Palazzo Pandolfini

  Palazzo Padolfini

  1514 Florence Italy

(Street view of Palazzo Pandolfini)

   The Palazzo Pandolfini is a 16th century building located in Florence, the Tuscany region of Italy. Architect Raffaello Sanzio was responsible for designing the building around the year 1512, while the construction of the building was completed in 1514. The complex was home to the Pandolfini family and has since had a variety of uses such as hospital like care or religious centers. Over half of the complex is an outdoor garden today, the garden was rearranged and expanded in 1620 when then senator Filippo Pandolfini bought neighboring property to use to add to the present site.

(Plan and Elevation)

More than half of the Palazzo Pandolfini is garden space. The other smaller half is the actual building that holds the rest of the program. There is one heavily defined axis going north to south across the complex. Beginning when entering the main entrance to the interior there is a wide walkway that then transitions outside into the main path through the garden, before rounding around a fountain marking the center point of the exterior space and continuing to the exit gate. Along this main path that moves users throughout the entire complex are six perpendicular cross paths. The interior cross axis move between program space and interior gathering spaces while linking back to the main axis, while the outdoor cross axis evenly split up the garden space. One thing that does not follow the overall organization of the plan is the greenhouse that is hinged onto the side of the garden, that was an addition added later.

(Elevation)

The facade of the building has an ABA pattern with the pediments decorating the windows alternating after each window. The pediments are also opposite of each other from the first floor to the second. The first floor of the facade continues onto the garden wall that surrounds the private exterior space. The garden itself was originally used as a vegetable garden with only a small section and the greenhouse dedicated to flowers. "The garden and the palace were embellished with statues, fountains and water displays - gifts from Pope Leo X - and such a large quantity of flowers and plants that the palace became quite a centre of culture at the time of Ferrante (ca. 1550), Filippo (ca. 1600), Roberto (ca. 1750) and other members of the family."

Works Cited

"Home - Firenze BAP." Firenze BAP. Ministry of Heritage and Culture, 10 Dec. 2010. Web. 1 Dec. 2016.

Kimball, Fiske, and George Harold Edgell. History of Architecture. Piscataway, NJ: Research & Education Association, 2002. Print.