Analysis on iconic renaissance architectures

One symbolic Renaissance architecture is the Church of San Lorenzo. Under Giovanni Medici’s order, Brunellschi began his commission to build Medici family’s burial site. Brunellschi adopted the Latin cross plan with square modules and fused classical antiquity, accompanied the long nave with oculus windows decorated clerestories. Inside the church, Pietra Serena corinthian columns elevated the coffered ceiling and the dome over the transepts, constructing wide aisles with columns and arches springing out from the pilasters.

Industrial revolution buildings conformed to modern standards of studying and working. Large windows permitted better lighting. Weight spreading onto forged iron casts strengthened support, enabling more spaces under the ceiling. Even though some opted to completely use new materials, such as the Eiffel Tower and Crystal Palace, the example we chose combined the neo-classical techniques with industrial approaches, and it is the Bibliothèque Sainte Geneviève by Henri Labrouste.

On the second floor of the library, Labrouste endeavors to establish sturdy supports for the nine domes each in thirty-five feet diameter with iron casts by attaching iron pieces on the masonry walls, connecting manufactured iron frames and slender poles. Contrasting with the dim first floor, glass windows sanctified knowledge with illumination. Possible with the available resources such as steel, iron and glasses and manufacturers for structures in large scale. The Bibliothèque benefited from France’s booming economy, and Labrouste was able to exemplify his design skills due to the limit of government intervention, increasing the productivity and efficiency of people.

Renaissance architectures applied primary materials, while the prominent features of industrial architectures is the application of iron and glasses and improving efficiency, yet both incorporated domes for open spaces, acknowledging the classical aesthetics and applied the most advanced technologies in their era. Although bearing different purposes, buildings from these times find their similarities in certain features, appreciating the enduring aesthetic values.

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