Difference between Baroque and Renaissance

Baroque architecture begun in Italy during the late sixteeth century which is more accessible to the emotion and a statement of the power of the church. The characteristics of this style of architecture will put attention more on highly decorative instead of supportive, curvers more than straight lines, and expresses the appearance of movement. Being symmetry is very important until it leads to the perspective optical illusion which happens in Santa Maria Presso San Satiro by Bramante (previous blog). One of the example could be “The Papal Basilica of Saint Peter” even though, it was belong to the period of late Renaissance as well. Baroque has borrowed many things from Renaissance and mannerism, but there are certainly differences. Another way to indicate the difference can be said as Renaissance is more to be straight and based on realism while Baroque will be more on to the complexity and overflowing. The term “Baroque” means absurd and directly to the meaning, it breaks the rule from Renaissance. Because it focuses more on the sense of movement which contains drama and theatrical deatures, Baroque churches tend to be richly decorated and the elements in the structure are used more freely than Renaissance. Baroque creates a strong sense of liveliness, spirit and attraction.

Perspective Optical Illusion

Renaissance architecture happens between the early 13th and early 17th centuries and it is demonstrating a development and rebirth of some certain thought and material culture of Roman and ancient Greek. The style emphasize on proportion, symmetry, and geometry of the building since they are made as the representation for God. The idea derives from the teaching in bible of how man is made in the image of God and that the porportiong of human has to be studied. Then applied the study of human’s proportion into an architecture so that the building will represent the God.

However, the main concept can be applied to every design butnot every design will be placed on the same location. In fact, there were still site restricted because of many factors including the surrounding area. What interested me the most is that ancient people know howto learn and adapt their design into a space. Even though some certain design can’t be placed into the site since it will interupt the existing surround, they still come up with technique to manage the solution.

Santa Maria Presso San Satiro by Bramante is a church in Milan where it shows a perspective illusion on one of the barrel vault. According to the limited amount of land, but they still want to show the idea of cruciform so one fake vault must be created.

There are many ideas derive from this concept. Nowadays, perspective optical illusion has been used as one field of art or even decoration including painting on the wall too. It tricks the eyes of people in a certain angle. One of the example that use the same method would be The Borromini Gallery, located into the courtyard of Palazzo Spada. Borromini created a false perspective in the arcaded courtyard of Palazzo Spada. By decreasing rows of colum

ns and rising floor, create a perspective optical illusion where people perceive a hallway of 37 meters (only 8 meters) with a gigantic structure (only 60cm tall)

MVRDV and Postmodernism

In Netherlands, there was newly provided policy toward the end of 1990s for the people in retirement called “residential care complexes”. It aimed to enable people above the age of 55 to continue living in their homes for as long as possible. Wozoko’s is one of the projects belonged to MVRDV which is a firm of Dutch Architects. The name is an acronym for the founding members which are Winy Maas, Jacob van Rijs and Nathalie de Vries.

MVRDV is considered to be a post-modernism which can be seen through their various projects. With the characteristic of postmodernism which is “the return of wit, ornament and reference”. The colorful and varying building has ““individual dwellings (that) are again notable for the variety of fenestrations, doors and balconies on the rear of the building, but especially in the units that project form the front façade, a way of circumventing the constraints of the master plan”, said Lootsma.

However, dispite the fact of being postmodernism, Wozoko, is still, somehow reacting with modernism by having the geometrical form of structure along with the concept of “form follow function”. Since the place was constructed but not enough space to enable all elders. Only 87 of 100 units could fit the restricted footprint while the remaining units were cantilevered on to the borth facade in order to respect the open space on the rest of the site. For modernist, “form follow function” is being focused in order to get a structure with the most simpliest and honest materials used along with being minimalist. Dispite the fact of being minimalist, Wozoko support the idea of modernism by the term of “form follow function” since the form of the building was created based on the function, (in this case), is the users of the space.

Architecture as life

Same as the previous post, Modernism is focusing on the technology and production which leads to the machinary style of architecture. Therefore, “form” was the word that never existed during that previous day since they only concentrate on the purpose and function of the building itself. However, toward the following movement, Post-modernism is considered to be an international style which gives more freedom to the builders or group of people independently. Based more on the reality where an individual has difference approachs to get to their goals but the final outcome still based on the same idea.

Post-modernism gives life to architecture and brough back some of the historical ideas from the past which are ornament and colors. “Form” started to get involved as well as symbolism. Zaha Hadid is one of the famous architects whose work is not just a normal building that only functions according to the purpose, but the building itself has a life and form. Her works flow together with the contemporary cities and the lives of their people. Heydar Aliyev Cultural Centre is one of her work that inspired me! It is located in Baku, Azerbaijan and also represents the a move away from the country’s Soviet-dominated past and toward a national identity.