It is a Baroque Architecture

From my understanding toward last lecture of history of architecture class, the characteristics of Baroque architecture is taking up the same architectural elements as the Renaissance style, and adapt to use them in a greater profusion and in a more plastic and fluent manner. Interior were given greater force though they never completely lost their definition.Moreover, in Baroque architecture ,the structural members were given a similar fluency of line by means of projections and recesses, curved walls, and etc. The Baroque architecture become increasingly contain the character of living organisms by incorporate the sculpture and painting to become an integral part of architecture.

Baroque architecture proposed itself as style that evoke out of Mannerism from ,which it reformulated the set of rules in Renaissance principals. Complexity and Contradiction in architecture , as well as the ambiguity in their functions are the terms that can described the word “ Baroque”. Completely against the Renaissance architecture !!!

“Everyone images in his head a new idea of architecture in his own manner.... so that they deform buildings....They use, almost deliriously, angles and broken and distorted lines; they tear apart bases,capitals and columns which crowded stucco decoration and trivial ornaments and with faulty proportions, in spite of the fact that Vitruvius condemns such novelties” Giovanni Pietro Bellori, 1664

If look forward to the age of late modernism to Postmodernism era, we can see that the same principals have been bury in them. Boredom is the reason why Post-modernism try to break away the constraint in orthodox modernism to the new era where the architecture become ambiguity in its form and function create complexity and contradiction in architecture; the architecture can be read many ways. This has the same idea to Baroque architecture in which the architect become bored of the same old tradition ,therefore they try to stand itself as the opposition of Renaissance architecture, but Baroque has a affective result rather then cerebral.From this ideas, we can see that the relationship between Renaissance and Baroque have similar distinction in to the Modernism and Postmodernism.

TO BE CONTINUE !!!!

From Sacred to Profane space

In this lecture,we tried to go deep in the details of how the renaissance architecture developed from the term “ rebirth”, which derived from idea that the architecture of period adapted the elements from past such as Byzantine and Classical architecture.In contrast, the architectures are presented themselves in the different languages according to the context of each era as architectures changing from sacred to profane spaces.

In the ancient period, people tend to celebrated the use of “anthropomorphism” which applied to the architecture since the Roman period. The proportion that derived from man become the rational norm and standard in order to create architecture, for instance the the proportion of columns. In the high Renaissance era, we can see the clearly example of how proportion of man become the embodiment in the architecture through the drawing by Leonardo da Vinci: the “ Vitruvian man”. However, the purposes of the “rebirth” and “reuse” architectures were difference from the original purpose;therefore, the function of architectures were changed over time.

Looking back to the history of the Egypt architectures, we can see that the pyramid is created with no interior function because pyramid is a representational of worshiping god and celebration life after death. The interior space become sacred space which does not allow people to go in. As well as, the concept of Pathenon in Roman period. The building was dedicated for the celebration of the Athena God, which make the building was strictly rely on the man proportion as a representational relationship between man and god. They attempt to achieve the perfect architecture as house of god by carefully calculate the human proportion to accomplished the perfect symmetrical and accurate architecture to show the respect to god , therefore, the architecture mean in a sacred way.

In Renaissance period, for example, Bramente. He used the proportion and symmetry as a basic idea to form the building's plan .The building generated from the basic idea of creating sacred space for worshiping the Christian god.Also , we can also see clearly example from he great architecture of the Renaissance period, Michelangelo. In contrast with Bramente ,he introduced the use of Mannerist style into his work the “ Laurentian library”. The building raised the controversially to idea of perfection and symmetry in architecture. The function of the elements in the building become ambiguity whether it is really functional or just decoration elements. But if we actually look closely, the plan of the building is still based on the fundamentally of Renaissance Vitruvian principles.

“ Beauty shall result from order and from the relationship of the whole to the individual parts, of the parts to each other and of the parts back to the whole,.....” This is the quote by Andrea Palladio. He emphasized this idea through the building design of “Villa rotonda, near Vicenza”. The plan of the building is a square with an inscribed circle. The columned porticos in the form of classical temple fronts stand on all four idea of the square.Moreover, the regularity of the exterior is matched by the arrangement of the interior around the circular domed hall. This building showing that the idea of perfect building is does not only use in the sacred space for celebration of god, but the principle of human proportion and symmetry is being use in the man residential , or in profane space. The classical principle is revival in order to create for man to celebrated the standard of beauty in the building perfection ,as well as for celebrating the potential of human.

History

Brunelleschi vs Corbusier vs Venturi

For this response I tried to look close at different period and examined how these three period adopt and use history in different ways.

Within last lecture of history of architecture,we were traveled back through time to the period of Renaissance architecture which was began in Florence since C.I420 and developed until C.I770. The main topic is focusing on the pioneer architect of the era “ Filippo Brunelleschi”. His name become famous from his career by putting the finishing touch to Gothic architecture and invented dome of Florence cathedral. This dome which what we can called as a “new” construction technique which done by studied from how the “ Pantheon “ constructed. He apply the knowledge from what he has been extracted from Pantheon and develop to his dome in Florence cathedral. This show how history become significant in order to further develop the a new advance construction method and technology.

Moving on to the next era, where modernism come to play a role after the world war where architecture try to create what is called a new “utopian world”. This era is a void of history, modernism attempt to simplify the richness ornaments in the past and turn them into pure abstract form. But does modernism really reject the idea of bringing back the history ? Le Corbusier, his name is embodied in the name as a great architect of the modern era, but his writing “ Toward a new architecture”; he tried to draw a connection between history and the new industrial age of automobile. Le Corbusier’s work reflect the idea of anthropology where the forms were derived form human proportions.This proportion was evoked since the Greek architecture which the order of the column derived from scale of human proportion , for instance the doric column can be refer to the proportion of men.

In Post-modernism, history become arise again as it played a role against modernism era. History and architecture are combined together in a way to create what we called “ hybrid” architecture. In this case history is being use in different way to how Brunelleschi and Corbusier did in the past. Robert Venturi attempt to extract the history in a conceptual way.He apply it with the technology to create his work of architecture that define himself as an opposition to modern architecture. In this way, history is used to communicate Venturi's languages through architecture.