ABSTRACT
Piazza San Marco balances disciplined uniformity with subtle, often intangible, nuances. The space is at once comprehensible and straightforward, yet it conceals the moves that transform it from a simple enclosed, regularized space. Much of its success can be attributed to the continuous façade with arcades at the ground floor. Like Piazza San Pietro in Vaticano or Piazza Ducale in Vigévano, the arcades are permeable surfaces that offer a transition from tight urban fabric to the piazza itself. Though this perimeter is quite uniform, it is not as uniform as it appears. The most obvious distortion is its trapezoidal plan in which walls diverge toward the basilica that shifts perspective and challenges expectations of scale and distance. A more subtle variation is on the piazza’s north side that has more petite columns and a face that bows slightly giving the square a subtle plasticity.
