The following paragraphs are from an essay about the architectural design of the dome of Florence Cathedral.
Paragraph 1
In the early fifteenth century, Florence's cathedral committee faced a monumental engineering crisis: the massive octagonal expanse of Santa Maria del Fiore remained completely open to the sky. No existing scaffolding technology could support the weight of a stone dome of such unprecedented span, nor could the forest of timber required for traditional centring be sourced. Filippo Brunelleschi, a goldsmith by training rather than a master builder, proposed a revolutionary double-shelled design that would build itself upward without any temporary wooden support structure. By laying bricks in a self-supporting herringbone pattern, Brunelleschi managed to distribute the weight outward and downward, solving the structural puzzle that had baffled Italy's greatest minds for decades.
[1]
Paragraph 2
Today, visitors who climb the narrow passageways between the two brick shells can still observe this herringbone masonry, which serves as a testament to the dome's structural stability. Far from being a relic of the past, this architectural marvel continues to inspire modern engineers seeking sustainable, self-supporting building methods. Brunelleschi's fusion of aesthetics and structural mathematics proved that physical limitations could be overcome through sheer innovation.
Which choice provides the most effective transition at [1] from the preceding paragraph to the paragraph that follows?
- AIn spite for these doubts, Brunelleschi insisted to construct the dome without any temporary wooden support.
- BSkeptics doubted his unorthodox herringbone design, they argued that a single-shell structure would be far safer.
- Although many citizens doubted that such an ambitious plan could succeed, the completed dome stood as a triumph of Renaissance engineering.Answer
- DWhile the cathedral committee eventually accepts his proposal, they had remained deeply worried about the dome's structural integrity.