Ospedale Degli Innocenti

    Ospedale Degli Innocenti is a public building designed by Brunelleschi in 1419. This is the first Renaissance style building in the history of architecture. Brunelleschi studied a large number of ancient Roman and Greek buildings in his early years, so he was able to combine the architectural style with the times while retaining the classical elements. The public buildings of his era used a large number of arched colonnades. Brunelleschi continued to use this design but changed the decoration of the column top to Corinthian order. And he designed the bay plane of the arch as a square, which is a very traditional classical style.

    Interestingly, Brunelleschi avoided the use of the Gothic style. When designing the dome of the Cathedral of Florence, the Gothic style of the dome conformed to the mechanical design, so he compromised. When designing Ospedale Degli Innocenti, he designed the arch contour very smoothly, instead of having a sharp corner on it like the Gothic arch. Brunelleschi paid attention to the proportion in architecture. He emphasized the symmetry of the arcades of Ospedale Degli Innocenti and the regularity of the square, which made Ospedale Degli Innocenti echo the classical architectural style. Ospedale Degli Innocenti is undoubtedly the representative of Renaissance style architecture.