The Illusion of Space: St Mark's Square, Venice

Shape, Proportion and More

http://www.allnumis.com/postcard/italy/venice-st-mark039s-square-aerial-view-8165

Piazza San Marco or St. Mark's Square in Venice is one of the most beautiful public squares in Europe. Described as "the finest drawing room in all of Europe," this urban area is framed by buildings and is an example of a ceremonial civic space that celebrates the power of people coming together. It is used for marches, festivals, parades, outdoor dining, pigeon feeding, and more. It is the social, religious and political center of Venice.

This is from a book on Great Public Squares by Robert F Gatje.

Entering the Piazza, you see the Doge's Palace, St. Mark's Basilica and the tall clock tower. The buildings with their continuous colonnades wrap around the square and  their architectural theatricality invites you in. Best of all, there are no vehicles or vehicle noise.

The fascinating thing about the Piazza's design is that it is not a true square.

It is a trapezoid where one side is a little bit longer than the opposite side.  This creates a space that flares out at the entry and narrows at its enclosed end. The result is an optical illusion that makes it feel like a much larger space. When looking into San Marco, it appears as if it is a deeper space than it is, thanks to the narrowing shape.

By Antonio Quadri - Scanned by Aristeas from a good reprint of Quadri/Moretti’s book, published in 1987 by “Vianello Libri” (Ponzano/Treviso) and Ezio Tedeschi (Mestre)., Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=8989561

The paving in St Mark's square adds to the illusion of depth. It was renovated during the 16th and 17th centuries and the old brick was replaced with stones with a geometric pattern. The unusual pattern probably was used to mark the location of traders’ stalls.

By Matthias Süßen - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=111013383

At its wider end, the grand St. Mark’s Basilica thrusts into the piazza instead of simply forming a boundary to it. This intrusion breaks up the shape and imposes itself upon the scene. Very effective indeed.

The tall bell tower adds height which counteracts the large open piazza - a great proportional counterpoint. It is ‘yang’ to the open space ‘yin’.

The trapezoidal shape, which is the Piazza, exemplifies negative space formed by surrounding buildings. The shape and proportions of the negative space combined with the paving pattern and building facades make it a great public square. We can use all of these ideas in everyday landscape design.

Look at this book about wonderful civic spaces - Robert Gatje's book on Public Squares.

Great Public Squares

Gardentopia is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.