Renaissance scholars and artists were eager to break free from medieval values and reestablish a connection with the high culture of classical times. Their study of ancient architecture and the application of its principles were, therefore, quite rigorous. The Hospital of the Innocents is often credited as being the first true Renaissance building.
In it, Brunelleschi not only reproduced the architectural elements of Roman architecture (such as pilasters, pediments and Corinthian column capitals) but he set out to capture ideal proportions and geometric order. This proportionality is clear in the nine bays of the loggia, each of which is cubic in shape, with the distance between columns being equal to the column height and the depth of the arcade.
