CENTRAL PLAN

Central plan: translation

   An architectural plan that is circular, polygonal, or square. The earliest central plan structure of the Renaissance was Filippo Brunelleschi's Santa Maria degli Angeli in Florence, built in 1434-1437 for the Camaldolite Order. Centrally planned buildings are often capped by a dome. Donato Bramante's Tempietto in Rome (c. 1502-1512) is such an example, inspired by Early Christian mar-tyria that mark the spot where saints were martyred. Brunelleschi's Pazzi Chapel, Florence (1433-1461), is a square-domed central structure flanked by a rectangle at either side. A central plan can also be shaped like a Greek cross with arms of equal length, like Bramante's design for New St. Peter's (1506), which became the basis for Michelangelo's final version of the structure (fin. 1564).