Vault (architecture)
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For other senses of this word, see vault (disambiguation).
In architecture, a vault is an arched structure of masonry, forming a ceiling or canopy. Vaulting makes it possible to roof over a comparatively large space using bricks, stone blocks or concrete. Until the development of metal girders and trusses in the 19th century, the only alternative was to use long wooden rafters or long stone lintels — much simpler than vaulting; but cruder and more expensive as well, and ultimately limited by the length of wood or stone available. The Romans made an art form of the vault and it has remained popular ever since.
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[edit] Types of vaulting through European history
- The most basic sort of vaulting is the barrel vault (or tunnel vault). As its name suggests, it consists of a simple (usually semicircular) arch repeated longitudinally to form a tunnel. Although a barrel vault can successfully roof a wide hall, the difficulty is then lighting that hall — the vault cannot safely be pierced by more than the smallest of windows.
- A groin vault must be built where two barrel vaults intersect perpendicularly. Imagine two perpendicular barrel vaults built on the same square site; then mentally erase the redundant bits (i.e. the lower of the two vaults at each point). What will remain is as follows: an open square with no walls but merely a column in each of its four corners. A single arch connects each pair of neighboring arches, and another larger arch connects each pair of diagonally opposite corners. Each of four triangular quadrants formed by these two crossing arches is vaulted in what is roughly a barrel vault.
If a set of parallel barrel vaults intersects with another, perpendicular set of barrel vaults, a grid of groin vaults will result. Roman baths were often built in just such an elaborate series of such groin vaults.
- After the fall of the Roman empire, few buildings large enough to require much in the way of vaulting were built for several centuries. In the early Romanesque period, a return to stone barrel vaults was seen for the first great cathedrals; their interiors were fairly dark. But with the reintroduction of the groin vault, more light could be brought into the buildings: instead of building groin vaults as the intersection of two barrel vaults, the master masons simply built one long line of groin vaults. Now two sides of each vault lay on the axis; but the other two transverse sides were left unattatched. Instead, they could be filled with windows. Durham Cathedral in the north of England is an excellent example of a Late Romanesque cathedral built with groin vaults.
- Soon after this development, architectural taste in Europe swung in favor of the Gothic arch, which was pointed instead of rounded. Gothic cathedrals were built in the same manner, as a line of groin vaults; and as techniques improved, were more and more light-filled. The six principal arches of the vault (as described above) were generally more heavily built than the intervening spaces, and so the term rib vault is typically applied to these vaults. Looking upwards at a rib vault, one sees these six ribs serving as the 'skeleton' of the vault. (Technically speaking, this standard type of vault is called a quadripartite rib vault; with a slight variation, it became a Sexpartite rib vault which is divided by eight ribs into six parts.)
- Later Gothic architecture, particularly in England, saw even more elaborate vaults, such as Lierne vaults and Fan vaults. See Perpendicular Gothic.
[edit] Construction
Medieval vaulting was created over a period of 600 years between 900 and 1500AD (roughly). There were also different types of vault in different places. There must have been very many experiments in their construction. They all had one thing in common though. They were built of stone at a height without the benefit of precise predictable measurement. They would, probably, all be built under a roof to protect the work and the workers and all would require a scaffold to support the stones the mortar and the workmen. The scaffold would also need to support machines, usually treadmills, to lift large stones on occasions, such as the large bosses at the apex of vault ribs.
Medieval mortar took a long time to achieve its final set and medieval vaulting is noted for the large size of the mortar joints. This means that it must have been supported for some time before the support was removed. The large mortar joints were an economical solution to the problem of lack of precision in that stone would not have to be precisely cut and the mortar joint could be more or less wide depending on circumstances.
It may be interesting to note that there are medieval paintings showing the construction of cathedrals and churches. They show details and quite mundane tasks but they do not show the construction of vaults, which suggests that they were out of sight, under a roof and above scaffolding.
The obvious way to construct a vault is by constructing scaffolding to hold up all the pieces. This is extremely expensive, however. Most classic vaults are self-supporting in construction, or built with jointures.
In a self-supporting vault, the starting arches have to be built with scaffolding, but after that, the bricks or stone blocks interlock, permitting additions until the vault is complete.
One of the easy ways to start an arch or construct a vault uses a "jointure", a beam or clamp with faces to grip the top blocks. Each time a block is added, the jointure is walked up to the next block on that side. The construction of jointures used to be a trade secret of masons. Some classic vaults are made to be constructed with jointures.
There are several inexpensive ways to construct concrete vaults. One of the simplest (invented by Paolo Soleri) is to form or dig a mold in the earth, pour the concrete, and then remove the earth. This is extremely effective with unskilled labor, and produces beautiful, durable buildings.
Another way (invented by Christopher Alexander) is to construct hollow pillars and an inner vault surface of flimsy, good-looking surfacing materials (pretty wood paneling or gypsum board). These also include the internal rebar, anchor studs, ducting, and piping. Then, these are filled with low density concrete, usually made with pumice or zeolite in place of silica gravel, and possibly with the addition of glass bottles (which are even lower density). The result is improvisable (the early stages are more like constructing a stage set than real construction), sturdy and attractive. Further, no wood, steel or other scarce materials are required for construction up to three stories tall.
[edit] List of architectural vaults
- Ambulatory vault - the covered portion of the covered passage around a cloister. Often written in the context of an ambulatory vault mosaic.
- Annular vault - A Barrel vault springing from two concentric walls.
- Aynalı vault - Turkish vault made by cutting a monastery vault's upper part in a horizontal plane. See Cavetto vault.
- Barrel vault - An architecture tunnel vault or barrel vault is a semicircular arch extended in depth: a continuous series of arches, one behind the other. The simplest form of an architecture vault, consisting of a continuous surface of semicircular or pointed sections. It resembles a barrel or tunnel which has been cut in half lengthwise and is known as tunnel vault or wagon vault. A longitudinal barrel vault is a barrel (or tunnel) vault which follows the main longitudinal direction of the nave. Usually when a vault is referred to simply as a barrel (or tunnel) vault, it may be assumed to be a longitudinal barrel vault.
- Baroque vault - term from Church of Our Lady in front of Týn. Also see Baroque architecture.
- Catalan vault - The Catalan vault, also called the Catalan turn or Catalan arch, is a type of low arch made of plain bricks. It is traditionally constructed by laying bricks lengthwise, making it a much gentler curve than has generally been produced by other methods of construction.
- Cavetto vault - Cavetto is a hollow, concave molding sometimes employed in the place of the cymatium of a cornice, as in. that of the Done order of the theatre of Marcellus. It forms the crowning feature of the Egyptian temples, and took the place of the cymatium in many of the Etruscan temples.
- Cloister vault - A domelike vault having a square or polygonal base from which curved segments rise to a central point.
- Corbel vault - A concave formation of blocks, usually stone or masonry; the vault is formed by blocks as they project inward from the layer on which they rest.
- Cross vault - See Groin vault.
- Cylindrical vault - See Barrel vault.
- Diamond vault - A diamond vault is a form of vault used in the Late Gothic and Renaissance style, which is based on an elaborate system of cavernous vaults in a manner resembling diamonds. It was widely used especially in Central European countries.
- Domical vault - See Cloister vault.
- Fan vault - An architecure vault which consists of fan-shaped half cones which usually meet at the center of a vault.
- Gothic vault - from Talk page. See also Gothic architecture and Church of Holy Trinity in Mošovce, Synagogue of Tomar.
- Groin vault - An architecture groin vault is formed when two barrel vaults intersect. The undersurface, or soffit, may be generated from a series of pointed, rather than round, arches. Also known as a cross vault. An architecture vault produced by the intersection at right angles of two barrel (tunnel) vaults. Sometimes the arches of groin vaults may be pointed instead of round.
- Handkerchief vault - See Dome.
- Lierne (vault) - A Lierne (from the French lier - to bind) in Gothic rib vaulting is an architectural term for a tertiary rib spanning between two other ribs, instead of from a springer, or to the central boss. It is named after the star shape generated by connecting liernes. Also see Stellar vault.
- Muqarnas vault - Muqarnas is the Arabic word for stalactite vault, an architectural ornament developed around the middle of the tenth century in north eastern Iran and almost simultaneously, but apparently independently, in central North Africa. A muqarnas is a three-dimensional architectural decoration composed of nichelike elements arranged in tiers. The two-dimensional projection of a muqarnas vault consists of a small variety of simple geometrical elements.
- Net vault - a vault on which a complex of ribs gives a net-like appearance.
- Nubian vault - a contour that obtained when a chain is held up at its two ends.
- Ogee vault - Ogee is a shape consisting of a concave arc flowing into a convex arc, so forming an S-shaped curve with vertical ends.
- Ogival vault - An architectural vault
- Parabolic vault - An architectural vault with a parabolic cross section.
- Hyperbolic parabaloid vault.
- Ploughshare vault - A Rib vault where the wall ribs spring from a higher position than those of the diagonal ribs.
- Quadripartite vault - A Rib vault where the bay is divided by diagonal and transvers ribs into four cells or webs.
- Rampant vault - A Barrel vault where one springing in point is higher than the opposite springing point.
- Rear vault - A of the internal hood of a doorway or window to which a splay has been given on the reveal, sometimes the vaulting surface is terminated by a small rib known as the scoinson rib, and a further development is given by angle shafts carrying this rib, known as scoinson shafts.
- Rib vault - A ribbed vault is any vault reinforced by masonry ribs. Also known as a ribbed vault. A rib vault may be a quadripartite rib vault (which is divided into four sections by two diagonal ribs) and a sexpartite rib vault (a rib vault whose surface is divided into six sections by three ribs).
- Sail vault - See Dome.
- Sexpartite vault - A Rib vault similar to the Quadripartite vault, but where the bay is further divided by an extra transverse ribs so that there are six cells.
- Shell vault - A thin self supporting vault.
- Stalactite vault - see Muqarnas vault. A vaulting system employing carved Muqarna to corbel the span.
- Stellar vault - from Lierne (vault). A Rib vault including liernes and tiercerons forming a star shaped pattern of ribs. Also see Lierne vault.
- Stilted vault - See Ploughshare vault
- Surbased vault - A vault with a cross section less than a semicircle, ie a segment.
- Surmounted vault - A vault with a cross section greater than a semicircle.
- Trimbrel vault - from Guastavino tile. U.S. patented (1885) system using interlocking terracotta tiles and layers of mortar in a thin skin, with the tiles following the curve of the roof as opposed to horizontal (corbelling), or perpendicular to the curve (Roman). This is known as timbrel vaulting because of supposed likeness to the skin of a timbrel or tambourine.
- Tripartite vault - The resulting intersection, triangular on plan, of 3 vaults.
- Tunnel vault - See Barrel vault.
- Wagon vault - See Barrel vault.
[edit] Examples
- Beverston Castle, England, groined undercroft
- Muchalls Castle, Scotland, barrell vaulted crypt and groined medieval kitchen
- Myres Castle, Scotland, groined undercroft and medieval kitchen
[edit] Special cases
- corbel vaulting
- diamond vaulting
- groined
