Fiction and Its Connection to Technology
In 1418, the Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore in Florence, which had been under construction since 1296, still stood without a dome. Rain poured through the giant opening into the cathedral. At that time, there were technologies capable of covering large spaces, but they were used in Gothic architecture. The intrigue was that the wealthy merchant city of Florence did not want a cathedral resembling the famous Duomo di Milano (Cathedral of the Nativity of St. Mary) – the first Gothic cathedral built in that part of Italy. Florence was in rivalry with Milan. Therefore, the use of arches, flying buttresses, and columns was not considered by the Florentine authorities.
In 1418, the city fathers announced a competition for the best dome design. The winner, after much hardship and skepticism from the authorities (innovators are often received this way), was local jeweler and inventor Filippo Brunelleschi. The story is fascinating – read about it. But we are interested in something else. The technical challenge was very complex for the time – the dome had to cover an opening 46 meters in diameter, without the use of scaffolding (very expensive) and at a height of 55 meters. The talented engineer not only came up with the dome’s structure, consisting of two shells (inner and outer), but also invented various technical devices necessary for construction, such as a system of hoisting cranes.
Today, the cathedral dome towers over Florence and is its symbol.
In one of our articles on how technological progress is connected with innovation in architecture, we wrote that often scientific inventions far outpace the construction industry and come into conflict with the appearance of buildings and structures. This is a reality even in our era of smartphones, nanotechnologies, and manned space flights. The reason is still the same – while a small number of inventors, with eyes blazing with impatience, try to make their dreams a reality, the majority, not driven by thoughts of infinity (it’s boring there!!!), remain in the past and live in mansions with columns and scrolls from past centuries.
In the 20th century, the philosophy of architecture completely changed, and now our industry, as a type of creative and engineering activity, is fully integrated into technological progress. And here, perhaps, we can confidently say that new technologies do not force architects to design ultra-modern structures; rather, architects set the task for various new technologies.
Italian engineer and architect Pier Luigi Nervi (1891-1979), dreaming of covering large spaces without supports, invented ferrocement, allowing him to design structures known today as shells. The Vatican’s Hall of Audiences, built according to his design, is a huge room that can accommodate 25,000 people. He was called the “poet of reinforced concrete.”
Another example is American Richard Buckminster Fuller, a contemporary of Nervi, who, during a difficult period in his life, pondered whether humanity had a chance to live long and happily on planet Earth. He wrote many books on the subject but is best known as the engineer-designer who invented the “geodesic dome,” capable of covering large spaces. It consists of individual metal rods connected to each other, forming a very strong spatial structure. What led him to this invention? The dream of making life on the planet comfortable and safe. In this case, the enormous dome would serve as protection and a means of creating an artificial climate. He was called a utopian, but Fuller’s followers believe his discoveries were ahead of their time.
These are just a few examples, and they concern only architecture. But there have been and still are dreamers in other fields – Tsiolkovsky, Korolev, our contemporary Elon Musk in astronautics, Bill Gates, Steve Jobs in computer technologies, and other equally talented visionaries in all areas of life. These are people who set tasks and solve them themselves, and their flights of fantasy are boundless.
It all starts with a thought.
