Point: Alternatives

Beckoning forth various design revolutions, a perceptual break from traditional architecture served to spearhead the periods of transition following the creative stagnation of the Dark Ages. With the downfall of the Roman Empire and it's subsequent ideologies, Europe was thrown into a period of instability, with the remnants of traditional architecture serving to maintain the near-severed link to the past. However, with rampant uncertainty and lack of direction taking foothold throughout Europe, the fruition of the Gothic style as a design standard met little resistance; it's presence veiling the principles of Europe and prompting the rise of the Catholic Church and its far-reaching influences. As such, a new era of architecture serving to manipulate and reinterpret the classical styles of the past emerged.

Unlike the secular concerns of the Roman Empire, a spiritual focus came to govern design throughout the Gothic Age. Heavenly oriented architecture that categorized the existence of Man in respect to God became the standard, sparking the construction of Cathedrals throughout Europe. These buildings, which employed the use of light to illuminate it's interiors (ie. Amiens, Cologne Cathedral), helped perpetuate the atmosphere of divinity, bringing closure to the many who struggled to find spiritual enlightenment. Although historically short lived, the period provided the necessary tools to break from the traditional plane of thought.

The revival and reinterpretation of the classical aspects of design belonging to the Greeks and Romans came to light with the passing of the Renaissance. Returning to a human oriented focus, architecture served to celebrate the intellectual and creative facets of Man. Within the confines of the classical balancing of elements, buildings were constructed with clearly present boundaries, maintaining a harmonious unity equivalent to the rationalizations of the respective design period. The façade of Santa Maria Novella clearly demonstrates this transitional period of reinterpretation; although without function, the borrowing of columns and elements of design from the classics gives the facade a visually stimulating appearance, pinpointing it's details on the front. Also, because the Renaissance paralleled a period of prosperity and wealth, various classes were capable of constructing their own images of classical representation, bringing about various designs that expanded the movement as a whole.

Although it's appropriate to accept the limitations of finite surfaces concerning the portrayal of infinite measures, the realm of movement through the manipulation of design was evidently articulated by the following Baroque period, creating within it a medium for which the embodiment of social performance became possible. As such, because the period placed emphasis on the effect of movement rather than the effect of symmetry and balance, as demonstrated with the passing of the Renaissance, a representational depiction that suggested the existence of the unseen came to find solace within the distortions and deliberate bending of space. Mirroring nature, baroque thinkers expressed ordered worlds consistently threatened by unknown forces, environments existing in essential but fragile harmony. Like the curving staircases throughout the period that deviated from the linear form, the symbolic representation of movement broke from the traditional notion of function over style, with the illusion of motion being both figurative and dramatic.

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