The basilica, which has mono-directional space, and
the central-type church, which has omnidirectional space,
represent alternating traditions in Western church plans.
But another tradition has accommodated churches which
are both-and, in answer to spatial, structural, programmatic,
and symbolic needs. The Mannerist elliptical plan of the
sixteenth century is both central and directional. Its culrnination
is Bernini's Sant' Andrea a1 Quirinale (24), whose
main directional axis contradictorily spans the short axis.
Nikolaus Pevsner has shown how pilasters rather than open
chapels bisect both ends crf the tiansverse axis of the iide
walls, thereby reinforcing the short axis toward the altar.
Borromini's chapel in the Propaganda Fide (25) is a directional
hall in plan, but its alternating bays counteract this
effect: a large bay dominates the small end; a small bay
bisects the center of the long wall. The rounded corners, as
well, begin to imply a continuity of enclosure and a centraltype
plan. (These characteristics occur in the courtyard of
San Carlo alle battro Fontane too.) And the diagonal
gridlike ribs in the ceiling indicate a multidirectional structure
as much like a dome as a vault. Hagia Sophia in
Istanbul is equivocal in a similar way. Its central dome on
the square bay with pendentives implies a central type
church, but its two apses with half-domes begin to set up a
longitudinal axis in the tradition of the directional basilica.
The horseshoe plan of the Baroque and neo-Baroque opera
house focuses on the stage and the center of the auditorium.
The central focus of the elliptical plan is usually reflected in
the ornamental ceiling pattern and the enormous central
chandelier; the focus toward the stage in the directional
distortion of the ellipse and partitions between the surrounding
boxes as well as in the interruption of the stage
itself, of course, and the seating in the pit. This reflects
the dual focus in the program of the gala theatre: the
performance and the audience.