Formal Analysis Portfolio

Brunelleschi - The Definition of the Subject in Vision The conflict between foreground, middleground, and background in Renaissance art seems to suggest a layered space where differences between the layers occurs in any number of transformations.v I believe the difference between San Lorenzo and Santa Spirito lies in how the nave elevation overlays onto the elevation of the side aisle. In San Lorenzo the architrave and arch is lowered and rescaled in the side aisle, while the columns and capitals are projected directly, which results in an architrave that sits directly on top of the columns with the arch below forming a different configuration from the nave.

San Lorenzo’s transformation is more two dimensional and inconsistent in its geometric operations squishing the elements together. In Santa Spirito, rather than rescaling the arch or architrave, the column is repeated in the side aisle (like San Lorenzo) submerged in a wider series of concentric arches the recede into the alcoves in the exterior wall. The repetition of the columns in both suggest a two dimensional projection, while in Santa Spirito, Brunelleschi also chose a receding concentric repetition of the arch that underlays the nave column suggesting a three dimensional transformation. This three dimensional quality and lack of visible repetition (the repeated columns are not visible behind the nave columns) creates a unity and suggests a single vantage point rather than the layered space found in the visible repetition and rescaling in San Lorenzo.

Alberti - Up Against the Wall The image of the nave only version of San Andrea in the class folder suggests a homogeneous treatment of the interior and exterior facades. In the nave only version, all interior facades are treated the same even when they are perpendicular to eachother, and even the entry portal in plan suggests a repeated version of the interior facade. In the actual San Andrea, the front facade is derived from the interior (or vice versa) but in this case components of the facade are folded twice by 90 degrees and rescaled each time.

The front facade folds inward at the inside column of the entry portal and folds again to form the rectangular portal to the nave. Another trace of this can be found by intersecting the volumetric voids implied by the openings in the front facade and comparing this to the non intersecting voids implied in the nave and side chapels. I think that this could be drawn by comparing intersecting voids by virtue of unfolding facades (front facade series) with non intersecting voids and sequential planar facades (interior facades).

Postscript: The comparison of the interior and exterior spaces shows a misalignment of intersecting volumes that, when unfolded, stretch the inside front facade. Unfolding the inside facades reveals parallel volumes and no conflict.

Bramante - Organism and its Autonomy The difference between the corners in Laurana’s Palazzo Ducale and Bramante’s Santa Maria della Pace stems from how each relates to an upward movement going from courtyard to second floor. This is manifest in three ways. First, when considering how one would move through the space in order to access the second floor starting at the main entry to each courtyard, there are distinct frames of reference directed at the corners, one rotational and one oblique and directional. Second, the appearance of stability (or lack thereof) when the first floor and second floor are considered separately (ie does the first floor look strong enough to stand on its own) are dictated by the frames of reference.

Thirdly, the implied seams apparent in the corner treatments are a further result of the difference in frame of reference as the viewer moves through the space.

Postscript: Bramante’s corner is a layered series of orders with stable horizontal seams.

Substantial points of contact are shown in read at the dashed seams. Laurana’s corner is a vertical seam with slight points of contact, rendering an unstable relationship between the two perpendicular facades.

Serlio - The Origins of Mannerism For this week I am interested in looking at the conflicts between the openings on the exterior and interior elevations of Serlio’s House of the Prince. The alignment of the first story windows with the large central space suggests that he intended to make the building appear as if it were one large volume from the outside. The mismatch in the openings on the first story wings reflects his desire to give the larger space priority. The doors at the wings shift the ornament down, allowing the three openings to nest uncomfortably close, further giving contrast to the spacing in the center of the elevation. A similar conflict seems to exist at the central door where a wide pediment almost intersects with the projecting pediments of the adjacent windows. In this case, the closeness of the elements is not accommodated by nesting, exaggerating a conflict that suggests largeness. The two apparent conflicts of proximity are addressed with largeness and indifference (center space) or smallness and nesting (wings). Also, the square openings above the first floor window pediments accommodate a wing necessity (providing windows for the second floor) with a tall opening that is unique to the facade whereas, while ironically, the widest square recess occurs in the center where the opening does not pass through. This further demonstrates the priority of the central space, although it also contains the most blank openings on the exterior elevation. Comparing actual openings to blank or interior/exterior opening conflicts, the central space then appears to be a big hand in an even bigger glove while the wings are a small hand in an even smaller glove.

Postscript: The conflict between interior and exterior space and the overcrowding at the periferal spaces creates a tension that pushes through the opening in the adjoining courtyard. From this point, the succeeding spaces corresponding in an outwardly expanding series.

Sanmicheli and Guilio Romano - Crowding the Facade For this week I’d like to look at the interaction between depth and compositional density in the facades of Palazzo del Te and Palazzo Bevilacqua. At Palazzo Bevilacqua corbels, capitals, and frieze elements are tapered projections, giving a smooth transition between the depth of the different planes of the facade. These transitions support a dense hierarchy that reads as layers of structure. The transition in depth isolate facade elements from eachother, giving order to what would appear chaotic when projected to a flat elevation. At the Palazzo del Te, facade depth is incremental, seen especially in the rusticated keystones on the West exterior facade. Drastic differences in depth also occur at the transition from the column capitals and the tops of the triglyphs, where two concurrent elements don’t sit in the same plane. This incremental stepping of the depth of the facade aides in the perception of a dense composition with no hierarchy. On the East exterior facade, where depth is binary as the composition is confined to two planes, we get a controlled situation in terms of depth. However, an underlying density and conflict are still at play in the treatment of the columns. Their asymmetrical bays and crowded anticipation of the corner are carried over from the other, more chaotic facades.

Postscript: Palazzo del Te’s profile shows jagged transitions between independent ornamental pieces while Palazzo Bevilacqua has smoother transitions held together with applied ornament.

Palladio - Rethinking Roman Space Repetition and bulging in San Giorgio Maggiore and Il Redentore express an outward force of expansion. In Il Redentore’s elevation, repeating the pediment element vertically expresses an upward energy while in San Giorgio Maggiore, the column bases are raised as is they were stretched as far as they could go vertically. The columns create a vertical bouding box which sets up a horizontal expansion. Repetition is horizontal in the statue niches, expressing an outward force. In plan, this is further reinforced by the placement of the narthex apses - Il Redentore has a strong bounding box holding back an outward force that instead goes upward. The placement of the apsoidal collonade behind the alter is an interesting moment in this containment. Also, the mirrored niche configurations in the side aisles express a physical limit to horizontal expansion. In San Giorgio Maggiore, the apses bulge out from a weak bounding box while the side aisles are repetitive, expressing a potential for horizontal expansion. My drawing could be an elaboration on these two systems of horizontal and vertical expansion as they relate to the devices of repetition and expansion.

Scamozzi and Sansovino - Sprezzatura and Close Attention Misalignment renders two competing systems in Palazzo Grimani and Fabbrico Fino. The difference between Scamozzi and Sansovino is then found in how these two systems meet at the courtyards. At Palazzo Grimani, sprezzatura is applied externally by the site.

A slight misalignment with the courtyard is quickly remedied on the interior, giving the impression of a temporary lapse with a clever solution. For Scamozzi, sprezzatura seems intentional and is imposed by an internal order that is deliberately perpetuated giving two different spatial readings that only get partially resolved at the last possible moment when they collide at the courtyards. At Fabbrico Fino, Scamozzi makes what seems an equal treatment of the entries on the facade have unequal values in plan as one enters directly into a courtyard and the other entrance sits between two courtyards. Each series of spaces make sense internally and is only reflected in a small but obvious misalignment where the space between courtyards meet. Scamozzi’s sprezzatura is internal and deliberate with delayed resolution, while Sansovino’s is external with a frantic immediate resolution.

Postscript: Both buildings are shown as an ideal condition through a series of operations.

The drawings are coded to show removals in black and additive operations in red.

Scamozzi’s Fabbrico Fino’s arcades are allowed to cut through the building, realigning disparate axes. Then three modules push in from outside, to create an ideal symmetrical condition. In Palazzo Grimani, the front and back facades are unskewed to create the ideal. Their critical difference lies in the subtlety and immediate resolution in Sansovino contrasting with Scamozzi’s deliberate internal contradictions.

Borromini - Surface Continuity San Carlo Alle Quattro Fontane and Sant’ Ivo alternate between containment and amorphous oozing at different scales. Perhaps I should limit my analysis, but at this point I see the two buildings swinging to both extremes. Following the columns around the edge of the chapel space in San Carlo Alle Quattro Fontane outlines an amorphous bulging shape with oozing into the intermediary poche spaces, but this condition does not affect the relationship of column to wall. The undulating geometry seems unstable but does not cause rupture. In Sant’ Ivo, the chapel interior is a stable intersection of platonic shapes but the column to wall condition varies giving an stable platonic perimeter with ironic rupture. As this interior wrapper meets the outside, the nature of containment flips as with San Carlo, a giant order asserts stability while the one story columns at the entry portal are tenuously connected to the wall (the giant column at the corner is also tenuous).

For Sant’ Ivo, the concave exterior surface engulfs the columnar configuration, again in contrast with the interior condition. It can also be said that the the two buildings offer further contradiction in how the spaces relate to the block - on a corner versus nested in another volume. These oscillating conditions could be interesting to show in a matrix at different scales blurring which detail belongs to which building or whether a shell closes on a platonic or bulging wall.

Postscript: Sant’ Ivo is comprised of independent primitives that rupture the column from the wall. Unfolding the space shows inside corner columns pushing into the wall, while outside corners push the column outside the wall. In San Carlo Alle Quattro Fontane, overlapping primitives generate a consistent and smooth string of columns in the wall surface. The overlapping of the underlying circular geometry unfolds into a smooth inside surface that unfolds into a cracked spaces in the poche beyond.

Bernini and Rainaldi - Superposition, Layering, and Plasticity Santa Maria di Monte Santo and Santa Maria dei’ Miracoli are different adaptations of the bilateral symmetry of a renaissance church. In both there are subtle remnants of a larger template, that appear in the treatment of the columns at the niches. The niche on either side of the altar and the entrance portal are lower and subordinate, suggesting a left over porch or side aisle (in both churches). They differ in that, Santa Maria dei’ Miracoli, further articulates a crossing by marking a capital in the architrave on the inside of the would be narthex. In Santa Maria di Monte Santo, single columns are treated the same all the way around leaving no trace of a crossing. However, Bernini makes up for this in asserting a bilateral symmetry in the form of the ellipse. Rainaldi uses superposition and layering in the details while Bernini stretches the church both achieving bi-directionality. The two architects clearly use different tools in their practice, they should consequently have an altogether different lens for interpreting the canon at the time. Maybe something can be said for the way their tools revise the historical narrative of the Renaissance and Baroque up to that point.

Postscript: Both churches have the residue of a corner condition. In Santa Maria dei’ Miracoli, an ABC rhythm in the bays is nested at the center. The corner bay B’ is transposed by Bernini in Santa Maria di Monte Santo, where it is nested again in B’’. The rest of the church takes up this bay in a repetitive AB’B’ rhythm, echoing its similarity to Rainaldi’s preceding twin.

A

B

C

B’ B’’

B’’ A

B’

B’

B’

B’

Nolli and Piranesi - The Breakdown of Ideality In “The Possibility of an Absolute Architecture,” I was intrigued by Pier Vittorio Aureli’s idea of the real “magnificenza.” He sees it not as the existing and beautiful but as the deepest foundations of the surviving ruins “that seems to obstruct the space around it, rather than simply frame it.” This makes the forms of his Campo Marzio not only independent of each other but in conflict, pressing against each other as they go deeper into the earth.

As such, his map is three dimensional, where the Tiber is circumstantial on one of many layers, and could flow anywhere (since there are no streets) as the ruins expand and contract against eachother. It makes sense there are no streets, since there could be a thousand different Tibers flowing between figures. Nolli’s map meticulously resovles conflict within one plane where the dark “changeable” spaces are magnets that are pressed too close. The white spaces are voids where a black piece has been forced off the map, but something remains to hold open the void. In this sense, Nolli’s map is barely three dimensional and is held together by something that is just beyond the surface.

Postscript: If the major architectural spaces of the Nolli map are extruded, the dark fabric of the city becomes a neutral plane. Piranesi’s Campo Marzio can then cut into this plane.

This literal rendering of ruins below reveals the conflict between the fabric of the city and the latent speculation by Piranesi. The excavated areas are black, taking the place of the ground in the Nolli map and converting them back into figures.

Contest Our narrative for Formal Analysis concludes with the optical disarray and spatial conflicts in Piranesi. This conflict in grounded in the difference between how solid and void are broken down by their spatial frames. On the left, the nine square grid fractures the void at its center. On the right, a four square grid breaks at the column. The breaking down of solid and void creates the spatial paradoxes of Piranesi’s Carcieri series shown in an abstraction in the center. Columns shift from foreground to background, connected voids are broken. Rotating the view of the object only leads to a series of further illusions.