The Masterly Perspective and Design of Bramante’s “Mirabile Artificio” in Milan

In the Bramante’s church of Santa Maria Presso San Satiro, a successful integration between architecture and perspective solves the lack of space for the choir building. The surprising effectiveness of the trick that simulates a choir depth comparable to the transept’s length was a “Mirabile artificio”. Just because of the perceived room,
historians tied the church to the debate on the central plan and the development of the building of San Pietro in Rome. The present research elaborated an accurate laser scanner architectural survey and subsequent digital modeling to find perspective variables and verify the original design concept. 3D reconstruction of virtual architecture unveils the point of view of the simulation, confirming the common hypothesis about architecture, despite the different point of view. The digital model highlights metric evidence, which leads to a vantage point that collimates fake choir in nave perspective, identifying the “Mirabile artificio” as a case of anamorphosis.