Palladio’s La Rotonda as a window to human perception of territory
In this essay, my objective is to investigate the concept of landscape and territory through La Rotonda (Villa Almerico-Capra), designed by Andrea ( di Pietro della Gondola) Palladio. to speculate upon the sociological implications about our perception of territory, in this case with the ‘Palladian Villa’ as the main typology. By doing so, I am endeavouring to provoke a larger discussion about the relationship between people and the abstract concept of territory that is constantly conditioned as we can observe from important designs in architectural history such as this one. Palladio himself was frequently recognised for his orthogonal approach to projecting architectural designs, yet little speculation has been placed upon the effect of this fundamentally flat or two-dimensional form of articulation of architecture within the three-dimensional realm, or built environment, that to this day Andrea Palladio is well-known for.
I will begin my investigation by stating my interests and intents within the essay. I will then move to give a background of the Renaissance period in Italy, and additionally give important examples of the architecture being built at the time as well as typical ‘villa’ programs of the age. This will lead me to introduce the Villa Almerico-Capra, La Rotonda, itself, and elaborate on why it was built and what purpose it serves as a countryside villa in Vicenza. Developing on this, I will explain Palladio’s interest in the Roman architectural styles, and its role in shaping La Rotonda as well as, on a greater scale, its impact on the Renaissance period. Moving on from this, I will build upon how the villa was developed through the techniques that Palladio pioneered during this era, fundamentally straying away from perspective representation and moving to a strictly orthogonal manner of projection, using mostly plans, sections and elevations. This will successively lead me to develop the idea of landscape and territory, by giving examples of theorised concepts of the abstract idea of a territory itself, such as those present in Cosgrove’s ‘Idea of Landscape’. By connecting this to the history of land appropriation of the countryside in Italy and its seminal role in the flourishing of idea of the ‘villa’ typology, to this day a highly regarded symbol according to our modern society conditioned by capitalist ideologies, I can build upon La Rotonda as a window into the conditioned human perception of landscape and territory as we know it. Finally, I will conclude the dissertation by summarising its various speculative theoretical elements and content and subsequently highlight the key arguments and ideas in hopes of opening up a general discussion to a wider audience.
La Rotonda, famously designed by the Renaissance architect Andrea Palladio and built in Vicenza, Italy, in 1570, is arguably one of the most recognisable feats in the architecture of its time, as it still is today. This seemingly glorified villa, however
much a monumental creation, is an undeniably powerful and
telling outcome of a turbulent and complex social and political condition which could be deemed to have shaped our modern sociological temperament. One could speculate that La Rotonda possesses qualities that not only express but also promote the capitalist ideologies emerging during its era.
The Oxford English Dictionary’s first definition of a territory is as follows; “ An area of land under the jurisdiction of a ruler or state”1. In this dissertation, I am attempting to investigate La Rotonda and how it can give one insight about the change in the relationship between humans and their own perception of landscape and territory.
Image: Palladio’s original design of La Rotonda (2018)
Between the 14th and 17th century in Italy, a new age was defined through the adoption of a modern idea of what man’s place in the world should be. “Many of the scientific, artistic and cultural achievements of the so-called Renaissance do share common themes– most notably the humanistic belief that man was the centre of his own universe.”2 This statement conjures up the idea that, during this period, people were interested in the hierarchical concept of man being the most important or integral part of life on earth, or the “centre” of a universe. One could visualise how this would have a strong impact on society on both a political and philosophical level. It was during the era of these conditions that the design and construction of La Rotonda came to fruition.
In 1565, La Rotonda was commissioned by a priest by the name of Paolo Almerico on his retirement from the Vatican. The villa was then fully completed when taken into the custody of the Capra brothers in 1591, hence the name ‘Villa Almerico-Capra’.3 The villa is known to have been built to host parties rather than become a ‘farm’ focused home. The villa’s more commonly known name, La Rotonda, ‘rotunda’ meaning circular in Italian,
1 “Territory | Definition Of Territory In English By Oxford Dictionaries". 2018. Oxford Dictionaries | English. https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/territory.
2 "Italian Renaissance". 2018. HISTORY. https://www.history.com/topics/renaissance/italian- renaissance.
3 "Villa Capra Rotonda". 2018. Architectuul.Com. http://architectuul.com/architecture/villa-capra- rotonda.
stems from the circular space in the very centre of its program, emphasised by an almost perfect symmetry between the programs around it. Palladio’s primary inspiration for the design of the villa came originally from the Pantheon in Rome, another well-known and celebrated piece of architecture.
The architectural style of Palladio was deeply inspired by Roman architecture and driven by its logical basis of construction.
Revealed most thoroughly in the Quattro Libri’, a written study of architecture published by Palladio in 1570, his drawings, comprising of many studies on Roman architecture, display an intentional method of analysis through an orthogonal projection of architecture. His trips to Rome played a seminal role in his architectural education.“The
Image: La Rotonda and hilltop view ("Vicenza And The Palladian Villas" 2018)
drawings Palladio made during these visits would become the source book of his architectural grammar. What is important to note here is Palladio’s drawing method. Influenced by Raphael’s recommendations about the depiction of ancient ruins, he avoided pictorial perspective and instead used a flat orthogonal technique that anticipated modern conventions of orthogonal projection”.4 This builds upon the idea of Palladio’s strong referencing ability with regards to the work of the Romans. Architect Arata Isozaki states in an
interview with the RA (RoyalAcademyofArts) “maybe Palladio is one of such architects, who could reach the real essence of architecture”.5 Even today Isozaki finds that the solutions he reaches to in architecture, though striving for a contemporary ideal, bare strikingly similarity to the those once used by Palladio himself. La Rotonda is, thus, a critical symbol within the realm of Palladian architecture and the ‘villa’ typology as it exudes the most powerful design qualities of Palladio’s architecture; proportionality, symmetry and importance of the program. This is true of most elements of the building except for part of the roof, as the existing flat dome remains untrue to Palladio’s original design of a cupola.
4 Aureli, Pier Vittorio. n.d. Possibility Of An Absolute Architecture.
5 "Arata Isozaki Hon RA: Andrea Palladio Through The Eyes Of Contemporary Architects". 2018. Youtube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gfF4RAMND4o.
“To fulfil its ideological mission, the villa must interact in some way with nature”.6 La Rotonda is no exception to this concept as it is located directly upon a small hill overlooking the green fields in the countryside of Vicenza. Unlike Villa Emo, another of Palladio’s villa designs, which has long lateral ‘barchesse’ that extend out onto the flat topography of the landscape in an almost domineering manner, La Rotonda sits sweetly upon a large mound of terrain, as if a natural podium. It does so a noble manner having its outer most edges define all four cardinal points, and each extended entrance centred ninety degrees from these points.
One could argue that the juxtaposition of the natural landscape of the countryside and the ‘villa’ typology, specifically that of La Rotonda, is a direct consequence on the human relationship to nature and how it shapes a ‘vocabulary’ of territory within this context.“Landscape, I shall argue, is an ideological concept. It represents a way in which certain classes of people have signified themselves and their world through their imagined relationship with nature, and through which they have underlined and communicated their own social role and that of others with respect to external nature.”7Once we grasp this concept of our own imposition upon nature as an agent to our perception of landscape and territory, we can see how La Rotonda, as a ‘villa’ typology, might quite literally ‘frame’ a human idea of landscape and land appropriation as one template to the ideology of territory. Moreover, one could speculate that land appropriation as a colonialist ideology, now deeply ingrained in social and political history, can be viewed as being reinforced by the Villa La Rotonda within a greater capitalist agenda which greatly evolved during this period.
“ The most radical mutation in the history of the villa occurred in the early nineteenth century when the villa ideology became democratised and accessible to the growing body of lower-middle-class city dwellers.”8 This statement appropriately encapsulates the impact of the ‘villa’ typology, in this case, that of La Rotonda, throughout a greater social context.
Overall, La Rotonda can be seen as a significant example of Palladio’s interpretation of the ‘villa’ typology, as well as a window into the objectification of territory through land appropriation and a culmination of social, political and ideological factors. I, therefore, would like to extend the speculation of the ‘villa’ typology, or furthermore, the human
6 Ackerman, James. 1986. "The Villa As Paradigm". Perspecta 22: 10. doi:10.2307/1567090. 7 Cosgrove, Denis, and Stephen Daniels. 2008. The Iconography Of Landscape. Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press.
8 Ackerman, James. 1986. "The Villa As Paradigm". Perspecta 22: 10. doi:10.2307/1567090.
imposition unto land and its consequences upon one’s idea territory as a tangibly controlled entity.
Image: La Rotonda perspective symmetry Personal image (2016)