Vari disegni de architettura ornati de porte / inventati da Bernardino Radi
The book is a design collection of entrances and doors. With ink and fine lines Radi illustrates different kinds and styles in great variety. The illustrations are summarized in a quite handy booklet with a colorful cover. It invites to look through the pages. It is imaginable that his study served as a catalogue for his clients or as memoire to pass down to further generations. Radi himself was born in 1581 in Italy. He started his education as stone manson. Later he received the license of architecture and specialized on façades.
In Radis study the entrances are decorated in different styles. Some show symbols (firepots, shells ect) and some seem to look very classical and strict, following a certain order. It is a proposal how to build an entrance to fulfill a certain standard for the inhabitant. Entrances have a great significance in architecture. It is the threshold that connects the outside with the inside, the public with the privat.
On one hand entrances have a representative function to the outside. On the other it also serves as an identical purpose of the inhabitant.
Nowadays entrances are still a hot discussed topic regarding public and private space. We live in a crisis of public space because most rooms are privatized. The question is how we design our entrances that they seem rather inviting instead of intimidating.