Speaking of domes with Fernando G. Baptista

23/12/2015. [Florence] Italy
metalocus, INÉS LALUETA

Almost 600 years ago after it was built, Filippo Brunelleschi’s dome of Santa Maria del Fiore in Florence, Italy, remains the largest masonry dome ever built. Leaving no plans or sketches behind, some of the secrets of its construction that Brunelleschi pioneered are still an enigma today.

Redefining the dome.

Brunelleschi’s Dome. Courtesy of National Greographic. Art: Fernando G. Baptista, Daniela Santamarina, Matthew Twombly, And Elizabeth Snodgrass, Ngm Staff; Kirsten Huntley; Fanna Gebreyesus; Margaret Ng. Text: A. R. Williams, Ngm Staff. Sources: Rowland Mainstone; Riccardo Dalla Negra, University Of Ferrara, Italy; Massimo Ricci, Forum Unesco-University And Heritage, Polytechnic University of Valencia, Spain; Francesco Gurrieri, University Of Florence.

These infographics as always are by team leaded by Fernando Baptista and the video the Brunelleschi's dome, that you can watch on another of our news, he had the collaboration of the Polytechnic University of Valencia.

In 1418 the town fathers of Florence finally addressed a monumental problem they’d been ignoring for decades: the enormous hole in the roof of their cathedral. Filippo Brunelleschi was tasked with building the largest dome ever seen at the time. He had no formal architecture training. Yet experts still don't fully understand the brilliant methods he used in contructing the dome, which tops the Santa Maria del Fiore cathedral in Florence, Italy. This short animation, presented by National Geographic and created by Fernando Baptista and Matthew Twombly, gives an idea of how the dome of the Duomo might have been built. Demonstrating the complexity of the task, made harder due to poor construction prior to Brunelleschi’s commission, this film serves as a reminder of just how long it can take to create something timeless.

Recognized by his peers as one of the five most influential infographic designers of the past twenty years, and currently working as a senior editor at “infographic heaven” (a.k.a. National Geographic magazine), Fernando Baptista is having a career that most visual journalists can only dream of.

“I graduated in Fine Arts from the University of the Basque Country, and worked as a freelancer for several years in everything I could find: teaching drawing as a designer and illustrator, designing exhibition stands and scenery for theater, painting portraits and murals … and all my life I have drawn comics, I built and sculpted all kinds of things, from models of Star Wars, characters who created, to dinosaurs, superheroes or comic samurai.”

Authors.-

Fernando Baptista (Design)
Matthew Twombly (Design)
Elizabeth Snodgrass (Design)
Daniela Santamaria (Design)
Margaret NG (Design)
Fanna Gebreyesus (Design)
José Miguel Mayo (Design)
Whitney Smith (Design)