Brunelleschi’s solution was a masterclass in physics and "thinking outside the box":
By the early 15th century, the Santa Maria del Fiore cathedral was a source of civic embarrassment. It had sat roofless for decades because no one knew how to build a dome large enough to cover its 143-foot-wide opening without the walls collapsing. Traditional Gothic flying buttresses were forbidden in Florence—they were seen as "German" and ugly. The city needed a miracle. The Medici Gamble Medici - The Dome an...
He laid bricks in a specialized zig-zag pattern. This transferred the weight of the bricks to the internal vertical ribs, preventing them from falling inward during construction. Brunelleschi’s solution was a masterclass in physics and