POINT: ALTERNATIVES

“Genius is eternal patience”

-Michelangelo 

Once we left the foundations unit in class, we then proceeded to the alternatives unit which encompasses the Gothic and Renaissance period. The dictionary defines alternatives as “a choice limited to one of two or more possibilities, as of things, propositions, or courses of action, the selection of which precludes any other possibility.” Basically in layman’s terms this in my mind means that the people are taking what has already been built in society and altering it to create something new, yet refined. And the first era we dove into was the Gothic style and mostly that around France, the first site was that of the Amiens cathedral. The cathedral embodied so many different elements within it, and that probably is because throughout its construction it had three different architects. Carcassonne was next, and it is a town that was completely fortified, having only two outer walls that confine an entire location. Among other castles covered was that of Dover Castle, Stokesay Castle and Burg Eltz in Germany. After leaving France we got to the work from Italian architect Andrea Palladio and what he did at Villa Capra. Villa Capra mimicked the Pantheon in many ways but it considered all axises rather than two. Palladio was a person that brought villa’s to what we really know them as today by refining them in every way and eventually it led to a whole style known as Palladian architecture. Villa Barbaro was another villa, not done by Palladio though. This villa followed the same blueprint a standard villa would, except it shrunk in one dimension and gained much more in its overall horizontality. San Giorgio Maggiore is an island in Italy which is home to another Palladio structure. This one being the Church of San Giorgio Maggiore; and at this church you have a facade that is exceptionally white and is a temple manner. And also the facade has two faces that Andrea translates into one superimposed face. Next a site we covered that I really seemed to enjoy was the one in France known as Chateau de Chambord. And this building has really two styles that are being froze in its exterior; the first being the top and it is of the castle style and the lower portion being along the lines of neoclassical. Departing from France we looked at the Palace of Charles V in Spain and then Hardwick Hall in England. And looking across these three places you see just how different each country is building and how that carries on throughout their land. And finally our last stop in the alternatives section was at Florence, Italy and was a church by the name of Santa Maria Novella. Another stop we made in Italy was the home and the Medici family and their palazzo. This buildings features a facade that in divided into three parts that is emphasized by a horizontal band. In class we had wrote down the top ten rules of the Renaissance and they were as follows: single decorative facade, reviving the classics, man is the measure of all, separation of spaces, harmony through repetition, geometric patterning, patronage dominates the building industry, no building is one single style, boundaries/edges/borders are all vital, and finally separation of public/private. And I think throughout the entire span of the alternatives unit all of these guidelines are followed for the most part. So foundations are what we build upon but on those foundations we make alternatives for the entire world to see and the alternatives are still with us today. They just get translated so differently that we have the mindset that it's something completely different but really it's still home to some of those roots from previous eras.