Brunelleschi's Dome: How a Renaissance Genius Reinvented Architecture
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | 4.14 (525 Votes) |
| Asin | : | B00DUVKOUW |
| Format Type | : | |
| Number of Pages | : | 353 Pages |
| Publish Date | : | 2013-07-28 |
| Language | : | English |
DESCRIPTION:
Denounced at first as a madman, Brunelleschi was celebrated at the end as a genius. In the process, he did nothing less than reinvent the field of architecture.Brunelleschi's Dome is the story of how a Renaissance genius bent men, materials, and the very forces of nature to build an architectural wonder we continue to marvel at today. He engineered the perfect placement of brick and stone, built ingenious hoists and cranes to carry an estimated 70 million pounds hundreds of feet into the air, and designed the workers' platforms and routines so carefully that only one man died during the decades of construction--all the while defying those who said the dome would surely
E. Piper said I LOVED IT. I loved this book. Perhaps because I love Florence, have stood spellbound looking up at the dome of the church of Santa Maria del Fiore or perhaps because the story of how a man's dream of building a dome without buttresses or wooden centering (wooden support posts) actually came to pass. Whatever the reason, I found the book both beautiful and fascinating.Though the book was about the building of the dome it was about so much more. It told the reader about life in renaissance Florence and brought us into the lives of the people, how they lived, what they ate, the inner workings of their guilds and polit. the economics the rivalries and the competition that drove the great works of this era I am not accustomed to writing book reviews. I will say simply that this text is a revelation. I have traveled to Florence and have visited the dome. I simply did not understand the time, the people, the culture, the politics,the economics the rivalries and the competition that drove the great works of this era. I had no real concept of the enormity of Brunelleschi's accomplishment. One comes away from reading King's book with a deep and broad understanding of this era and all that is embodied therein. The science and architecture that went into the construction of the dome is astonishing. One learns tha. Narut Ujnat said Very good read on architecture for the general reader.. This is my second book by this author, and I was very happy to read the book. Having been fortunate to have visited Florence twice and having been to admire the incredible dome, this book was a terrific explanation of this Medieval wonder.King brings together the time and place of Florence in the Middle Ages. The feel of the times, and wonder of new developments we might see as pedestrian are brought to some semblance of life.The book isn't long at under "Very good read on architecture for the general reader." according to Narut Ujnat. This is my second book by this author, and I was very happy to read the book. Having been fortunate to have visited Florence twice and having been to admire the incredible dome, this book was a terrific explanation of this Medieval wonder.King brings together the time and place of Florence in the Middle Ages. The feel of the times, and wonder of new developments we might see as pedestrian are brought to some semblance of life.The book isn't long at under 200 pages, but the ability to make the reader understand how this dome was conceived and built is terrific. I understood the architectural aspects, the . 00 pages, but the ability to make the reader understand how this dome was conceived and built is terrific. I understood the architectural aspects, the
The story of its creation and its brilliant but "hot-tempered" creator is told in Ross King's delightful Brunelleschi's Dome. The story of the dome goes back to 1296, when work began on the cathedral, but it was only in 1420, when Brunelleschi won a competition over his bitter rival Lorenzo Ghiberti to design the daunting cupola, that work began in earnest. King argues that it was Brunelleschi's improvised brilliance in solving the problem of suspending the enormous cupola in bricks and mortar (painstakingly detailed with precise illustrations) that led him to "succeed in performing an engineering feat whose structural daring was without parallel." He tells a compelling, informed story, ranging from discussions of the construction of the bricks, mortar, and marble that made up the dome, to its subsequent use as a scientific instrument by the Florentine