Brunelleschi: A Story of High Stakes

This building is the Santa Maria del Fiore of Florentine. Behind it is a very interesting sunset, and so behind the making of the dome is also a very interesting story.

The story of Brunelleschi's famous dome is one of courage, virtuosity, creative leadership, and very high stakes. Risks are essential for change, and for achieving ambition. And Brunelleschi's ambition was not ordinary in the slighest; to build a dome that spanned the empty top of the Santa Maria del Fiore of Florence, without scaffolding.

Courage was needed to brave the scorn of his fellow architects, virtuosity to come up with the remarkable idea of the building structure, and creative leadership required for convincing others less brilliant than he to trust in his plans. But what I thought was needed the most was the ability to take risks. The knowledge and instinct to be able to know, or sense, when he could take considerable risks and trust in his understanding of human nature or when he had to cut his losses and wait for a better time. That, in itself was a risk all on its own, but it wasn't the only. It was a dangerous game, and one that had to be played carefully. Risks drove Brunelleschi to succeed because he had to, he wanted to, and so he had to try. If he had to play this game of politics to gain the privilege of designing the beautiful dome of Santa Maria del Fiore, then so be it. The higher the risk, he knew, the better the prize. He just needed to gauge when it was too good a prize to risk. When the stakes were high and less people were willing to take that same risk you took, Brunelleschi went ahead with his plans full force. But when many were vying for the same coveted position as his wanted, he kept well back and pretended not to be interested.

This risk led to Brunelleschi's rise in the standing of his guild and his city, but it also sparked a changed in the views of architecture. This decision, made by Brunelleschi, helped change to happen, like an open door in a flaming building. The actions of this talented man changed Florentine and allowed more inventions of the Renaissance to spring forth.