Early Renaissance

The Renaissance is the rebirth of the Classical, the Roman and the Greek elements and the derivation of Gothic style, a period of faith and strong belief in God. Concurrently is the emergence of many intellectuals, along with the establishment of the first university. Interestingly, I think it can be said that it is a period where people begin to gain more confidence in themselves even though it follows the style which express a lot of reliance on God, since the arrival of ancient texts from the east and the successful trades result from the Crusades, and influence of the bourgeoisie of strong secular thoughts in art and architecture. Hence, the belief of “humanism” initiated. This is the belief in the potentials and capabilities of humans, thus the gain of confidence of one’s individuality. Consequently, this confidence is expressed in their ideologies; the idea of “anthropomorphism”, referring to humans as perfect and thus derived from the human figure is a perfect geometry, shown in the drawing of the Vitruvius man. Which then creates the sacred cut – the overlapping of two squares, one rotated to 45 degrees that is applied to many architecture like the Renaissance City Plan.

The Vitruvius Man - Leonardo Da Vinci

The Renaissance City Plan

“Perfect” was the adjective of the period. Even though there is a lot of reference from Roman ruins, they use the theory of perfect proportions to conduct the design of the building. For example, the Pazzi Chapel at Santa Croce with its façade inspired by the Roman Triumphal Arch, perfected to geometrical proportions of squares and circles, squares within circles and circles with squares – balanced and symmetrical.

The Renaissance could mark the transition from European medieval era to the early modern age. This is evident in the approach to anthropomorphism of Le Corbusier’s modular man and the ideas of pure geometry and forms of order, balance, and symmetry. On the other hand, there are elements which appeal to Post modernists like Robert Venturi, for example the application of classical Greek orders on the façade as ornamentation rather than columns, which can be interpret as an idea of a decorated shed.