The city as a computer: Rome under the design of Bernini and Maffeo Barberini (Urban V)
July 8 2012, 8:04 AM
A quote from "The Earth Moves, Galileo and the Roman Inquisition" by Dan
Hofstadter, concerning the plans that Barberini and Bernini had for Rome:
"The old Rome had been a hodgepodge of evocative structures in which a
pilgrim struggled to find an axis of symmetry whereby he could orient
himself; basically, he always had to ask his way around. The new, optical
Rome offered landmarks: it was characterisized by straight thoroughfares
with an obelisk centered at the focal point, on the axis of symmetry of an
important facade, like a church. The visual channel of the avenue thus
worked analogously to a telescope..." Here you have B+B redesigning Rome so that the city as a machine can better
direct pilgrims around it. It it is interesting that Hofstadter mentions telescopes, because they
would have been the obvious example in a book about Galileo. But the more
general technology of the time that would be hot was optics. Indeed Galileo
didn't invent the telescope by his technology allowed him to make better
ones to see further. Also at the time painters were getting better with
perspective, and if you believe David Hockney, artists were using optical
devices to make dramatic improvements in painting (see his book "Secret
Knowledge"). So I believe that B+B were taking the hot technology of the
time, optics, and applying it to the city. The city becomes an optical
device (analog IT) for people in it. Anyway, some random thoughts pulled together from random books, typed up
sloppily on my Blackberry Curve (a superior note taking device to an all
glass mobile device)
-----------------
Sent from my BlackBerry Handheld.
Hofstadter, concerning the plans that Barberini and Bernini had for Rome:
"The old Rome had been a hodgepodge of evocative structures in which a
pilgrim struggled to find an axis of symmetry whereby he could orient
himself; basically, he always had to ask his way around. The new, optical
Rome offered landmarks: it was characterisized by straight thoroughfares
with an obelisk centered at the focal point, on the axis of symmetry of an
important facade, like a church. The visual channel of the avenue thus
worked analogously to a telescope..." Here you have B+B redesigning Rome so that the city as a machine can better
direct pilgrims around it. It it is interesting that Hofstadter mentions telescopes, because they
would have been the obvious example in a book about Galileo. But the more
general technology of the time that would be hot was optics. Indeed Galileo
didn't invent the telescope by his technology allowed him to make better
ones to see further. Also at the time painters were getting better with
perspective, and if you believe David Hockney, artists were using optical
devices to make dramatic improvements in painting (see his book "Secret
Knowledge"). So I believe that B+B were taking the hot technology of the
time, optics, and applying it to the city. The city becomes an optical
device (analog IT) for people in it. Anyway, some random thoughts pulled together from random books, typed up
sloppily on my Blackberry Curve (a superior note taking device to an all
glass mobile device)
-----------------
Sent from my BlackBerry Handheld.