Leon Battista Albertis Treatise on Architecture

Leon Battista Albertis Treatise on ArchitectureDiscuss Albertis treatise on Architecture in relation to San Andrea in Mantua. In particular, discuss the role of humanistic ism in his work giving c arful tutelage to the question of proportionLeon Battista Alberti (1404-72) was a true Renaissance man. He was a gifted playwright, mathematician and sportsman trained in Law. As the person in charge of the constructions commanded by the Pope, he had the occasion to write hotshot of the expectantest works of the theory of computer architecture De Re Aedificatoria (On Building). Most of it was completed in 1452 and printed in 1485.In the Ten books of the Art of Building Alberti has explained the usefulness of a roof and wall for human. He said that it helps us to come close to one another and also grow together. Therefore we should be grateful to architects not only because they provides us a safe and welcome place but also for its many innovations, which are useful to both individuals and the public and the also provide our daily needs (page 3).Commissioned by Ludovico II Gonzaga, the church was begun in 1462 according to designs by Leon Battista Alberti on a site occupied by a Benedictine monastery, of which the bell tower (1414) remains. The construction, however, was finished only 328 years later. Though later changes and expansions altered Albertis design, the church is still considered to be one of Albertis most complete works.The purpose of the renaissance building was to contain the pilgrims who visited it during the course of Ascension when a vial, that the faithful argue contains the Blood of Christ, is brought up from the crypt below through a hatful in the floor directly under the dome. According to tradition the Most Precious Blood was brought to Mantua by the Roman centurion Longinus and is preserved in the Sacred Vessels. It was held with high respect during the Renaissance which is only display on Holy Friday.Humanism is the studying of the clas sics (Greek and Latin) and incorporating their ideas into ones own. It is the cultural movement of the Renaissance architecture. Most renaissance classical architecture shows more clarity than the older ones, because it emphasizes clean lines, geometric shapes, symmetry. It argues whether that is more enligh ten dollar billed than medieval architecture. It was more estimate out, perhaps more consistent, more systematic.Alberti had many philosophies when designing for buildings, and like the works of Vitruvius, created text that gave instruction on how to build, but saved main emphasis on the decoration and the exterior aesthetics of the structure. One formula that Alberti made use of was a system of Proportionality that he developed using systematic unanimity of musical ratio, to make his buildings appealing. Defined as the precise and correct outline, conceived in the mind, made up of lines and angles, and perfected in the learned intellect and imagination, this theory and line amenta were fundamental in Albertis process of design. Alberti believed that the Lineamenta stood as an outline and allowed proportions to be perceived in the design , where The very same numbers that cause sound to have that concinnitas, pleasant to the ears, can also fill the eyes and mind with wondrous delight. Reapplying emphasis on the humanistic border on to designThe tie with the humanistic style of design is a constant theme throughout Albertis ten books, and the beauty of Buildings also features heavily. Alberts definition, Beauty resides in a reasoned harmony of all the parts at heart a body, so that nothing may be added, taken away, or altered, but for the worse. It is a great and holy matter, all our resources of skill and ingenuity will be taxed in achieving it and rarely is it granted level off to Nature herself, to produce anything that is entirely complete and perfect in every respect. (VI, ii, 156).Albertis view of what Beauty is has federation to the analogy of anthropomorphism, seeing Man as a component that uses energy to serve and do well. This philosophy maintains that Alberti believed that men were made in divinitys image and likeness, creator of the universe, and through this thought, understood that what qualities make a building beautiful opens the path to the route of all Knowledge and the original source of beauty to draw from, God himself.In his treatise personality is used as inspiration, where the reason of Nature permits an architect to investigate into the features of the natural world, including mans influence, to incur better equipped to perceive and make use of Concinnitas, (which Alberti refers to as the spouse and soul of reason) to link presenting nature as the source of art in architecture and the nature based laws embedded in the away(p) world. As in the San Andrea, Mantua the faade of the church is exquisitely decorated with curves and flowing patterns on the ordered columns, selective service from Albertis treatise and its guidance on how to not only create a building, but how to make its beauty beam that of Gods love and NatureRefrencessacredarchitecture.org/authors/carroll_william_westfall/ -Carroll William Westfall(Journal entry 16)http//www.greatbuildings.com/buildings/S._Andrea.htmlMarvin Trachtenberg and Isabelle Hyman. Architecture from Prehistory to Post-Modernism. p295-6ReferencesTitle On the Art of Building in Ten BooksAuthor Leon Battista AlbertiTranslator Joseph Rykwert, Neil Leach, Robert TavernorPublished by the MIT PressCambridge, MassachusettsLondon, Englandhttp//www.albertiefirenze.it/english/leon_battista_alberti/index.htmhttp//eng.archinform.net/projekte/4126.htm