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How did Michelangelo’s architecture influence Francesco Borromini?

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Rome: Piazza Navona — Francesco Borromini Piazza Navona, Rome, with the church of Sant'Agnese in Agone, designed by Francesco Borromini, and (foreground) the Fountain of the Moor, originally designed by Giacomo della Porta and revised by Gian Lorenzo Bernini.

Michelangelo’s architecture was of decisive importance to Francesco Borromini, serving as a significant inspiration for his own radical experiments. Borromini identified with Michelangelo’s philosophy that one should not merely be a "copyist" and that those who follow others never move forward.1

Specifically, Borromini was influenced by the way space seemed to expand and contract in several of Michelangelo’s designs, which suggested to him the dynamic potential of architectural space. While Borromini often turned to novel interpretations and geometric configurations, he explicitly included Michelangelo’s work among his points of departure. By responding to the past with greater freedom than his contemporaries, Borromini utilized elements from Michelangelo’s Mannerist style to inform his own innovative and often unsettling creations.1