Renaissance architecture

Renaissance is a period of time between 15th and early 17th century. Word renaissance means "Born again" or "Reborn" on French.
Many different arts have changed in this period from painting to architecture.
It was an age of "awaking".

Renaissance architecture followed gothic architecture. It was developed first in Florence with Filippo Brunelleschi as one of its innovators, the Renaissance style quickly spread to other Italian cities.
This style was soon spread to other countries like Germany, Russia, France, England and other parts of the Europe with various changes and various dates of arrival of the style.

Renaissance style places emphasis on symmetry, proportion, geometry and the regularity of parts as they are demonstrated in the architecture of classical antiquity and in particular ancient Roman architecture, of which many examples remained. Orderly arrangements of columns, pilasters and lintels, as well as the use of semicircular arches, hemispherical domes, niches and aedicules replaced the more complex proportional systems and irregular profiles of medieval buildings.

Renaissance architects have adopted a lot from Romans. But certain things were no longer used such as public baths or enormous sporting centers. Also churches were built.

The plans of Renaissance buildings have a square, symmetrical appearance in which proportions are usually based on a module. Within a church the module is often the width of an aisle. The need to integrate the design of the plan with the façade was introduced as an issue in the work of Filippo Brunelleschi, but he was never able to carry this aspect of his work into fruition. The first building to demonstrate this was St. Andrea in Mantua by Alberti. The development of the plan in secular architecture was to take place in the 16th century and culminated with the work of Palladio.


Columns and Pilasters
The Roman orders of columns are used:- Tuscan, Doric, Ionic, Corinthian and Composite. The orders can either be structural, supporting an arcade or architrave, or purely decorative, set against a wall in the form of pilasters. During the Renaissance, architects aimed to use columns, pilasters, and entablatures as an integrated system. One of the first buildings to use pilasters as an integrated system was in the Old Sacristy (1421–1440) by Brunelleschi.

Arches
Arches are semi-circular or (in the Mannerist style) segmental. Arches are often used in arcades, supported on piers or columns with capitals. There may be a section of entablature between the capital and the springing of the arch. Alberti was one of the first to use the arch on a monumental scale at the St. Andrea in Mantua.

Vaults
Vaults do not have ribs. They are semi-circular or segmental and on a square plan, unlike the Gothic vault which is frequently rectangular. The barrel vault is returned to architectural vocabulary as at the St. Andrea in Mantua.


Domes

The dome is used frequently, both as a very large structural feature that is visible from the exterior, and also as a means of roofing smaller spaces where they are only visible internally. Domes had been used only rarely in the Middle Ages, but after the success of the dome in Brunelleschi’s design for the Basilica di Santa Maria del Fiore and its use in Bramante’s plan for St. Peter's Basilica (1506) in Rome, the dome became an indispensable element in church architecture and later even for secular architecture, such as Palladio's Villa.
                                                             St. Peter's Basilica dome - cupola 
                                                   

Ceilings
Roofs are fitted with flat or coffered ceilings. They are not left open as in Medieval architecture. They are frequently painted or decorated.

Doors
Doors usually have square lintels. They may be set within an arch or surmounted by a triangular or segmental pediment. Openings that do not have doors are usually arched and frequently have a large or decorative keystone.

Windows
Windows may be paired and set within a semi-circular arch. They may have square lintels and triangular or segmental pediments, which are often used alternately. Emblematic in this respect is the Palazzo Farnese in Rome, begun in 1517.


Walls
External walls are generally of highly finished ashlar masonry, laid in straight courses. The corners of buildings are often emphasised by rusticated quoins. Basements and ground floors were often rusticated, as modeled on the Palazzo Medici Riccardi (1444–1460) in Florence. Internal walls are smoothly plastered and surfaced with white-chalk paint. For more formal spaces, internal surfaces are decorated with frescoes.

Details
Courses, mouldings and all decorative details are carved with great precision. Studying and mastering the details of the ancient Romans was one of the important aspects of Renaissance theory. The different orders each required different sets of details. Some architects were stricter in their use of classical details than others, but there was also a good deal of innovation in solving problems, especially at corners. Moldings stand out around doors and windows rather than being recessed, as in Gothic Architecture. Sculptured figures may be set in niches or placed on plinths. They are not integral to the building as in Medieval architecture.

Here are some examples of this period:

                                       
Façade of Santa Maria Novella, 1456–70                               Scuola Grande di San Marco, Venice.

                                               
       Santa Maria delle Grazie, Milan.                                               The church of San Lorenzo

                                             
     Antwerp City Hall (finished in 1564)               French Renaissance: Château de Chambord (1519–39)

Roman Architecture - Ancient Roman Architecture

When it comes to Roman architecture there is A LOT to be said. First of all let me tell you something about their history. Roman, or Rome people inhabited almost everything from other cultures, from Greeks, their ancestors Etruscan and from others. Rome had a capitol in city 'Rome'. They were the strongest and the biggest empire in their time. Their empire lasted for over 1000 years. They had magnificent buildings.
Roman people inhabited arc and the idea of aqueduct from Etruscan people.

The Rome country was made by the two people (as legend says).
The legend goes that two brothers (one was named Rome) were adopted by the wolf. And that one day they made a city Rome.

Now about their architecture.
First of all I have to say that they found much new building materials like concrete and brick.
Their brick was not sun-dried but was burned in high temperature ovens. They had a fabric which was massivly producing brick. That is the origin of the word "Fabric" because this is how they called it and it is the first fabric on the world.
Theirs concrete was made out of volcanic ash and other things, it was lite concrete.
They had a lot of engineers and architects so calculating and measuring was not a problem.

They were able to dry an entire lake like they did when they build a colosseum.
The colosseum was built on a place where was lake. That was the only suitable place where it could be built so they decided to dry the lake. They did it by guiding the water almost 100km using canals in a much more bigger lake.
The colosseum was built using brick and concrete and stone.
The Colosseum has three rings. First one is from stone, second from brick and the third is from concrete. This is because of the weight. Roman architect calculated that if the whole colosseum was made from stone it would crack and demolish it self from huge weight. The Colosseum was built mostly from arches on
pillars. It has 76 arches in every level of colloseum.
The colloseum was used for games, music, as theater.. and much more.
This was the most magnificent building of its time.

                                                 The Colosseum in Rome, in Italy
                                       



Roman people Housing
Their houses for general population were modest. Rich people lived a perfect life, they had it all.
In rich people houses were bathrooms. The roman people guided the water from mountains into and through their bathrooms. They had a toilets! And they also had public bath. There were pools with hot and warm and cold water. Public baths were aveable to everyone.
Poor people lived in "Insula" those were buildings on couple of floors. And those buildings were aranged in blocks. The darkest and the cheapest rooms were at bottom, and more lighter and cleaner rooms were at the top but cost more.
The windows were protected by metal bars. Life in insulas was difficult. Fire was the biggest problem.
In those tight rooms and tight building blocks when the fire appear it would burn the entire building block.
                                                 
                                                  Roman Insula
                                                 

The use of arch and cupola (duomo)
Like I said the Romans used arches in their many structures like Colosseum or aqueducts.
But what they were really were famous for are their domes. Since they were building with small pieces of material like bricks they were able to build such a structures.
Dome its self is beautiful when looked from beneath.

                                                 

Their "Basilicas" were built with a dome. Basilicas were something like court houses. This is where they had trials going.

This was intro into Roman architecture and their history!