ABSTRACT
This chapter explores an aspect of the process through an examination of a selection of drawings for the new St. Peter's Basilica by Donato Bramante and his assistants Baldassare Peruzzi and Antonio da Sangallo the Younger. The drawings focus on the relationship between principal and secondary spaces and their supporting structural elements, highlighting how the design of St. Peter's was conceived as a constellation of spaces that emanate from the crossing of the basilica. The chapter considers how Bramante sought to reconcile philosophical/theological notions of centre in terms of a broadly Christian/Platonic outlook in early sixteenth century Rome, with the requirements to accommodate existing spatial and topographical conditions, as they relate to the location of the tomb of St Peter. It explores how these potentially conflicting conditions were reconciled by suggesting that Bramante sought to resolve in architectural terms theological and philosophical challenges by a combination of drawing, numerical ordering and geometric reckoning.
