Renaissance Architecture & Science: An Interactive Book Presentation
09 June
Edinburgh & The Lothians Discussion
Event Summary
A discussion between Drs Elizabeth J. Petcu and Richard Oosterhoff about exchanges between architecture and science in the Renaissance, marking the release of Dr Petcu's new book, "The Architectural Image and Early Modern Science: Wendel Dietterlin and the Rise of Empirical Investigation"
Book hereEvent Website
The page on Elizabeth J. Petcu's website dedicated to the Architecture Fringe event "Renaissance Architecture & Science".
View websiteTime
14:30-15:30
Date(s)
09 June
Location
Room 1.03, 7-8 Chambers Street, Edinburgh EH1 1HR, United Kingdom [and online via Zoom]
View on Google Maps
Organiser
Dr Elizabeth J. Petcu, Senior Lecturer, Edinburgh School of Architecture and Landscape Architecture, University of Edinburgh
Social
Join art historian Dr Elizabeth J. Petcu (University of Edinburgh) and historian of science Dr Richard Oosterhoff (University of Edinburgh) for an interactive discussion about the enmeshment of architecture and science during the Renaissance period in Europe (c. 1400-1600). Together with Dr Oosterhoff, Dr. Petcu will explore the interplay between Renaissance architecture and science through her new book, The Architectural Image and Early Modern Science: Wendel Dietterlin and the Rise of Empirical Investigation (Cambridge University Press, 2024).
Their discussion will expose how architecture and science began, during the Renaissance, to benefit from a deep, reciprocal exchange that forever altered both fields and endures in the present in countless interactions between architectural and scientific culture. Drawing examples from Petcu’s book, they will illuminate the ways in which Renaissance practitioners of architecture and science forged symbiotic rapports, trading techniques of research, knowledge, and methods of practice that sparked landmark innovations in both fields that still shape architecture and science today. A key focus of their discussion will be reciprocity between architecture and other media such as print and drawing, whereby ideas about structures, typologies, evidence, and more circulated between Renaissance architecture and science.
In keeping with the Architecture Fringe’s 2025 theme of reciprocity, the discussion will prompt reflection on the reciprocal dimensions of Renaissance architecture-science interactions as well as those of architecture-science exchanges today. How can the Renaissance architecture-science axis inform contemporary architecture-science interplay? How might it inflect other present-day modes of architectural reciprocity, particularly with regard to the sharing and mediation of knowledge and practices across distinct spheres?
This hybrid, in-person and online event will encompass a brief presentation of the book by Dr. Petcu, an interview with the author by Dr. Richard Oosterhoff, and a Q&A session with the audience.
Petcu's book was funded in part by the Graham Foundation.
Image Credit: Wendel Dietterlin, detail of Design for an Elaborate Fountain Surmounted by a Statue of St. Christopher, 1598 or earlier, pen and black ink, brush and grey wash, sheet: 9 5/8 x 7 1/16 in. (24.4 x 18 cm), New York, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Edward Pearce Casey Fund, 2006, 2006.89. Image in the Public Domain
