer knew that herringbone brickwork alone could not prevent the dome from collapsing. Therefore, he created a circular skeleton which acted as a framework for the dome (King 79).
Regarding the building material, the artist used bricks and sandstones. The reason he chose to use bricks was that they are light and could prevent the structure from collapsing. Blocks were some of the building materials that were readily available in Florence during the Renaissance period. These bricks were made from marble even though it was one of the rarest materials in Florence. In fact, transporting it from one region to another without damaging it was difficult and time-consuming (King 82). However, the planners of the Brunelleschi's dome ordered three types of marble to build the dome. These were the greenish black stone known as Verde di Prato; the red stone maximum rubeum; and, and the, a brittle white marble called bianchi marmi (King 82). The white marble was the one they used on the eight large brick ribs of the dome.
Because of its stability, this dome is still useful in the cathedral the same way it used to six hundred years ago. For instance, it still protects the high altar in the cathedral from the harsh elements of weather like the summer sun and the winter rain. Moreover, it allows the penetration of light in the cathedral, thereby reducing the darkness within the church.
The Influence that Location has on Brunelleschi’s Dome
The location of Brunelleschi’s dome must have influenced the way it was designed. Since it is a feature in one of the Catholic churches, Santa Maria del Fiore its design must have been affected by religious symbolism. Studies have revealed that a dome is a universal religious symbol that represents a vault of heaven. Therefore, Brunelleschi’s dome must have the same meaning because he designed it at a time when religion was deemed prerequisite for the salvation of a human soul. Therefore, the religious mood of the time explains why this structure needed to be perfect. Also, time influenced the designing of the Brunelleschi’s dome. Studies have shown that domes were a popular form of architectural designs during the middle ages. Therefore, most buildings, especially churches would retain a feature from the previous era. In facts, domes were some of the common elements that most buildings borrowed from the medieval period. Also, the climate of the location where the Santa Maria del Fiore was located must have played a significant role in the creation of this dome. The cathedral was situated in an area that experienced harsh winter and strong winds. For instance, Tramontana, the raw wind that howled down from the alpine caused depression and fatigue to the citizens of Florence. Therefore, the planners of Santa Maria del Fiore believed that constructing a dome on top of the cathedral would protect the congregation from harsh elements of weather during the holy mass.
Conclusion
No artist can recreate the Brunelleschi's dome today because its designer used experimental designs which most people believed were imperfect. Fillipo designed the dome without using the flying buttress or the free-standing scaffolding. As a result, he faced many challenges. It is possible that most people would instead use modern techniques to construct the dome than to recreate the Brunelleschi's dome because these new techniques are quite simple and have few challenges. Some of the modern methods might include the flattened conduit technique, Tube and hub technique, monolithic technique and the space frame technique. However, the most popular one is the flat conduit technique. When using this technique, one is only required to flatten the end of some metal tubing. The metal tubing can then be bent slightly before drilling holes from both ends. The technique requires the designer to repeat this first procedure on several other metal tubes before laying the foundation for the dome. However, if any modern artist was to recreate Brunelleschi's dome, it will be necessary that different kinds of materials be used. The designer might also benefit from the modern tools which Brunelleschi could not access during his time. Instead of the rudimentary fifteenth-century Castello, a contemporary artist will use the current electrical pulley system to hoist material needed to construct the dome.
Works cited
King, Ross. Brunelleschi's Dome: How a Renaissance Genius Reinvented Architecture. Bloomsbury Publishing USA, 2013.
King, Ross. Brunelleschi's Dome: The story of the great cathedral in Florence. Random House, 2010.
Appendices
Book overview
The Brunelleschi’s Dome: How a Renaissance Genius Reinvented Architecture is one of the books by Ross King that I find more enjoyable and might recommend it to those who are interested in Renaissance architecture. I liked the book because it reveals important developments in the field of engineering, and also informs on how designers managed to construct simple structures that have lasted for several years. The book can be used to relate contemporary engineering to the periods before Renaissance. The books describe the history of Florence from the architectural point of view. However, it focuses on Filippo Brunelleschi, the brain behind the famous dome in Santa Maria Del Fiore. It also describes the challenges that these artists had to endure before he completed the dome.
