Sultan Mohamed

Professor Watson

History of Architecture after 1400

27 January 2023

Project 1: Order

As we continue through this course, we talk and learn about different societies, and the

unique architecture they bring with them. Much of the time, the buildings, cities, and societies

from one reading might have a similarity with a different one on the other side of the world.

Whether those similarities are coincidental or are a part of a larger system of trade between the

two societies depends on where we are looking at. To give an example, the city of Beijing and

the Renaissance have similarities in their ideologies and design, even though Beijing is

thousands of miles away from where the Renaissance took place. There are similarities in the

shared ideas of history, and innovation, as well as an attraction to geometry and order; there are

of course differences between the two, but the former two ideas will be explored first.

The idea of looking back on history and innovating it uniquely was shown in both the city

of Beijing and the Renaissance. In Beijing, the city planning itself took influence from an old

city planning book by Zhou Li, especially in the relational and abstract layout of the city; the

north-south axis dominating the east-west axis was an example of the connections between the

two (Zhu 32-33). The innovation and change to appeal to the present were shown in the rise of

neo-Confucianism: a form of Confucianism that combines previous philosophical traditions into

Confucian learning (Zhu 37). One central idea in the Renaissance was the idea of rebirth and

renewal of classicism (Fazio 337). Brunelleschi, fascinated by the antiquity of ancient Rome,
and its importance in the founding of Florence, applied his knowledge of classical Rome, and

Romanesque architecture to the dome of Santa Maria del Fiore rather than being influenced by

the Gothic architecture that was still constructed (Chakraborty 32). Despite the influence of

history, dome construction was innovative, as Brunelleschi invented the new construction

machine to help the process continue more efficiently (Chakraborty 32). The construction of

Beijing and the Renaissance movement in Florence, share a similar interest in history. Renewing

it can seem enticing for the people who oversaw construction, and it makes sense since there is

plenty of rich history in China and Italy; they might be the two most talked about countries thus

far in our class.

In terms of the design aspect of these two different things, there is also a similar love for

geometry, from the configuration of spaces to the numbers that are considered perfect or ideal.

The plan of Beijing features a numerical series based on three, like the three gates of the capital

city, and has importance in ancient Chinese history. The renewal of classicism in the

Renaissance would mean bringing in similar ideas of that era: a delight in geometry and perfect

shapes like a square or circle. San Lorenzo in Florence is an example that clearly shows an

interest in those two shapes. The squares and circles with them that form each part of the basilica

connect the mathematical order to the divine, something highly valued by Florentines in this

period.

The rise of humanism in the Renaissance and its ideas of individualism and rationalism is

a unique stance that contrasts with the cosmological sense of Beijing with the emperor at the

center. This idea of actions being based on rational, and less on religious faith, and its rise in

popularity, created a rising secularization in Europe. The cosmology mentioned Jianfei Zhu has

the king at the center, the one who unites the human and the cosmos, and a receiver of a mandate
from heaven. The king is atop of the hierarchy with everyone else at the bottom, and he has a

role to educate everyone about what he knows. The reliance on the king in a divine sense is a lot

less individualistic than humanism in the Renaissance; this rise of interpretation of things around

you in your way, without a reliance on others, differentiates from the reliance on the emperor to

understand the things around you and the way you live.

Despite all the different buildings and societies we discuss, there are similarities between

a lot of these different cities, ideas, and buildings. In terms of the relationship between Beijing

and the Renaissance, there is a similarity in which the way history is brought back and renewed

in its own way; an interest in geometry, order, and how it influences the layout of a building or a

city. The thought of individualism and humanism that arise in the Renaissance differs from the

less individual thought of a king at the center of the cosmos and human world, and he instructs

the people in the way we should live. Despite how many different cultures, societies, cities, and

buildings there are, it does not mean that these things are all different from each other, either

through contact, or not, and Beijing and the Renaissance are one example of how that can be the

case.