Brunelleschi's Rational Design at the Foundling Hospital
1.
2. Constructed in several phases
Only first phase (1419-1427) constructed
under Brunelleschi
Later phases added the attic story, the
vaulted passageway in the bay to the left
of the loggia
It was a children orphanage
3. Embodies Brunelleschi’s rational and systematic
principals of design
The simple proportions of the building reflect a
new age, of secular
education and a sense of great order and clarity
The loggia, based on repeated modular elements
Dimensions were not arbitrary. If a horizontal line
is drawn along the tops of the columns, a square is
created out of the height of the column and the
distance from one column to the next
Vocabulary giving ‘antique’ effect, is close to
Tuscan Romanesque
Design
4. The ground plan of hospital behind, with two
cloisters, church and dormitories, is based on
modular and mathematical proportions. Roughly
centralized, without being symmetrical.
5.
6. oThere is an emphasis on the horizontal because the
building is longer than it is tall
oThe façade is made up of nine semicircular arches
springing from columns of the Composite order
7. The semicircular windows brings the building down,
earthbound and is a revival of the classical style, no longer
a pointed arch
In the spandrels of the arches there are glazed blue
terracotta roundels with reliefs of babies suggesting the
function of the building
Above each semicircular arch is a tabernacle window (a
rectangular window with a triangular pediment on the top)
8. Above each column is a ceramic tondo. These
were originally meant by Brunelleschi to be
blank concavities, but ca. 1490, Andrea della
Robbia was commissioned to fill them in
9. The loggia have sail
vaults supported on
monolithic grey stone
columns and semi
circular arches
10. The use of composite
order round columns
with classically capitals
in conjunction with a
dosserets (or impost
blocks) was novel. The
give slender look to
building.
11.
12. Construction begun in 1421
Main body of the church is mostly built after death of
Brunelleschi
The church is part of a larger
monastic complex that contains
other important architectural
works: the Old Sacristy by
Brunelleschi; the Laurentian
Library by Michelangelo; the
New Sacristy based on
Michelangelo's designs; and the
Medici Chapels by Matteo
Nigetti.
13. Plan is basilican in form
Central arcaded flat-
ceilinged space
Square Sail-vaulted side
aisles and shallow dark side-
chapels(added after 1463)
Sacristy grouped around
the domed crossing and
transepts.
14. The nave is brightly lit from
clerestory windows and oculi
in the aisles
15. The attempt to create a proportional
relationship between nave and aisle (aisle bays are
square whereas nave bays are 2X1)
The articulation of the structure in ‘dark
stone’(grey stone column against white plaster
walls).
The use of an integrated system of column,
arches, entablatures.
A clear relationship between column and pilaster
The use of proper proportions for the height of
the columns
The use of spherical segments in the vaults of
the side aisles.
NOTABLE FEATURES
16. Old Sacristy or Sagrestia Vecchia
oOpening off the north transept is the square, domed space
oDesigned by Brunelleschi
oIt contains the tombs of several members of the Medici
family
oComposed of a cube, with a
hemispherical umbrella dome
composed of twelve vaults
supported on pendentives,
and a smaller domed altar
chapel with concave niches;
the cube acting as the human
world and the sphere the
heavens
17. oA rhythmic system of pilasters,
arches that emphasize the space’s
geometric unity
oThe pilasters support an
entablature, the only purpose of
which is to divide the space into
two equal horizontal zones
oThe use of colour is restricted
to grey for the stone and white
for the wall. The correct use of
the Corinthian order for the
capitals was also new
18. New Sacristy or Sagrestia Nuova
oOpposite it in the south transept
oDesigned by Michelangelo
oIt composed of three registers, the topmost topped by a
coffered pendantive dome
oThe combination of grey
stone and white plaster on
the lower register is
carried through to the
second facade
oIn plan, it mirrors
Brunelleschi’s Old Sacristy
opposite
19. oIn strong contrast to dark stone are bizarre tomb
monuments in the centre of side walls, made of highly
polished white Carrara marble
oIn the corner bay are marble doors with slab-like cornices
doubling as the cills for oversize niches above
oTheir recesses capriciously
breaking upwards and
outwards into their crowning
segmental pediments.
oBeneath the coffered
dome, the Sacristy is
illuminated by four extra
windows with exaggeratedly
tapering frames
