Piranesi drawings analyzed7/26/2023 My search through books and journals yielded reproductions of only portions of the plan, or reduced reproductions of the entire plan were near the point of illegibility. The Ichnographia remained elusive, however. Therefore, if I was to learn how to design like Kahn, I too needed Piranesi's plan for inspiration. Piecing things together, it then seemed obvious that Piranesi's plan of the Campo Marzio was a source of inspiration for Kahn's planning principles. Kahn, I believe the account of the Ichnographia hanging over Kahn's desk is something I originally heard in architecture school rather than read, and, since many of the mid-1970s faculty members at Temple University's Department of Architecture were either students of Kahn or had worked in Kahn's office, my assumption is reasonably sound.Īlmost as a matter of course, the early years of my architectural education produced a strong personal interest in Kahn's geometric planning, specifically Kahn's unique ability of turning rigorous combinations of simple shapes into elegant plan compositions. Even though I now know that Vincent Scully relates this information within his book, Louis I. ![]() If memory serves me correctly, my initial knowledge of Piranesi's Campo Marzio plan came with the anecdote of how a copy of the plan hung over Louis I. In more concise terms, the Ichnographia comes to represent Piranesi's delineation of ancient Rome's story from beginning to end.Īfter so many years of being intimately involved with the Ichnographia Campus Martius, it is slightly disconcerting to not know exactly when I first saw the large plan. Nevertheless, the Ichnographia rewards splendidly because, after the removal of many layers of incomprehensibility, Piranesi's large plan delivers numerous double narratives where inversion, if not satire, is the dominant theme. Working with the Ichnographia is still rarely easy, however the Latin labels throughout the plan do not always translate well, Piranesi's archeological inaccuracies are enduring hurdles, and the ongoing reading of both ancient and modern texts, along with reading and re-drawing the hundreds of plans within the large plan, is continually intense. The Encyclopedia Ichnographica is the result, so far, of over a decade's worth of re-drawing and re-search, with the joint goal of both efforts being to lift the Ichnographia's shroud of puzzlement, as well as to finally place Piranesi's plan among architecture's paramount designs. Therein lies the Ichnographia's greatest irony - all the pieces are visibly in place while the overall effect remains a puzzle. To understand this plan requires total immersion, even though every aspect of the plan is already completely open to view. The depth of its detail is equally matched by the depth of its meaning. Giovanni Battista Piranesi's Ichnographia Campus Martius is unquestionably a plan full of intrigue. marked by an intricacy of design or action or a complex interrelation of events Intrigue 3 : the plot of a literary or dramatic work esp. Unfathomable : not capable of being fathomed a : INCOMPREHENSIBLE, INSCRUTIBLE b : IMMEASURABLE, IMPENETRABLE Presented here as a work-in-progress, the Encyclopedia Ichnographica will address every detail of Piranesi's plan through an ongoing delivery of descriptive and analytical texts along with computer generated illustrations of the plan redrawn.įathom b : intellectual grasp, penetration, or profundity : COMPREHENSION While representing a reenacted plan of ancient Rome's Field of Mars, Piranesi ingeniously delineates two narratives - that of pagan Rome and that of Christian Rome - and at the same time offers an unprecedented lesson in urban design. Piranesi's Ichnographia Campus Martius, the large plan within the archeological text Il Campo Marzio dell'antica Roma, has inspired numerous architects since its first printing in 1757, yet the Encyclopedia Ichnographica is the first full-scale analysis of the plan's composition, meaning, and message. the Encyclopedia is a work-in-progess, and nothing is in its final state. complicated because many of the entries overlap, and even though I have the use of hyperlinks, it is still going to require much work in fitting all the pieces together. ![]() an encyclopedia of my entire redrawing and research process. refer to the above project as the Encyclopedia Ichnographica. ![]() catalogue all the source data per llect everything-textual references, bibliographical notes, analysis notes, CAD drawings, and Piranesi's drawings. :: Viridarium Neronianum - Xystus Agrippinae ![]() :: Spoliatorium Natantium - Viridarium Lucii Cornisicii Adams, Robert and James - Castra Gentiana
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |