| San Lorenzo and Santo Spirito: a New Type of Basilica Church |
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"In rebuilding the basilicas of S. Lorenzo and S. Spirito, Brunelleschi
proposed his new type of church, decidedly classicizing, flooded
with light for a distinct architectural clarity (and not
mystically in half light as in precedence), absolutely regular
and symmetrical in its corrispondences, in the continuous
orchestration. They are churches where one feels a secular
rational component, a measured scansion, which predominate over
the precedent choral, religious collective sense" (L.
Berti). The first projects for S. Spirito date to 1428.
Brunelleschi's idea was to reverse the orientation of the church
so that the facade would face out on a large piazza overlooking
the Arno, a confirmation of his constant attempt to see the
architecture-city relationship as fundamental. The idea was
turned down because of the objections raised by various families
who owned houses and land in the area in question between the
church and the river and whose representatives were members of
the committee to which the project was submitted for approval.
The larger room of the Old Sacristy and of the Pazzi Chapel are of the same size
(circa 20 braccia or cubits per side). In S. Lorenzo and in S.
Spirito the width of the church is almost the same, confirmation
of the fact that for Brunelleschi the building, whatever space
and condition it was placed in, was to be realized as a
recapitulation of the entire space. But in S. Spirito, which
corresponded most to his ideas, the relationship of the nave to
the aisles, which in S. Lorenzo is very approximate, is precisely
twice. All the planimetric measurements of S. Spirito derive from
one measurement alone, the side of the smaller bay (exactly
eleven braccia). Brunelleschi attempted to resolve the greatest
complexity by repeating equal elements which referred to a
unified organism, the whole. He attempted to realize the concept
of multiplicity in unity by a proportional control. The
articulation of the spaces, which in S. Lorenzo was entrusted to
pilasters and columns of varying height, here depended on columns
that were all alike. The lateral spaces are no longer distinct
and graduated in perspective, but lead directly to and are
articulated on the arches of the nave. All straight walls are
eliminated and the continuity of concavities and convexities in
the perimetral chapels makes it impossible to evaluate the
thickness of the external wall so that the material is felt as
the articulation of the spatial circumscription itself and not in
its physical consistency (thickness, etc.). The
invention-definition of the closing wall also solves the nature
of the relationship interior-exterior, for the chapels were to
remain visible from the outside. The repetition of the same
module along the entire perimeter expressed Brunelleschi's
concept of circularity, which is echoed everywhere, in the
perimetral wall, in the domed aisles, in the shafts of the
columns, in the moldings, in the silhouettes of the windows, etc.
It should be noted that the arms of the nave were to he covered
with barrel vaults which were connected to the dome.
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