What set the Foundlings Hospital apart from others of the time where it's architectural elements; the round arches, Corinthian capitals, columns, pilasters and window pediments, elements seen only in examples of ancient architectural style. Alongside the architectural elements, Brunelleschi focused on the ornamental details. The uniform scaling of each part of the building, and consistently clear and precise delineation, sharpened the appearance of the building made of a series of identical units (Lowry, 1967).
Another of Brunelleschi's more important buildings is the Pazzi Chapel. In the Pazzi Chapel, the altar is set into a niche opposite the entrance and across the short axis of a simple rectangular plan. Walls and vaults are divided into distinct geometric areas by dark stone pilasters and moldings. A Roman dome covers the center of the space , and the unfinished porch employs the Corinthian order and an architrave in the Roman manner. Roman moldings, pilasters, and columns organize mass, planes, and spaces with the self-contained stability and dignity associated with ancient Roman Architecture (Cleaver, 1966).
Fillipo Brunelleschi's successor as the leader in Renaissance architecture was Leon Battista Alberti, a scholar, painter, sculptor, mathematician, poet, and architect. Some buildings by Alberti important to the development of Renaissance architecture include the Rucellai Palace, S. Andrea, and the remodeling of S. Francesco.
The design of the Pallazo Rucellai is the result of a concious attempt to recreate the appearance of a classical building (Lowry, 1967). Every detail of the fazade has an antique prototype, except the division of the large rounded window openings into two smaller units, which occur within an overall design that seems to derive from a classical model. The arches, moldings, and pilasters are used in the Roman sequence; Doric order on the ground level, Ionic on the next, and Corinthian above.