Who Was Brunelleschi Important To The Renaissance?

n Florence, Italy, the main body of the Cathedral of Florence was designed and built under the direction of architect Arnolfo DI Cambio.[1] Sadly, once the huge structure had been mostly completed, construction suddenly stopped. No one knew how to create the 8 sided dome—nearly 150 feet across—that would stay up without any columns or supports, and be built 180 feet above the ground on top of the existing walls. They finally announced a contest for the best dome design, with a prize of 200 gold florins for the winner.[2]

Consequently, town leaders asked many baffling questions, such as whether a dome weighing thousands of tons could stay up without any traditional supports such as huge buttresses and tall, pointed arches; or whether there was even enough timber in Tuscany to build the scaffolding and templates that were needed to begin construction; or whether the dome could even be built without collapsing inward or exploding outward during construction. [2] …show more content…
“Brunelleschi's basic six-step design process consisted of analyzing design requirements, making a concept design, making a detailed design, planning the manufacturing process, manufacturing the parts, and assembling the parts.” His discovery and design process was an entirely new concept in the world of building and design, and Filippo Brunelleschi eventually shared his discovery and plans so that others could build off of and learn from those principles.