Lewis | September 11, 2015 | 0 Comments
If you aren’t an architect, the name of Andrea Palladio may not mean too much to you. Unless that’s your name, in which case, we have stumbled onto a nice coincidence! However, thanks to an article from the BBC, you will find out about the man right here on the Oakleigh Manor blog!
As we are heavily involved in landscape architecture, we like to keep in touch with architecture world as a whole. You may have seen previous blog posts from us about certain developments in the industry, rather than just from a landscaping perspective. The building elements not only interest us, but they also help us in any projects we carry out that involve a number of building techniques. But we don’t have to justify what we decide to put in our blog! If it is interesting and somewhat within our field, we will include it for your benefit.
So enough beating around the bush; let’s get stuck in! Palladio is considered to be one of the most influential architects of all time. His use of columns within his building designs has been something that has stood the test of time for almost half a millennium. However, from the Royal Institute of British Architects, the chief curator of collections Charles Hind is under the impression that it was Palladio’s introduction of Roman architecture, a huge influence on his work, to each social class rather than just the aristocracy at the time.
This is an opinion that truly can be seen. To this day, building hundreds of years old featuring pillars, whether they were designed by Palladio himself in his native Venice or relatively new builds in another part of Europe, you can be rather certain that they have stood the test of time thanks to his ability as wells as his teachings. Instead of seeing pillars of grand buildings, such as the one in the featured photograph, you can also see them on a cow shed in Somerset, if you’ll click on the link to the BBC website above. His work is exceptional, so much so the Palladian Villas of Veneto are UNESCO World Heritage Sites.
For me, what makes Palladio special int he field of architecture is the fact that as the time of his life, not much was known about the Roman Empire’s architecture. However, he would study the ruins of these buildings and cleverly incorporate the ideology he saw in his designs. Another innovation of his: he was the first to integrate columned porches, or ‘porticos’, into domestic dwellings. Previously, they were only commonplace on religious structures.
His influence has stretched well beyond his Italian shores. You can see inspirations of his work anywhere and everywhere, whether you are in the USA, Ireland, India, Germany and even in Trafalgar Square in London; the St Martin-in-the-Fields church which has a stunning ‘portico’.
Do you live in a house which has Palladian stylings? Perhaps you have a favourite building that has? Let us know in the comment section below!
Oakleigh Manor Limited are a multi-disciplinary company specialising in providing all outdoor needs under one roof, for all size and styles of external spaces. Our expertise has led us to numerous national awards, but what fuels us every day is the ethos we adopt: to create unique, bespoke projects. You can see perfect examples of these by looking at our Drainage webpage.
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Photo credit: <a href=”https://www.flickr.com/photos/ronsaunders47/188950030/”>ronsaunders47</a> / <a href=”http://foter.com/”>Foter</a> / <a href=”http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/”>CC BY-SA</a>
