Construction and Pandemic - Duomo (Part 1)

2 hours ago, my boss got an email and said 'oh my god, oh my god'. "what happened?" we asked. she's on the board of the building and received notice someone on 55 thomas street has corona virus. everyone in our office simultaneously got up to survey the streets below to see where the virus was coming from... as if the virus was big enough to see. in trying to find the building, we realize our building straddles worth and thomas streets and has an entry-- 55 thomas. corona is in our building. great. if i die from corona, i die working on a library.

2 days ago, i had to renew my monthly subway card. i thought about biking till this virus runs its course, but then opted for laziness and got the card. now i'm not so sure that was the right decision. if i die from corona, i die from laziness.

2 weeks ago i asked my sister. if i die will you take care of my kids? "yeah sure" she responded. she has 2 girls and a boy.. if i die from corona, she would have a family of 5, 3 boys and 2 girls.

2 months ago, i returned from an eye-opening vacation. if i die from corona, i die with great memories of seeing some of the greatest art and architecture in the world.

2 years ago, someone mentioned it's good to have a will to prepare a trust for the kids, just in case i meet an early end. i said, when you die, who cares? if i die from corona, my estate will be parceled out by the government.

602 years ago, on August 19, 1418, a public design competition was announced for the dome of the Florence duomo. The prize was 200 florins or 2 year’s worth of salary for skilled craftsmen. Entrants had 6 weeks to produce models, draw ideas, or make suggestion in how the dome may be built. The proposals had to address 2 main issues: how to create a temporary wooden scaffolding to construct the dome, and how to raise heavy multi-ton marble and sandstone blocks to its top.

Florence, with a population of 50,000 (same as London at that time) had risen to prosperity through the strength of its wool industry started by the umilati monks who arrived at the banks of the Arno river in 1239. Raw English wool was brought to Florence to be dyed, and woven into most expensive cloth in Europe. The infusion of wealth prompted many large scale building projects like the 20 foot high city fortifications that took 50 years, the palazzo vecchio town hall with its 300 foot high hell tower, and the 280 foot tall campanile designed by Giotto that took 20 years to complete. The scale of construction within Florence hadn’t been seen in Italy since Ancient Rome.

The biggest building project Florence however was the new cathedral Santa Maria del Fiore. The building construction was started in 1296 by arnoldo di Cambio (architect of the city’s fortifications and palazzo vecchio) and survived the Black Death 1347 which wiped out 80% of the city’s population, and rival military advances from Milan. Entire forests were procured and and huge slabs of marble were floated down the Arno for its construction.

The final approved design of the dome was proposed by Neri di fioravanti in 1367. For 50 years, Neri’s 15 foot tall and 30 foot long model showing the intent of the cathedral stood in the unfinished structure. The main problem was the construction of the dome, which if built, would be the highest and widest dome ever built... wider than the Hagia Sophia in constantinople, or the pantheon in Rome, and over 150 feet higher than the cathedral at beauvais. The support of the dome eschewed the clumsy flying buttresses used by florence’s enemies, France, Germany and Milan. Instead, Neri proposed a double shelled dome structure like the ones used in Persian mosques where the outer shell was taller and impressive in height while sheltering the inner shell which was scaled to the interior. The shape of the dome was also unique in that it wasn’t spherical in section (like the pantheon and Sydney opera house) but was pointed. The facets of the roof were intended to spring from its octagonal base and meet at a point like gothic arches. Every year, the building architects and construction managers working on the church had to place their hands on a bible and swear they would build the church as Neri modeled. Predating the field of structural analysis, the managers of the church construction had no idea how the dome would be completed. They had faith and prayed to god to provide a solution.

More than a dozen models were submitted for the dome completion in the fall of 1418 from designers and craftsmen as far away as Pisa and Siena. The model that showed the most promise did not come from a carpenter or mason... but from a 41 year old goldsmith and clockmaker... Filipino Brunelleschi.