To disclose too much of one’s inventions and achievements is one and the same thing as to give up the fruit of one’s ingenuity. Filippo Brunelleschi

Florence Cathedral, with a dome engineered by Filippo Brunelleschi was completed in 1436. Brunelleschi, a goldsmith and sculptor with no formal architectural training, used new construction techniques to design the double shell structure for the building of a cathedral with the largest brick dome in the world. Utilising new building methods which included the use of herringbone brick pattern and the first use of a hoisting machine (a strategy in place to cope with working to such a large scale) Brunelleschi’s design marked a turning point in Renaissance architecture and is held as the defining feature of the Florence skyline to this day.