Ideology, Technology and Architecture: Transitions from Ancient Rome to Renaissance and Baroque in Italy

There are several theories explaining the formation of architecture in response to ideological and/or technological change. Two recent key approaches in these theories emphasize either the independence of form and function and local cultures; or the contradiction between form and function in architecture. This paper attempts to validate these two approaches by examining their implications in a set of religious buildings built over a period extending from Ancient Rome, Renaissance and Baroque in Italy. This survey demonstrates that architectural form is the result of a constructive interaction between construction technology and prevailing ideologies in each period. Recent theories emphasizing solely technological aspects are therefore shown to be deficient in grasping the role of this interaction in generation of architectural form.