Scallop
Scallop is a common name, applied to any one of numerous species of saltwater clams or marine bivalve mollusks in the taxonomic family Pectinidae, the scallops. However, the common name "scallop" is sometimes applied to species in other related families within the superfamily Pectinoidea, which includes the thorny oysters. Scallops are a cosmopolitan family of bivalves which are found in all of the world's oceans, although never in fresh water, they are one of few groups of bivalves to be "free-living", with many species capable of swimming short distances and of migrating some distance across the ocean floor. A small minority of scallop species live cemented to rocky substrates as adults, while others attach themselves to stationary or rooted objects such as sea grass at some point in their lives by means of a filament they secrete called a byssal thread; the majority of species, live recumbent on sandy substrates, when they sense the presence of a predator such as a starfish, they may attempt to escape by swimming swiftly but erratically through the water using jet propulsion created by clapping their shells together.
Scallops have a well-developed nervous system, unlike most other bivalves all scallops have a ring of numerous simple eyes situated around the edge of their mantles. Many species of scallops are prized as a food source, some are farmed as aquaculture; the word "scallop" is applied to the meat of these bivalves, the adductor muscle, sold as seafood. The brightly coloured, fan-shaped shells of scallops with their radiating and fluted ornamentation are valued by shell collectors, have been used since ancient times as motifs in art and design. Owing to their widespread distribution, scallop shells are a common sight on beaches and are brightly coloured, making them a popular object to collect among beachcombers and vacationers; the shells have a significant place in popular culture, including symbolism. Scallops inhabit all the oceans of the world, with the largest number of species living in the Indo-Pacific region. Most species live in shallow waters from the low tide line to 100 m, while others prefer much deeper water.
Although some species only live in narrow environments, most are opportunistic and can live under a wide variety of conditions. Scallops can be found living within, upon, or under either rocks, rubble, sea grass, sand, or mud. Most scallops begin their lives as byssally attached juveniles, an ability that some retain throughout their lives while others grow into freeliving adults. Little variation occurs in the internal arrangement of organs and systems within the scallop family, what follows can be taken to apply to the anatomy of any given scallop species; the shell of a scallop consists of two sides or valves, a left valve and a right one, divided by a plane of symmetry. Most species of scallops rest on their right valve, this valve is deeper and more rounded than the left valve, which in many species is concave. With the hinge of the two valves oriented towards the top, one side corresponds to the animal's morphological anterior or front, the other is the posterior or rear, the hinge is the dorsal or back/ top region, the bottom corresponds to the ventral or underside/ belly.
However, as many scallop shells are more or less bilaterally symmetrical, as well as symmetrical front/back, determining which way a given animal is "facing" requires detailed information about its valves. The model scallop shell consists of two shaped valves with a straight hinge line along the top, devoid of teeth, producing a pair of flat wings or "ears" on either side of its midpoint, a feature, unique to and apparent in all adult scallops; these ears may be of similar size and shape. As is the case in all bivalves, a series of lines and/or growth rings originates at the center of the hinge, at a spot called the "beak" surrounded by a raised area called the "umbo"; these growth rings increase in size downwards. The shells of most scallops are streamlined to facilitate ease of movement during swimming at some point in their lifecycles, while providing protection from predators. Scallops with ridged valves have the advantage of the architectural strength provided by these ridges called "ribs", although the ribs are somewhat costly in terms of weight and mass.
A unique feature of the scallop family is the presence, at some point during the animal's lifecycle, of a distinctive and taxonomically important shell feature, a comb-like structure called a ctenolium located on the anterior edge of the right valve next to the valve's byssal notch. Though many scallops lose this feature as they become free-swimming adults, all scallops have a ctenolium at some point during their lives, no other bivalve has an analogous shell feature; the ctenolium is found in modern scallops only. Like the true oysters, scallops have a single central adductor muscle, thus the inside of their shells has a characteristic central scar, marking the point of attachment for this muscle; the adductor muscle of scallops is larger and more developed than those of oysters, because scallops are active swimmers.
Colonnade
In classical architecture, a colonnade is a long sequence of columns joined by their entablature free-standing, or part of a building. Paired or multiple pairs of columns are employed in a colonnade which can be straight or curved; the space enclosed may be open. In St. Peter's Square in Rome, Bernini's great colonnade encloses a vast open elliptical space; when in front of a building, screening the door, it is called a portico, when enclosing an open court, a peristyle. A portico may be more than one rank of columns deep, as at the Pantheon in Rome or the stoae of Ancient Greece; when the intercolumniation is alternately wide and narrow, a colonnade may be termed araeosystyle, as in the case of the western porch of St Paul's Cathedral and the east front of the Louvre by Perrault. Colonnades have been built since ancient times and interpretations of the classical model have continued through to modern times, Neoclassical styles remained popular for centuries. At the British Museum, for example, porticos are continued along the front as a colonnade.
The porch of columns that surrounds the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D. C. can be termed a colonnade. As well as the traditional use in buildings and monuments, colonnades are used in sports stadiums such as the Harvard Stadium in Boston, where the entire horseshoe-shaped stadium is topped by a colonnade; the longest colonnade in the United States, with 36 Corinthian columns, is the New York State Education Building in Albany, New York. Agora Balustrade
Donato Bramante
Donato Bramante, born as Donato di Pascuccio d'Antonio and known as Bramante Lazzari, was an Italian architect. He introduced Renaissance architecture to Milan and the High Renaissance style to Rome, where his plan for St. Peter's Basilica formed the basis of design executed by Michelangelo, his Tempietto marked the beginning of the High Renaissance in Rome when Pope Julius II appointed him to build a sanctuary over the spot where Peter was crucified. Bramante was born under the name Donato d'Augnolo, Donato di Pascuccio d'Antonio, or Donato Pascuccio d'Antonio in Fermignano near Urbino. Here, in 1467, Luciano Laurana was adding to the Palazzo Ducale an arcaded courtyard and other Renaissance features to Federico da Montefeltro's ducal palace. Bramante's architecture has eclipsed his painting skills: he knew the painters Melozzo da Forlì and Piero della Francesca well, who were interested in the rules of perspective and illusionistic features in Mantegna's painting. Around 1474, Bramante moved to Milan, a city with a deep Gothic architectural tradition, built several churches in the new Antique style.
The Duke, Ludovico Sforza, made him his court architect, beginning in 1476, with commissions that culminated in the famous trompe-l'oeil choir of the church of Santa Maria presso San Satiro. Space was limited, Bramante made a theatrical apse in bas-relief, combining the painterly arts of perspective with Roman details. There is an octagonal sacristy, surmounted by a dome. In Milan, Bramante built the tribune of Santa Maria delle Grazie. However, in 1499, with his Sforza patron driven from Milan by an invading French army, Bramante made his way to Rome, where he was known to the powerful Cardinal Riario. In Rome, he was soon recognized by Cardinal Della Rovere, shortly to become Pope Julius II. For Ferdinand of Aragon and Isabella of Castile or Julius II, Bramante designed one of the most harmonious buildings of the Renaissance: the Tempietto of San Pietro in Montorio on the Janiculum. Despite its small scale, the construction has all the rigorous proportions and symmetry of Classical structures, surrounded by slender Doric columns, surmounted by a dome.
According to a engraving by Sebastiano Serlio, Bramante planned to set it within a colonnaded courtyard. In November 1503, Julius engaged Bramante for the construction of the grandest European architectural commission of the 16th century, the complete rebuilding of St Peter's Basilica; the cornerstone of the first of the great piers of the crossing was laid with ceremony on 17 April 1506. Few drawings by Bramante survive, though some by his assistants do, demonstrating the extent of the team, assembled. Bramante's vision for St Peter's, a centralized Greek cross plan that symbolized sublime perfection for him and his generation was fundamentally altered by the extension of the nave after his death in 1514. Bramante's plan envisaged four great chapels filling the corner spaces between the equal transepts, each one capped with a smaller dome surrounding the great dome over the crossing. So Bramante's original plan was much more Romano-Byzantine in its forms than the basilica, built. Bramante worked on several other commissions.
Among his earliest works in Rome, before the Basilica's construction was under way, is the cloister of Santa Maria della Pace near Piazza Navona. Santa Maria presso San Satiro, Milan, ca. 1482–1486 Palazzo della Cancelleria, Rome, ca. 1489-1513 Santa Maria delle Grazie. Palazzo Caprini, started around 1510 Leon Battista Alberti Giorgio Vasari Sauer, Joseph. "Donato Bramante". Catholic Encyclopedia. 2. Donato Bramante Source Information, Pictures & Documentaries about Donato
Trevi Fountain
The Trevi Fountain is a fountain in the Trevi district in Rome, designed by Italian architect Nicola Salvi and completed by Giuseppe Pannini and several others. Standing 26.3 metres high and 49.15 metres wide, it is the largest Baroque fountain in the city and one of the most famous fountains in the world. The fountain has appeared in several notable films, including Roman Holiday, Federico Fellini's La Dolce Vita, the eponymous Three Coins in the Fountain, The Lizzie McGuire Movie, Sabrina Goes to Rome; the fountain at the junction of three roads marks the terminal point of the "modern" Acqua Vergine, the revived Aqua Virgo, one of the aqueducts that supplied water to ancient Rome. In 19 BC with the help of a virgin, Roman technicians located a source of pure water some 13 km from the city. However, the eventual indirect route of the aqueduct made its length some 22 km; this Aqua Virgo led the water into the Baths of Agrippa. It served Rome for more than 400 years. In 1629 Pope Urban VIII, finding the earlier fountain insufficiently dramatic, asked Gian Lorenzo Bernini to sketch possible renovations, but the project was abandoned when the pope died.
Though Bernini's project was never constructed, there are many Bernini touches in the fountain as it exists today. An early, influential model by Pietro da Cortona, preserved in the Albertina, Vienna exists, as do various early 18th century sketches, most unsigned, as well as a project attributed to Nicola Michetti one attributed to Ferdinando Fuga and a French design by Edmé Bouchardon. Competitions had become popular during the Baroque era to design buildings, fountains, as well as the Spanish Steps. In 1730 Pope Clement XII organized a contest in which Nicola Salvi lost to Alessandro Galilei – but due to the outcry in Rome over a Florentine having won, Salvi was awarded the commission anyway. Work began in 1732. Salvi died in 1751 with his work half finished, but he had made sure a barber's unsightly sign would not spoil the ensemble, hiding it behind a sculpted vase, called by Romans the asso di coppe, the "Ace of Cups", because of its resemblance to a Tarot card. Four different sculptors were hired to complete the fountain's decorations: Pietro Bracci, Filippo della Valle, Giovanni Grossi, Andrea Bergondi.
Giuseppe Pannini was hired as architect. The Trevi Fountain was finished in 1762 by Pannini, who substituted the present allegories for planned sculptures of Agrippa and Trivia, the Roman virgin, it was opened and inaugurated on May 22 by Pope Clement XIII. The majority of the piece is made from Travertine stone, quarried near Tivoli, about 35 kilometres east of Rome; the fountain was refurbished once in 1988 to remove discoloration caused by smog, again in 1998. In January 2013, it was announced that the Italian fashion company Fendi would sponsor a 20-month, 2.2-million-euro restoration of the fountain. Restoration work began in June 2014 and was completed in November 2015; the fountain was reopened with an official ceremony on the evening of November 3, 2015. The restoration included the installation of more than 100 LED lights to improve the nighttime illumination of the fountain; the backdrop for the fountain is the Palazzo Poli, given a new façade with a giant order of Corinthian pilasters that link the two main stories.
Taming of the waters is the theme of the gigantic scheme that tumbles forward, mixing water and rockwork, filling the small square. Tritons guide Oceanus' shell chariot, taming hippocamps. In the centre a robustly-modelled triumphal arch is superimposed on the palazzo façade; the centre niche or exedra framing Oceanus has free-standing columns for maximal shade. In the niches flanking Oceanus, Abundance spills water from her urn and Salubrity holds a cup from which a snake drinks. Above, bas reliefs illustrate the Roman origin of the aqueducts; the Tritons and horses provide symmetrical balance, with the maximum contrast in their mood and poses. Coins are purportedly meant to be thrown using the right hand over the left shoulder; this was the theme of 1954's Three Coins in the Fountain and the Academy Award-winning song by that name which introduced the picture. An estimated 3,000 euros are thrown into the fountain each day. In 2016, an estimated €1.4 million was thrown into the fountain. The money has been used to subsidize a supermarket for Rome's needy.
In 1973, the Italian national postal service dedicated a postage stamp to the Trevi Fountain. List of fountains in Rome Fountains of Rome Citations Bibliography Roman Bookshelf – Trevi Fountain – Views from the 18th and 19th centuries Trevi Fountain Virtual 360° panorama and photo gallery. Engraving of the fountain's more modest predecessor
Architecture
Architecture is both the process and the product of planning and constructing buildings or any other structures. Architectural works, in the material form of buildings, are perceived as cultural symbols and as works of art. Historical civilizations are identified with their surviving architectural achievements. Architecture is both the process and the product of planning and constructing buildings and other physical structures. Architecture can mean: A general term to describe other physical structures; the art and science of designing buildings and nonbuilding structures. The style of design and method of construction of buildings and other physical structures. A unifying or coherent form or structure. Knowledge of art, science and humanity; the design activity of the architect, from the macro-level to the micro-level. The practice of the architect, where architecture means offering or rendering professional services in connection with the design and construction of buildings, or built environments.
The earliest surviving written work on the subject of architecture is De architectura, by the Roman architect Vitruvius in the early 1st century AD. According to Vitruvius, a good building should satisfy the three principles of firmitas, venustas known by the original translation – firmness and delight. An equivalent in modern English would be: Durability – a building should stand up robustly and remain in good condition. Utility – it should be suitable for the purposes for which it is used. Beauty – it should be aesthetically pleasing. According to Vitruvius, the architect should strive to fulfill each of these three attributes as well as possible. Leon Battista Alberti, who elaborates on the ideas of Vitruvius in his treatise, De Re Aedificatoria, saw beauty as a matter of proportion, although ornament played a part. For Alberti, the rules of proportion were those that governed the idealised human figure, the Golden mean; the most important aspect of beauty was, therefore, an inherent part of an object, rather than something applied superficially, was based on universal, recognisable truths.
The notion of style in the arts was not developed until the 16th century, with the writing of Vasari: by the 18th century, his Lives of the Most Excellent Painters and Architects had been translated into Italian, French and English. In the early 19th century, Augustus Welby Northmore Pugin wrote Contrasts that, as the titled suggested, contrasted the modern, industrial world, which he disparaged, with an idealized image of neo-medieval world. Gothic architecture, Pugin believed, was the only "true Christian form of architecture." The 19th-century English art critic, John Ruskin, in his Seven Lamps of Architecture, published 1849, was much narrower in his view of what constituted architecture. Architecture was the "art which so disposes and adorns the edifices raised by men... that the sight of them" contributes "to his mental health and pleasure". For Ruskin, the aesthetic was of overriding significance, his work goes on to state that a building is not a work of architecture unless it is in some way "adorned".
For Ruskin, a well-constructed, well-proportioned, functional building needed string courses or rustication, at the least. On the difference between the ideals of architecture and mere construction, the renowned 20th-century architect Le Corbusier wrote: "You employ stone and concrete, with these materials you build houses and palaces:, construction. Ingenuity is at work, but you touch my heart, you do me good. I am happy and I say: This is beautiful; that is Architecture". Le Corbusier's contemporary Ludwig Mies van der Rohe said "Architecture starts when you put two bricks together. There it begins." The notable 19th-century architect of skyscrapers, Louis Sullivan, promoted an overriding precept to architectural design: "Form follows function". While the notion that structural and aesthetic considerations should be subject to functionality was met with both popularity and skepticism, it had the effect of introducing the concept of "function" in place of Vitruvius' "utility". "Function" came to be seen as encompassing all criteria of the use and enjoyment of a building, not only practical but aesthetic and cultural.
Nunzia Rondanini stated, "Through its aesthetic dimension architecture goes beyond the functional aspects that it has in common with other human sciences. Through its own particular way of expressing values, architecture can stimulate and influence social life without presuming that, in and of itself, it will promote social development.' To restrict the meaning of formalism to art for art's sake is not only reactionary. Among the philosophies that have influenced modern architects and their approach to building design are rationalism, structuralism, poststructuralism, phenomenology. In the late 20th century a new concept was added to those included in the compass of both structure and function, the consideration of sustainability, hence sustainable architecture. To satisfy the contemporary ethos a building should be constructed in a manner, environmentally friendly in terms of the production of its materials, its impact upon the natural and built environment of its surrounding area and the demands that it makes upon non-sustainable power sources for heating, cooling and waste management and lighting
Peristyle
In Hellenistic Greek and Roman architecture a peristyle is a continuous porch formed by a row of columns surrounding the perimeter of building or a courtyard. Tetrastoon is a used archaic term for this feature; the peristyle in a Greek temple is a peristasis. In the Christian ecclesiastical architecture that developed from the Roman basilica, a courtyard peristyle and its garden came to be known as a cloister. In rural settings, a wealthy Roman could surround a villa with terraced gardens; the peristylium was an open courtyard within the house. Sometimes the lararium, a shrine for the Lares, the gods of the household, was located in this portico, or it might be found in the atrium; the courtyard might contain flowers and shrubs, benches and fish ponds. Romans devoted as large a space to the peristyle as site constraints permitted; the end of the Roman domus is one mark of the extinction of late antiquity: "the disappearance of the Roman peristyle house marks the end of the ancient world and its way of life," remarked Simon P. Ellis.
"No new peristyle houses were built after A. D. 550." Noting that as houses and villas were abandoned in the fifth century, a few palatial structures were expanded and enriched, as power and classical culture became concentrated in a narrowing class, public life withdrew to the basilica, or audience chamber, of the magnate. In the Eastern Roman empire, late antiquity lingered longer: Ellis identified the latest-known peristyle house built from scratch as the "House of the Falconer" at Argos, dating from the style of its floor mosaics about 530-550. Existing houses were subdivided in many cases, to accommodate a larger and less elite population in a warren of small spaces, columned porticoes were enclosed in small cubicles, as at the House of Hesychius at Cyrene. Although ancient Egyptian architecture predates Greek and Roman antiquity, historians use the Greek term peristyle to describe similar, earlier structures in ancient Egyptian palace architecture and in Levantine houses known as liwan houses.
Atrium Cloister – medieval ecclesiastical development of the form Hypostyle Loggia Portico Quadrangle Media related to Peristylia at Wikimedia Commons Barbara McManus, "The Peristylium": a reconstruction of a peristyle
