Radcliffe Camera: The Tempietto to Knowledge
History of Architecture// Yale University
Radcliffe Camera, one of the most well-known academic structures in the world, is as much a secular building as it is a sacred one. It acts as both a social and geographical center of Oxford University: its round shape, domed roof, and surrounding columns all make it a temple-like structure. Though all features of classical styles, the repetition of its design breaks apart and morphs to allow a difference in the Camera’s function, begging the underlying question of the meaning of architectural form once it is applied to a new program. The Radcliffe Camera can be seen as a descendant of the Tempietto, reinterpreting the function of the antique circular temple through its location, secularism, and the directionality of its interior.
The Radcliffe Camera is the most distinct building on Oxford University's campus; situated on Radcliffe Square, its circularity, position in the heart of Oxford, and separation from other buildings make it the central point. Dr. John Radcliffe, a successful Oxford physician, intended to fund a physics library at the university, and donated a sum of £40,000 upon his death in 1714 for its construction and maintenance. Knowing Radcliffe’s intentions, architect Nicholas Hawksmoor began planning years before, coming up with the original concept of the domed rotunda library that would be independent of a larger structure, drawing up a plan and creating a model as early as 1712. Upon Hawksmoor’s death, architect James Gibbs would go on to alter the original plans, maintaining the rotunda scheme and including an implied colonnade that would define the bays. The earliest example of a circular library, the building was finally constructed in 1737–1748 and contains three external stages, as illustrated in Figure 1. Rusticated around the edges, the ground stage has eight pedimented projections alternating with niches. With pedimented windows above the mezzanine openings, the central section is divided into bays by corinthian columns, implied and not freestanding. The third and highest section is a dome set on top of an octagonal drum.
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When analyzing the concept of the Radcliffe Camera in its circularity and, most importantly, its dome, it becomes clear that it is a derivation of the Tempietto of Donato Bramante. The plan of two concentric cylinders —the inner one being domed— surrounded by a rusticated base dates back to the Tempietto, the “Little Temple” of Rome built in 1502. To achieve its flawless composition, Bramante looks back to the core of ancient Roman architecture through the writing of Vitruvius, who wrote a great treatise on architecture and on correct proportions in architecture. As the Tempietto is a radial building, it had to be constructed in such a way as to hold with Vitruvius’s precepts in order first to become a round structure, and then to be correctly embellished with Doric orders of columns. The building itself can be read from the outside in, the outermost being the three steps surrounding the whole and leading up to a peristyle of granite Doric columns that enclose the central circular cella. The columns support an entablature with decorative frieze and a balustrade, on top of which is a hemispherical dome set atop a two-tier drum. Despite its small size, its simple yet pleasing classical proportions and conformity to the ideals allowed it to become both a symbol of the divine and harmony, an incredible accomplishment for Bramante. In following the work of Vitruvius, the architect ensures that even as a small building, there is a sense of true monumentality, which later serves as a prototype for countless monumental domes to come.
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The Tempietto is a wholly sacred building, marking the traditional site of St. Peter’s crucifixion and in essence acting as an architectural reliquary. It looks back to an early Christian building called a martyria, which was a marker of the site associated with an early Christian martyr, yet is also an interpretation of the ancient Greek temple. By being a religious interpretation of religious structures, it is effectively using the forms' connotation to give a testament to the notion of a prevailing society, culture, and traditions. By borrowing both from that early Christian tradition and directly from Antiquity, the Tempietto also acts as a link between 16th-century Rome and ancient Rome. The Tempietto intends to create a sacred and divine place, emphasizing the pious nature found at the root of Catholicism in its simplicity. Its use of concentric circles can thus be interpreted as a concentration or even a hyperfixation on a particular point, acting like circles on a map to mark a treasure. It then comes inwards with each layer to allow for one’s focus and ensure meditation from the outside world. The circle itself also has spiritual associations; as it has no beginning and no end, symbolizing the perfection and eternal nature of God and thus becoming part of a mantra that spreads spirituality.