Stairs & Staircases

The Renaissance Period

A renaissance staircase can make a great addition to your home or building as a feature staircase. The Renaissance style emphasis symmetry, proportion, geometry and regularity as a result of the rediscovered works of Vitruvius (C1st, the Roman Empire). Drawing on classical styles and its emphasis on mathematics, Renaissance architecture improved classical designs while still using the classical orders of Tuscan, Doric, Ionic, Corinthian and Composite (in order from simplest to most elaborate). Renaissance used these classical orders of columns both as structural supporting devices for architraves as well as for purely aesthetic purposes in the form of pilasters (set against the wall), but always in orderly arrangements. It also used semicircular arches, hemispherical domes, and segmental or semicircular vaults (without ribs unlike the Gothic styles).

Renaissance Eras

The Renaissance period is usually further designated by historians into the Early Renaissance (1400 – 1500 AD, also known as the Quattrocento), the High Renaissance (1500 – 1525 AD), and Mannerism (1520 – 1600 AD). In the Early Renaissance, classical concepts of order, detail and ornamentation were studied and experimented with. An example of the way space was formed according to geometric principles is the Basilica di San Lorenzo in Florence. It demonstrates the attempt to create a proportional relationship between nace and aisle, the use of an integrated system of columns, arches and entablatures and the use of spherical segments in the vaults of the side aisles.

The High Renaissance was characterised by the application of classical architecture to contemporary buildings, including those designed by Bramante, such as the application of circular Roman temples to Christian cathedrals: St. Peter’s Basilica, Santa Maria delle Grazie, San Pietro and the Cortile del Belvedere. During the Mannerist period there was more experimentation that emphasised solid and spatial relationships, with much freer rhythms. Michelangelo was the best known architect of this style.