Lecture

Flying Buttresses and Arches

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In course

CIVIL-122: Structures I

Le cours présente les bases du comportement des structures, de la détermination des efforts qui y agissent et les principes de leur dimensionnement. Le cours est basé sur la résolution des efforts par la statique graphique. ...

Description

This lecture discusses the design and function of flying buttresses in Gothic architecture, focusing on the horizontal components of reactions and the modeling of pointed arches. The instructor explains the adaptation of weight distribution to achieve specific reaction forces and the operation of half-pointed arcs. Various examples, such as the Pont du Gard and Narbonne Cathedral, are used to illustrate these concepts.

Instructor

Olivier Burdet

Born 1960, Olivier Burdet has received his Diploma in Civil Engineering from EPFL in 1983. After a couple years in engineering practice, he went back to studying at the university of Texas at Austin, where he received his PhD in 1990. Returning to EPFL in 1990, he is now a senior researcher and a lecturer in the field of reinforced concrete structures. He is also actively involved in the development of internet-based course contents and MOOCs.

Official source

Ontological neighbourhood

Architecture

Architectural styles: Topics in architectural styles

Related concepts (24)

Gothic architecture

Gothic architecture is an architectural style that was prevalent in Europe from the late 12th to the 16th century, during the High and Late Middle Ages, surviving into the 17th and 18th centuries in some areas. It evolved from Romanesque architecture and was succeeded by Renaissance architecture. It originated in the Île-de-France and Picardy regions of northern France. The style at the time was sometimes known as opus Francigenum (French work); the term Gothic was first applied contemptuously during the later Renaissance, by those ambitious to revive the architecture of classical antiquity.

French Gothic architecture

French Gothic architecture is an architectural style which emerged in France in 1140, and was dominant until the mid-16th century. The most notable examples are the great Gothic cathedrals of France, including Notre-Dame Cathedral, Reims Cathedral, Chartres Cathedral, and Amiens Cathedral. Its main characteristics are verticality, or height, and the innovative use of the rib vault and flying buttresses and other architectural innovations to distribute the weight of the stone structures to supports on the outside, allowing unprecedented height and volume.

Arch

An arch is a vertical curved structure that spans an elevated space and may or may not support the weight above it, or in case of a horizontal arch like an arch dam, the hydrostatic pressure against it. Arches may be synonymous with vaults, but a vault may be distinguished as a continuous arch forming a roof. Arches appeared as early as the 2nd millennium BC in Mesopotamian brick architecture, and their systematic use started with the ancient Romans, who were the first to apply the technique to a wide range of structures.

Flying buttress

The flying buttress (arc-boutant, arch buttress) is a specific form of buttress composed of an arch that extends from the upper portion of a wall to a pier of great mass, in order to convey to the ground the lateral forces that push a wall outwards, which are forces that arise from vaulted ceilings of stone and from wind-loading on roofs. The namesake and defining feature of a flying buttress is that it is not in contact with the wall at ground level, unlike a traditional buttress, and transmits the lateral forces across the span of intervening space between the wall and the pier.

Gothic Revival architecture

Gothic Revival (also referred to as Victorian Gothic or neo-Gothic) is an architectural movement that began in the late 1840s in England. The movement gained momentum and expanded in the first half of the 19th century, as increasingly serious and learned admirers of the neo-Gothic styles sought to revive medieval Gothic architecture, intending to complement or even supersede the neoclassical styles prevalent at the time. Gothic Revival draws upon features of medieval examples, including decorative patterns, finials, lancet windows, and hood moulds.

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