3D model of Shakespeare's first Globe Theatre and geometric study of the plan layout
Description
This repository contains a virtual reproduction of Shakespeare's first Globe Theatre, which was destroyed by fire in 1613, and a plausible study of its plan using the ad quadratum method. The works collected here were created by the authors following a careful study of most of the available iconographic and bibliographic information on the subject. The planimetric scheme has been realised using the AutoCAD software by Autodesk Inc. showing the drawing of the plan step by step. The three-dimensional model was also created in CAD software, modelling the structure in solids and trying to represent most of the building elements. The internal part of the Tiring House, the element on which we have the least information, was deliberately left incomplete, although it is assumed that there should have been at least one staircase block connecting the various floors of the structure, as suggested by the authors in the respective article.
Files
Steps to reproduce
The drawing started from the plan using the ad quadratum method. A circle of radius 3 rods (about 15.1 m), the probable unit of measurement used by the English carpenters of the early 17th century, was drawn and a square was inscribed inside it, then another circle and finally a square, the half of which represented the size of the stage. A 20-sided polygonal shape for the structure of the theatre has been hypothesised, as also claimed by other Globe scholars, which can be achieved by constructing 4 pentagons rotated 90 degrees from each other following a simple (though imprecise) construction method starting from the achtort figure. Once the generic scheme was obtained, the dimensions of the turrets deduced from the archaeological excavations of the foundations of the Globe attributable to the second version, but probably identical to the first, were added at the extension of the diagonals of the square. The diagram thus created was then used as the basis for the construction of the three-dimensional model, starting from the foundations and following English vernacular construction techniques. The heights of the floors were taken from the Fortune Theatre contract, built by the same carpenter in explicit imitation of the Globe, albeit with a square rather than a multi-sided polygonal plan.