5-30-06
Today with Professor Martimucci we looked at the evolution of architecture from the Medieval to the Baroque in the 500 years from the 1100’s to the 1770’s. We looked at the changes in pattern as men started to plan out their buildings instead of just building them as high as they could reach.
We started in Campo de Fiori, a piazza that has changed little in its use from when it was originally constructed. The structures surrounding the piazza are four to five stories, with shops on the ground floor and living quarters above. There is a tight a-liner design which defined the medieval architecture, buildings are right next to each other with tiny streets which reflect the natural topography of the place, and there is no discernable continuity from one building to the next. With the Renaissance there was a return to the national conception of architecture. That is, the buildings began to reflect the idea that Rome was the center of the world, or at least of Italy. Thus, in the 1800’s, there was a return to Roman shape and form, but according to Professor Martimucci the meaning of the architecture had changed. I think he is referring to the idea in Roman times that a building would stand forever as a monument to its patron, and even though the mortal man may perish his building would remain as an immortal marker that he had existed. I’m not exactly sure how this is different in the 1800’s, I mean we still celebrate the designs of Michelangelo even though he has been dead for centuries. I wonder if it has more to do with the idea of simultaneity Professor Martimucci discussed at Paestum.
Before we actually got to Campo de Fiori we stopped to look briefly at the exterior of Gesu to talk about how it departed from other Churches. It was the first Jesuit Church, designed in the 1500’s, its design was designed more like an auditorium making it better for preaching. Professor Martimucci didn’t really say anything else about this church, other than that it was near St. Ignatius Loyola’s home and we would be seeing a latter Jesuit Church before we finished our tour.
On our walk we also learned that the streets were a constant feature of the city and are usually derived from the names of local guilds. Thus, where there is an iron foundry, the nearby streets would take the names of the chain making guild, the blacksmith’s guild and the like.
When we got to Campo de Fiori the market was still going, and Professor Martimucci told us that this was similar to how the Piazza had been used in medieval times, then he gave us a run down of daily activities in the piazza, he said:
• 4:00 - 7:00
o Venders set up stands
• 7:30 - 8:00
o 1st shoppers, the people who have to get to work early
• 12:00 – 13:00
o City cleans up piazza
• 14:00 – 15:00
o Kids get out of school and play in the piazza
• 17:00 – 18:00
o Businessmen getting off work start to gather in the piazza to make plans for the evening
• 19:00 - 0:00
o Dinner crowd
• 0:00 – 4:00
o Bar crowd (mostly tourists)
Professor Martimucci then told us that we have a different relationship to the space than a Roman who was raised in Camp de Fiori would. He talked about how Bruno, who was burned as a heretic in the middle of the piazza, created an indelible mark on the place that continues even to this day several centuries later. Professor Martimucci said that part of this was because we don’t have the piazza street culture they have in Rome. We have big houses where only one generation of a family generally lives. We have large yards with fences to keep us away from our neighbors, we live in our houses and don’t just sleep there. We go inside to watch television and play on our computers instead of playing in the streets with our friends. We don’t have a collective memory of the space outside of our houses created with our friends and neighbors. We see a statue of Jordano Bruno and think “oh that’s interesting” while a Roman would see the statue and have some social, tactile, familial tie to the event, which is tied up in the place. A Roman would be able to remember his family member who was there on that day, would remember touching the base of the statue when his father told him the story, would remember playing in the afternoon here as a child. We, as tourists, pass through the space. Our mark is very temporary and lasts only a few hours or days, because we have not lived in the space and made it our own.
With the advent of the Renaissance we see a return to larger scale more monumental buildings. Professor Martimucci said that this return is seen in the simple Euclidian geometry, simple symmetry, whole number equations, and rectilinear buildings that came out of this time. We looked at how the Farnasa family tried to reshape Rome into their conception of what a capitol city ought to look like. They took the idea of Paris and tried to use it as an overlay for Rome, tearing down buildings to build boulevards and things like that. In this new design you would build a large monument, and then have a long straight street leading up to it, so that the monument would be the focus. I imagine this is like the Corso and its relation to Piazza dell Popolo which was designed by a Frenchman. Professor Martimucci said that this is also where we attempt to defy the landscape with our buildings by designing them on paper before we begin construction so that they do not necessarily conform to the topography of the land they are situated on. Professor Martimucci described it as subjugating the natural world to man’s nature.
After looking at some example of Renaissance architecture, we began to discuss some elements of Baroque architecture. We looked at how the Baroque architects manipulated the skin of a building to create more space. Instead of relying upon Euclidian geometry and simple whole-number equations, the Baroque architects began to use more complex geometrical forms and more difficult equations to increase the volume of a building. The rectilinear buildings become “inflated” like a balloon so that they squeeze out into elliptical shapes. We looked at how Bernini and Della Porta manipulated simple geometrical spaces to come up with their designs, such as Sant’ Agnase in Agone. The church takes over and owns the piazza in which it stands. Professor Martimucci pointed out how the façade of the buildings in Piazza Navona push the church so that it appears to be in the center of the piazza, even though it is not, with a concavity at the church to draw the piazza in. Apparently there was meant to be a dip in the façade to show the base of the cupola which was not incorporated into the final construction but that would have further drawn the piazza into the space of the church because the cupola is just behind the façade as it is, and much closer than any other cupola in the city.
We ended our tour at Sant’ Ignazio di Loyola. Inside the ceiling is painted so that there appears to be a cupola even though there isn’t really one. But we ran out of time and were left to look at the optical illusion on our own time, so I think I will come back for Sunday Mass which is supposed to be in English at 11:00.
I have really been enjoying the freedom that a new place has given me to come home and relax at my apartment with a few glasses of wine and some interesting stories to read, but I think that I am going to start next week to go out and explore a little bit more. To wander about the city and discover new places to read and write. This will be a bit easier next week as I will have a bus pass to ride around town and get to places farther away than I might otherwise be willing to walk.
We started in Campo de Fiori, a piazza that has changed little in its use from when it was originally constructed. The structures surrounding the piazza are four to five stories, with shops on the ground floor and living quarters above. There is a tight a-liner design which defined the medieval architecture, buildings are right next to each other with tiny streets which reflect the natural topography of the place, and there is no discernable continuity from one building to the next. With the Renaissance there was a return to the national conception of architecture. That is, the buildings began to reflect the idea that Rome was the center of the world, or at least of Italy. Thus, in the 1800’s, there was a return to Roman shape and form, but according to Professor Martimucci the meaning of the architecture had changed. I think he is referring to the idea in Roman times that a building would stand forever as a monument to its patron, and even though the mortal man may perish his building would remain as an immortal marker that he had existed. I’m not exactly sure how this is different in the 1800’s, I mean we still celebrate the designs of Michelangelo even though he has been dead for centuries. I wonder if it has more to do with the idea of simultaneity Professor Martimucci discussed at Paestum.
Before we actually got to Campo de Fiori we stopped to look briefly at the exterior of Gesu to talk about how it departed from other Churches. It was the first Jesuit Church, designed in the 1500’s, its design was designed more like an auditorium making it better for preaching. Professor Martimucci didn’t really say anything else about this church, other than that it was near St. Ignatius Loyola’s home and we would be seeing a latter Jesuit Church before we finished our tour.
On our walk we also learned that the streets were a constant feature of the city and are usually derived from the names of local guilds. Thus, where there is an iron foundry, the nearby streets would take the names of the chain making guild, the blacksmith’s guild and the like.
When we got to Campo de Fiori the market was still going, and Professor Martimucci told us that this was similar to how the Piazza had been used in medieval times, then he gave us a run down of daily activities in the piazza, he said:
• 4:00 - 7:00
o Venders set up stands
• 7:30 - 8:00
o 1st shoppers, the people who have to get to work early
• 12:00 – 13:00
o City cleans up piazza
• 14:00 – 15:00
o Kids get out of school and play in the piazza
• 17:00 – 18:00
o Businessmen getting off work start to gather in the piazza to make plans for the evening
• 19:00 - 0:00
o Dinner crowd
• 0:00 – 4:00
o Bar crowd (mostly tourists)
Professor Martimucci then told us that we have a different relationship to the space than a Roman who was raised in Camp de Fiori would. He talked about how Bruno, who was burned as a heretic in the middle of the piazza, created an indelible mark on the place that continues even to this day several centuries later. Professor Martimucci said that part of this was because we don’t have the piazza street culture they have in Rome. We have big houses where only one generation of a family generally lives. We have large yards with fences to keep us away from our neighbors, we live in our houses and don’t just sleep there. We go inside to watch television and play on our computers instead of playing in the streets with our friends. We don’t have a collective memory of the space outside of our houses created with our friends and neighbors. We see a statue of Jordano Bruno and think “oh that’s interesting” while a Roman would see the statue and have some social, tactile, familial tie to the event, which is tied up in the place. A Roman would be able to remember his family member who was there on that day, would remember touching the base of the statue when his father told him the story, would remember playing in the afternoon here as a child. We, as tourists, pass through the space. Our mark is very temporary and lasts only a few hours or days, because we have not lived in the space and made it our own.
With the advent of the Renaissance we see a return to larger scale more monumental buildings. Professor Martimucci said that this return is seen in the simple Euclidian geometry, simple symmetry, whole number equations, and rectilinear buildings that came out of this time. We looked at how the Farnasa family tried to reshape Rome into their conception of what a capitol city ought to look like. They took the idea of Paris and tried to use it as an overlay for Rome, tearing down buildings to build boulevards and things like that. In this new design you would build a large monument, and then have a long straight street leading up to it, so that the monument would be the focus. I imagine this is like the Corso and its relation to Piazza dell Popolo which was designed by a Frenchman. Professor Martimucci said that this is also where we attempt to defy the landscape with our buildings by designing them on paper before we begin construction so that they do not necessarily conform to the topography of the land they are situated on. Professor Martimucci described it as subjugating the natural world to man’s nature.
After looking at some example of Renaissance architecture, we began to discuss some elements of Baroque architecture. We looked at how the Baroque architects manipulated the skin of a building to create more space. Instead of relying upon Euclidian geometry and simple whole-number equations, the Baroque architects began to use more complex geometrical forms and more difficult equations to increase the volume of a building. The rectilinear buildings become “inflated” like a balloon so that they squeeze out into elliptical shapes. We looked at how Bernini and Della Porta manipulated simple geometrical spaces to come up with their designs, such as Sant’ Agnase in Agone. The church takes over and owns the piazza in which it stands. Professor Martimucci pointed out how the façade of the buildings in Piazza Navona push the church so that it appears to be in the center of the piazza, even though it is not, with a concavity at the church to draw the piazza in. Apparently there was meant to be a dip in the façade to show the base of the cupola which was not incorporated into the final construction but that would have further drawn the piazza into the space of the church because the cupola is just behind the façade as it is, and much closer than any other cupola in the city.
We ended our tour at Sant’ Ignazio di Loyola. Inside the ceiling is painted so that there appears to be a cupola even though there isn’t really one. But we ran out of time and were left to look at the optical illusion on our own time, so I think I will come back for Sunday Mass which is supposed to be in English at 11:00.
I have really been enjoying the freedom that a new place has given me to come home and relax at my apartment with a few glasses of wine and some interesting stories to read, but I think that I am going to start next week to go out and explore a little bit more. To wander about the city and discover new places to read and write. This will be a bit easier next week as I will have a bus pass to ride around town and get to places farther away than I might otherwise be willing to walk.
posted by Harvy at 4:52 AM
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