I kinda know where I'm going with this but, which layout looks better.

Pic.# 1 - Entrance on right with future bell tower. Tall rectangular up right thingie seperating rounded rear of church, this will break up the roofline ?.



Pic.#2 - Same as above without tall rec. thingie - continuous roofline to back wall of rounded portion ?



Pic.#3 - Entrance on left side with rec. thingie and rounded area below bell tower ?



Pic.#4 - Same as in # three, without tall rec. thing ?



Henk, Claude, went back and printed some refs. that have elements of the build.
The church with the balconies [ 1st pic. ] is actually in Check............oslovacia, [ sorry sp. ] when in pre renasance [ there it goes again sp ? ] the country was under Italian rule, or so the captions say.
The rest are Italian churches.
Henk, check out the 2nd pic., that's exactly what you mentioned about additional portions added to the church over time. This is the pic. that really got me started and the look I'm going for.



Notice all the different levels and add - ons. This is the reason for the tall rec. piece in my build, to give it a added on - broken up [ architectually ] look.

From a purely visual background (no references to judge by). I like the 2nd one. I like the even flow from low left to high right. You can also work a rounded roof over the 1/2 round section into an angled roof in the middle. This will give quite a bit of visual interest at the intersection.

I'm no expert on architecture (nor do I have too many finished models to show off) but I like the second and the third set up.

As Slodder put it the second one kind of flows, while the third setup gives the desired diversity and various levels...

The majority of the churches in Europe were not comissioned and build at once... They rather "grew". From the small village church that could accomodate the local population during the dark ages to a majestic chatedral of now days major cities...

The reference pictures show just that...

am anxciously awaiting more pictures...

gh

Hello Cheyenne,
I would like to be able to help you but in my opinion I believe that the church (although it would be better to call him chapel) it is too small to have so many levels.

The churches here in Europe they are formed by diverse volumes due to different causes, among them that each generation had added an amplification. Each volume also has a function: the central part welcomes to the faithful ones in the mass, the lateral contain chapels with saints' figures and in some of them it can celebrate the Sacrament, that means that each volume should have a space to welcome to an Inumber of people variable in function of its use. The space and the architectural design also have a symbolic function for the believers: Paradise, Hell, Faith, Passion etc all that this symbolically represented in the religious architecture, mainly inside the churches where the believer should can to feel the majesty and the power of God.
I believe that to represent a church you would have to make a bigger building or to make alone a section of him but taking care of the details, in any church, even the smallest, has hundreds of small details: cornices, columns, windows, etc that can to give a characteristic touch to your church. Not you if I have been able to explain to myself well, in any event I would like to help you in this project with my opinions: -) I hope to have him fact

cheers

Scott, I'm kinda partial to the second and 1st myself, - looks different when you're looking at pics. instead of the real build.
Goodhunting, that's the effect I'm going for just what you've mentioned.
Carlos, I understand your meaning, this is only the 1st floor though. This will be much higher and I still have to design the attached monastry [ sp ? ] on the other side of the build so it's going to grow quite larger.

Check these pics. out, very good ref. site on churches and stonework, carved granite, etc. From shoebox size churches to cathedrals. From as early as the 13th cent. on up. Excellent Italian church ref. site.

http://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Gazetteer/Places/Europe/Italy/_Topics/churches/home.html

Thanks Cheyenne