The+Innovations+of+Brunelleschi+and+Renaissance+Architecture

Brunelleschi as an Innovator
Brunelleschi is known as the innovator of this time. He was a person who didn’t give up on his dreams. He didn’t win when competing for a chance to make bronze reliefs for a door at a baptistery in Florence, but that didn’t stop him. He pushed forward and changed his views. He started out as a sculptor, but realized while in Rome that perspective was something people were leaving out in their designs. He turned his previous knowledge of sculpting into something that would be more helpful and useful for future generations. He became an architect and pushed forward his idea of linear perspective to others, which, in turn, influenced others to start using a sense of realism when creating art. Geometry was a big part of this era. It proved to be something incredibly useful and as equally beautiful. Not only did it tie in with the ancient Roman architecture, but it influenced ideas for future generations to create such masterful and awe-inspiring works of art in buildings. An excellent example is the glass pyramid building at the Louvre in Paris.

He also showed that wood wasn’t the only thing to give a dome its “backbone.” Wood is a sturdy element to use when building, but it can only support so much. He used stone, iron, brick and wood to create a chainwork system that would support the weight of the dome. Since steel wasn’t something that was common, he needed to improvise. After the industrial revolution when people perfected a way to mass-produce steel, steel became a huge part of creating framework for buildings like the skyscrapers in cities throughout the world.

Influences of Renaissance Architecture in Other Countries
The Architecture itself was inspiring to other countries. The spread of this architecture continued throughout all of Italy and spread into Croatia, Hungary, Russia, Poland, France, the Netherlands, Germany, England, Spain, Portugal, and Scandinavia.

Scandinavia’s taste of Renaissance architecture “[t]hrived during the reigns of Frederick II and Christian IV. Inspired by the French castles of the times, Flemish architects designed masterpieces” (Wikipedia). The Frederiksborg Palace is a great example. Spain and Portugal had a gradual adaption to the Renaissance architecture. In England, during the reign of Elizabeth I, the buildings focused more on geometric designs: clean lines and symmetry were the two major points. The largest Renaissance church north of the Alps is located in Germany and was designed to be a spiritual center for the Counter Reformation.

The other countries all took the Renaissance style and ideas and put their own spin on different designs.

Influences of Renaissance Architecture in Today's Society
Before the Renaissance, most buildings were relatively the same in structure with a strong foundation of stone or brick with wooden beams laid across the walls (Bunch). They also decorated the buildings using Baroque or Rococo styles. This means that the buildings would have frills and ornaments, sometimes tiny spires and dome were placed wherever they could be in the building (Bunch). This made the buildings appear overdone or unpleasing to the eye. With Renaissance architecture, there was a sense of modernization in the design.

The real modern age started after two things made building higher buildings possible: “the strength of concrete reinforced with steel […] and the elevator” (Bunch). These two things combined with the ideas of linear perspective allowed for buildings to be built with a modern design. Skyscrapers are an excellent example of using elevators and steel. The world went through a lot of changes too. For example, now that speakers are a big part of today’s society, high steeples on churches aren’t needed to allow people to hear the bells; instead the sound can be projected at any volume. Houses are built in all sizes, some with stairs and others with non. Houses with no stairs, ranch houses, are a popular design in today’s culture. Another example is that the Renaissance era focused a lot on churches and ideas expressed by the church, but today’s society is focused more on realism (this is a main idea that has influenced America’s culture) than it’s focused on the church.

Today’s society still focuses on geometry and symmetry, but has also taken these ideas of modernism and applied them to the world we live in today.

Bunch, David. “Renaissance Architecture.” //Ezinearticles.com.// 15 Aug. 2010. Web. 21 Nov. 2013.

“EAGE Copenhagen 2012” //newporttours.dk.// 2012. Image. 24 Nov. 2013.

“louvre-pyramid.” //Insideevs.com.// 2012. Image. 24 Nov. 2013.

Wikipedia contributors. "Renaissance architecture." //Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia//. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, 6 Sep. 2013. Web. 19 Nov. 2013.