how did renaissance architecture solved their problems in terms of lightning ventilation?

Question

i'm an architecture student and this is for my written report in history of architecture, i need 1500 words so your ideas are very much appreciated! thank you very much!

Answer 1

I assume you mean "lighting" rather than "lightning", as this is one of the principles of Gothic (ie. Renaissance) architecture.

The major problem encountered by church builders was that the heavy roofing had to be supported somehow and the limited strength of the Roman round-headed arch meant that a typical building ended up with a forest of columns and load-bearing walls.

A load-bearing wall cannot be penetrated by too many window spaces until it is too weak to bear the load of the roof. Thus pre-Renaissance buildings tended to have small window apertures and were therefore poorly lit.

The Gothic answer was to take the load away from the walls. They achieved this by the invention of the pointed arch which had better load-bearing capabilities than the round arch, and by the use of flying buttresses.

By removing the loads from the walls, these could then have huge window spaces put in them.

The attached picture of Notre-Dame in Paris highlight this very well.

Answer 2

if you are an architecture student didnt your professor have a lecture about renaissance architecture?