Illustrated Architecture Dictionary
Illustrated Architecture Dictionary
Vault
Vault: An arched structure of stone, brick, or reinforced concrete, forming a supporting structure of a ceiling or roofRibs and vaults are commonly found in Romanesque Revival and Gothic Revival styles
For scores of years the Romanesque builders experimented in vaulting; the problem was not solved until the Normans hit upon the plan of covering the space with a framework of ribs and laying the stones in courses from rib to rib. The novelty of the method lay in the use made of the principal of balance as a means of ensuring stability, a principle which, incidentally, did away with the necessity for columns and piers of great size and strength...
Gothic vaulting is nothing but an application of the principle of balance to the roof. The ribs of the vault, balanced the one against the other, and not the material between, are the real roof. What the Gothic builders did was to create a science of vaulting out of the idea of balance which the Romanesque masons had tested.
- Ernest H. Short, History of Religious Architecture
Gothic vaults are dominant in mediaeval interiors; they constitute an important component of construction and composition.
Early forms usually had constructional character while the late-Gothic forms usually took diversified and more decorative (ornamental) forms.
We can find large diversity of design and variety of forms even in a single structure, which is often related to different phases of the construction process. Development of forms was striving in direction of being more decorative, wider (range, scope) and higher.
Geometric construction is expressly shown in ribbed vaults, which are additionally accented with the color and texture. Ribs in late-Gothic vaults get thickened and create nets or completely 'get lost' in the complex crystal vaults.
- Anna Kulig, Krystyna Romaniak, Geometric Models of Stellar Vaults
There are three major types of vaults: barrel, rib, and groin.
Barrel vault / Barrel roof: A straight, continuous arched vault or ceiling, either semicircular or semi-elliptical in profileA barrel vault is a simple, concave cylindrical roof surface which looks like a barrel.
- Illustration above: Blessed Trinity RC Church
- St. Francis Xavier RC Church
- Saints Peter & Paul RC Church
- Our Lady of Victory Basilica
- St. Francis de Sales RC Church
- Pitti Palace, Florence, Italy
- Ospedale degli Innocenti, Florence, Italy
Fan vault: A concave conical vault whose ribs, of equal length and curvature, radiate from the springing (the point where an arch rises from its supports) like the ribs of a fan
Groin(ed) arch: One arched division of a cross vaultThe groin vault is produced by the intersection of two barrel vaults which are perpendicular to each other.
When two barrel vaults intersect at a right angle, the juncture forms a groin or cross-vault, which provides lunette windows for lighting at either end.
- St. Gerard's RC Church
- Hotel de Villes (City Hall), Nyon, Switzerland
- St.-Denis Abbey, Paris, France
Rib: A curved structural member supporting any curved shape or panel; a molding which projects from the surface and separates the various roof or ceiling panels.A rib vault is a ceiling crisscrossed b y several projections which look like "ribs" in the human anatomy.
Ribs and vaults are commonly found in Romanesque Revival and Gothic Revival styles
Rib(bed) vault: A vault supported by or decorated with arched diagonal ribs
- St. Joseph's RC Cathedral
- St. Joseph University RC Church
- Corpus Christi RC Church
- St. Ann's RC Church
- St. Mary of Sorrows / King Urban Life Center
- Hellenic Orthodox Church of the Annunciation
- St. Mark's RC Church
- Holy Angels RC Church
- St.-Denis Abbey, Paris, France
- St. Francis Xavier Church, Amsterdam, Holland
Crystal(ine) vault: a vault without ribs.Ribs are replaced with sharp intrados (pronounced "IN tra dohs" or "in TRAY does"; definition: the inner curve of an arch) curves.
The name reminds of crystal surfaces, which are cut sharply with concave walls similar to inverted pyramids.
