The generative nature of the measurement unit in the medieval creative process. The design of San Francesco convent in Arezzo

Abstract

Comparing a 13th century parchment and a survey of the corresponding finished building offers a rare chance to investigate medieval construction and creative processes, as well as the way the design is translated into a building. A journey was taken back in time from the object to the design, and from the design to the project aims, based on an analysis of the unit of measurement. This reverse process revealed that the unit of measurement takes on two different values during the creative process: an absolute value when translating the drawing into a building, and a proportional value in the formation of geometric relationships within the drawing. Since, on the basis of this analysis, it can be concluded that two different units of measurement produce two different buildings, it is clear that measurement, as well as guaranteeing coherence within the creative process of architecture, is also one of the main sources of the rules that forge architecture.

Keywords

• creative process
• design
• middle ages
• mendicant orders architecture