Architecting Today’s Renaissance Man

In Preparation for a Beautiful, Bright, Colorful World

Architecture represents the synthesis of all arts and sciences. It is the pinnacle and the embodiment of the Renaissance ideal.

The architect should be equipped with knowledge of many branches of study and varied kinds of learning, for it is by his judgement that all work done by the other arts is put to the test. - Vitruvius: Book 1, chapter 1¹

We are approaching a new Renaissance, but first let us pontificate on what constitutes a Renaissance Man; not only the historical contexts that gave rise to past polymaths, but the fundamental qualities that defined them. Only by grasping both the circumstances and the character of such figures can we cultivate the minds that will shape the era ahead.

Interior of the Pantheon, Rome, Giovanni Paolo Panini, 1734

I. The Renaissance Man: Past to Present

The past experienced periods of Renaissance (a revival of or renewed interest in classical education), but now it is our turn to once again awaken the creative power of society and set ablaze a new Renaissance. Before we proceed, it is helpful to learn from and examine those who have come before us.

The classic example of a Renaissance is derived from the events that took place in the 14th to 16th centuries. Entire societies revived the sacred arts that once flourished throughout the ancient world, and geniuses like Michelangelo and da Vinci emerged. The Renaissance introduced humanism, a worldview that emphasized human dignity, reason, creativity, and agency. Slowly, education moved from a theological discipline to the study of the humanities. The purpose of which was to form a whole individual, one that was capable of connecting many dispersed subjects.

“Consequently, since this study is so vast in extent, embellished and enriched as it is with many different kinds of learning, I think that men have no right to profess themselves architects hastily, without having climbed from boyhood the steps of these studies and thus, nursed by the knowledge of many arts and sciences, having reached the heights of the holy ground of architecture.” - Vitruvius: Book 1, chapter 1

Finally, I believe the catalyst driving the Renaissance as an enterprise was the printing press. By democratizing access to knowledge, it transformed subjects once reserved for the powerful elite into matters of open, iterative debate. Ideas could now be examined, challenged, and refined through widespread discussion rather than confined to cloistered halls. Of course, this democratization came with chaos. Bad actors spread misinformation, misunderstandings proliferated, and society grappled with distinguishing truth from falsehood.

We face a parallel moment in the context of artificial intelligence. Like the printing press before it, AI will be misused, will generate confusion, and will force us through a period of tumult. But just as the printing press ultimately ushered in the Enlightenment, a new era of human knowledge and understanding, so too will AI illuminate dimensions of knowledge previously beyond our reach. The benefactors of the AI Renaissance will be the individuals who are whole, who have been trained in the humanities, and are capable of visualizing the connection between all things.

II. The Polymath Principle

With access to deep knowledge in an array of disciplines comes responsibility; one must have the proper response and the natural ability to synthesize information in a way that sees everything as one. That connects together meaning, rhythms, and patterns, so that the individual who is able to think in polymathic principles will be the architect of the next Renaissance.

Let him be educated, skillful with the pencil, instructed in geometry, know much history, have followed philosophers with attention, understand music, have some knowledge of medicine, know the opinion of the jurists, and be acquainted with astronomy and the theory of the heavens. - Vitruvius: Book 1, chapter 1

Learn to connect the octaves of musical melodies to the consumption of mass culture. Trace how the golden ratio appears in both classical architecture and the structure of viral content. Understand that the principles governing the flow of water in pipes are the same principles that govern the flow of information through digital networks. See how the color theory that guided Renaissance painters now manipulates attention in interface design. Recognize that the rhetoric of Cicero lives on in the persuasion architecture of social media platforms.

The Renaissance individual of tomorrow must perceive these connections as a guiding mechanism. Mathematics does not exist separately from music, nor does biology exist apart from urban planning, nor does psychology exist divorced from architecture. They are facets of a single coherent system, a unified field of human knowledge waiting to be synthesized by minds capacious enough to hold multiple truths simultaneously.

III. Talent Meets Training

The Renaissance man requires both natural ability and continuous learning. The title requires a man to be of natural intelligence and curiosity; he must not be some idiot from the gutters. The man of natural ability is useless unless he trains his mental and creative faculties in a manner that illuminates his eyes to the truths of nature and reveals the creative power behind beauty. The repetitive nature of the search, the endless iterations, and the wisdom from the master are all ingredients that empower man to create as if he were a god.

He ought, therefore, to be both naturally gifted and amenable to instruction. Neither natural ability without instruction nor instruction without natural ability can make the perfect artist. - Vitruvius: Book 1, chapter 1

Intelligence is infinite, surrounding us at all times. The man in his creative prime has the ability to tap into that intelligence and transmute it into art, laws, statues, music, etc.

IV. The Interconnected Mind

Thus far, Vitruvius has been writing about the architect, whereas I have been writing about the Renaissance Man. There really is no difference. The Architect lays the foundation for the Renaissance Man, and the Renaissance Man lays the foundation for the rest of humanity. The Renaissance Man is the architect of society. His ideas are so powerful and gripping that society has no choice but to follow. The enlightened ideas of the previous Renaissance literally brought society out of the darkness and into the light.

Her mind connects all things as easily as one learns to ride a bicycle. Her mind is balanced by the force of a mind moving forward, allowing her to balance destabilizing thoughts. The constant push towards the limits of conscious intelligence and order creates the conditions for polymathic tendencies to rise up, where she discovers truths in one field of study while studying another.

But perhaps to the inexperienced it will seem a marvel that human nature can comprehend such a great number of studies and keep them in the memory. Still, the observation that all studies have a common bond of union and intercourse with one another, will lead to the belief that this can easily be realized… For a liberal education forms, as it were, a single body made up of these members. Those, therefore, who from tender years receive instruction in the various forms of learning, recognize the same stamp on all the arts, and an intercourse between all studies, and so they more readily comprehend them all. - Vitruvius: Book 1, chapter 1

Nikolai Tesla Thinking

Similar to how past polymaths took advantage of emerging technologies, the Renaissance mind will learn to interface with artificial intelligence: amplifying an already creative power into a superhuman power. The age of exploration begins, with expeditions taking mankind to distant galaxies.

V. Depth, Breadth & Everything Inbetween

The Renaissance man is competent across many fields, not necessarily an expert in all. His mind perceives all as one and delineates one from another when necessary. This creates the foundation for paradigm-shifting ideas to form.

For an architect ought not to be and cannot be such a philologian as was Aristarchus, although not illiterate; nor a musician like Aristoxenus, though not absolutely ignorant of music; nor a painter like Apelles, though not unskilful in drawing; nor a sculptor such as was Myron or Polyclitus, though not unacquainted with the plastic art; nor again a physician like Hippocrates, though not ignorant of medicine; nor in the other sciences need he excel in each, though he should not be unskilful in them. For, in the midst of all this great variety of subjects, an individual cannot attain to perfection in each, because it is scarcely in his power to take in and comprehend the general theories of them. - Vitruvius: Book 1, chapter 1

We each have our own calling. We are not all made to complete the same tasks on this Earth. The aeronautics engineer studies his field intensely and is a master of air travel. It is he who discovers and designs the next generation of space-faring flight. He is in no position to create a movement or to architect the future. His place is in the details, necessary and important. The majority of mankind is destined to fulfill similar roles. The Renaissance Men and Women are the outliers; their mental capacities go beyond mere particular roles: they reach into the cosmos, into the aether, their minds wander: they are the world builders.

VI. Conclusion: The Future Renaissance

The emerging Renaissance Man is primed to spark a Renaissance full of human passion and excellence. It is not just one man but a group of highly agentic, creative, optimistic, excellent men and women working together to fight off the monsters of pessimism and guilt: piloting us into a world of beauty. The darkness felt today is needed: the greatest secrets live in the darkest valleys. Human potential is unlocked through a pattern, an oscillation between highs and lows. The cycle repeats, not linearly, but as in a spiral, upwards towards the cosmos and all that is good and potent.

Take this as a sign to start creating.

Scheme to create a brighter world.

Ride the wave of human evolution and take up your place among the new generation of man.

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1. All quotes are sourced from Vitruvius: The Ten Books on Architecture. Translated by Morris Hickey Morgan, Harvard University Press, 1914.