Roof Detail Examples

Here are some examples of my hand drafting skills showing different roof details. On the left, I have illustrated an example Flat Roof Assembly. On the right, I've detailed a Low Slope Roof Assembly.

 

Different Buildings, Different Cultures, Same Story

Revealing a Secret Agenda to Claim Power

The Case Study of San Marco and The Sultan Ahmed “Blue” Mosque

William Ross

April 26, 2021 

The Church of San Marco in Florence, Italy and the Sultan Ahmed I Mosque (commonly referred to as the Blue Mosque), in Istanbul, Turkey are separated by vast distances in geography and differences in culture. Both their patrons, however, used local events to achieve the same goal: they both covertly maneuver themselves into positions of centrality and importance. In Europe, the elite were in the midst of a rediscovery of antiquity and Cosimo de’Medici, the de facto leader of Florence, took advantage of this situation to guarantee himself and his family power. Meanwhile, the Ottoman empire, under the new leadership of Sultan Ahmed I, was in the process of erasing the past and asserting it’s own identity. Upon arriving to each building, both San Marco and the Blue Mosque take the user on a rich visual journey of religious icons in space that allude to the power and dominance of their respective patrons. These patrons were able to achieve this end by employing capable designers. Ultimately, both the patrons of San Marco and the Blue Mosque had secret agendas: they used strategically placed and culturally relevant religious structures imbued with a convincing visual journey of art and architecture to claim dominance and influence over their respective populations.

San Marco in Florence and the Blue Mosque in Istanbul emerged from different social contexts. The Blue Mosque emerged from an Islamic environment that emphasized the importance of public religious space. This space could be divided into essential elements which can be observed across mosque design: the street market, the landscape, and the courtyard and can likewise be observed in the Blue Mosque. However, these elements all share something in common: they are accessible and usable for all citizens. Unlike the Blue Mosque, San Marco was built in a Roman Catholic context that deemed some religious space off limits. The public utility of the church was separated from the private cloister belonging to the monks. This essential difference shaped the way each building project was approached by their power hungry patrons.

 During the quattrocento, Florence was at the heart of the Italian Renaissance - a movement that brought humanism and the pursuit of classical knowledge to the forefront of popular thought and education in elite circles. However, ancient treatises were often dispersed and difficult to acquire during this time. In order to position himself in the center of this movement and thereby exercise control, Cosimo de’Medici invented a brilliant idea: he would create and therefore regulate access to a library that magnetically pulled the great thinkers of the Renaissance into his sphere of influence while using the monastery of San Marco as a cover to deceive the general public about his activities. It is important to note that the Observant Dominicans housed at San Marco placed no emphasis on humanism or antiquity and that while they were tasked with maintaining Cosimo’s library, they had absolutely no control over contents of the collection. At the same time, they bore the sole responsibility of finding and replacing any book that was lost within a year. In addition to all that, the secular humanist scholars who visited the collection needed to walk through the Observant Dominican’s private cloisters and up a narrow staircase hidden behind the kitchen to reach the second floor library - an activity they took part in on a regular basis. All this indicates that Cosimo de’Medici was using San Marco to covertly increase his power.       

Across the Mediterranean, just as the Quattrocento was beginning, the Byzantine capital of Christian Constantinople had fallen to the Ottomans and was renamed Istanbul. However, the now Muslim city continued to live in the architectural shadow of Byzantine accomplishments. One of the most envied structures was the Hagia Sophia, a Byzantine Church that had been converted to a Mosque. Despite these efforts of cultural appropriation, the awareness of their enemy’s impressive architectural legacy lingered on in the writings of the Ottoman Sultans. The Sultan Ahmed I was a young boy when he became Sultan. While he had no major accomplishments of his own, he was determined “…to build a mosque that would…leave Hagia Sophia behind with its glory.” This is evident from the new skyline created by the Blue Mosque, constructed in the heart of Istanbul, from the sea as shown.

It is important to note that the Blue Mosque’s location and architectural features all indicate a direct affront against the Byzantine past by claiming an importance that surpasses the Hagia Sophia. The site of the Blue Mosque was known as the Hippodrome during the Byzantine period and is centrally located in the city. In order to change the theme of this locus from Christian to Muslim, and by extension from Byzantine to Ottoman, Sultan Ahmed I acquired that site for the Blue Mosque project and demolished the existing buildings at great expense. Interestingly, while Hagia Sophia has four minarets that were added after the Ottoman conquest, much like many Mosques of the time, the Blue Mosque has an additional two minarets for a total of six. The Hagia Sophia has an immense, pendantive dome and semi domes, and so does the Blue Mosque. It is almost as if the Ottomans were trying to prove that they could do everything the Byzantines did, but better. The additional minarets, the critical location, and the use of the massive pendantive dome all emphasize the grandness and therefore central importance of the Blue Mosque.            

Upon arriving to each building, both San Marco and the Blue Mosque take the user through a rich
visual journey that alludes to the power and dominance of their respective patron. They both accomplished this aim by employing experienced designers. Cosimo de’Medici employed Fra Angelico, an accomplished narrative mural painter who also belonged to the Dominican Order, to
illustrate the walls of the San Marco library. His murals were viewed by the visiting humanist scholars along

the path shown by the red arrows in the plans of San Marco. In these works, Fra Angelico paints biblical scenes with hidden messages that allude to the Medici’s important status. For example, the patron saints of Cosimo’s sons are depicted in the paintings. More directly, Cosimo’s status as a member of the secret fraternity of the Magi is illustrated by this final painting on the humanists journey into the library: “The users of the library who saw the Adoration in Cosimo’s cell could easily make similar conclusions about his relationship to an image of the Magi: he was portrayed as the benefactor of wise men, patron of San Marco, and leader of his city.” Clearly, Cosimo was making a statement about his own status, power, and influence that his users, the humanist scholars, would easily understand and respect.

Sultan Ahmed I achieved a similar vision by also employing an experienced designer. He hired Sedefkar Mehmed Aga, the 21 year apprentice and foreman of the famous architect Mimar Sinan, to design and build his Blue mosque. The blue Iznik and Kutahya tilework that decorates the interior, which is also the source of the Blue Mosque moniker, serves much the same function that the paintings of Fra Angelico served for the Medici. While Muslim aniconism limits the decorations to abstract forms, these abstractions could easily be understood and interpreted by those using the mosque at the time. For example, the tile work shown from the blue mosque suggests a floral design, which in turn suggests “life, growth and immortality.”

 This was understood as alluding to the four gardens, or stages, of enlightenment the Salek, or wiseman, experiences: the self, heart, soul, and essence. The blue color was suggestive of the Ottoman Sultans and Sultan Ahmed I in particular. In this way, much like Medici the interior decorations of the Blue Mosque indicates that Sultan Ahmed is the benefactor of wise men, is patron of Istanbul, and leader of his empire.

This paper has revealed that the patrons of San Marco in Florence, Italy and the Blue Mosque in Istanbul, Turkey both used strategically placed religious structures to secretly assert dominance and influence. The patrons of each building were ultimately able to achieve this end by employing capable designers. This is observed in the user experience of the visitors to San Marco and the Blue Mosque. Ultimately, the patrons of these buildings responded to very different key events of their time in order to covertly maneuver themselves into positions of centrality and dominance.

 

Aside: Top Global Health Issues Today

 Here are the top three, but often overlooked, global health issues:

Vaccine Safety and VAERS

Vaccines have become a standard component of mainstream public health in most countries. However, as with all medicine, there are always risks of adverse acute and chronic reactions to vaccines in a variety of populations. These damages to health are reported using the VAERS system in the U.S. Unlike all other medicines, however, the risks intrinsic to vaccines are downplayed to the point of being ignored. Some, despite a variety of evidence, even claim that vaccines are the only medicine ever discovered to have no adverse effects whatsoever. This willful neglect about disclosing the side effects and risks of vaccines to the public, like what is required for every other medicine, is compounded by the fact that, unlike other medicines, the companies that manufacture vaccines have absolutely no liability and can never be sued directly. Instead, when these companies are sued, the tax payer pays the bill. This lack of accountability makes Vaccine manufacturers immune from the damage or harm they don't disclose and then cause, creating a dangerous, zero accountability, environment for public health. Now with Covid-19, and the vaccines that have been rushed for emergency use approval, this lack of accountability and informed consent is only getting worse.

Water Fluoridation

There are a variety of stances on whether or not water fluoridation is good for, bad for, or irrelevant to tooth health. However, by fluoridating municipal water supplies often without much media coverage or any public disclosures, cities around the world are removing many people's ability to make their own health choices for their own bodies regarding whether or not they want fluoridation treatment. Indeed, since when did the government become the doctor? Since when does it make sense to continuously treat the entire population - from infants to the elderly - with the same medical substance - whatever it may be? Even vaccines, the only other ubiquitous public treatment, are administered at key intervals of age over a person's life, and yes, vaccines are only administered by a doctor. Water fluoridation tablets should be available for free for those who want them, but municipal water supplies should get out of the healthcare industry and stop blanket-treating our water with fluoride.   

Air Quality

Air quality around the world varies dramatically. However, smog, ozone, and particulates cause disease and death in many urban, especially industrial, centers today. This often overlooked public health problem is both ubiquitous and dire, and must be addressed. Some possible solutions include designating urban areas that are bike / walk only, designing walkable neighborhoods, and providing stronger environmental controls to regulate exhaust from cars and factories.