Vault Flashcards
An arched structure of stone, brick, or reinforced concrete, forming a ceiling or roof over a hall, room, or other wholly or partially enclosed space.
Vault
A course of keystones in the crown of a masonry vault.
Key course
A horizontal course forming the abutments or springers of a masonry vault.
Vaulting course
An arch for stiffening a barrel vault or supporting a groin vault.
Transverse arch
A bay between two transverse arches in a vaulted structure.
Severy
An external support built to stabilize a structure by opposing its outward thrusts, esp a projecting support built into or against the outside of a masonry wall.
Buttress
A vault constructed by corbeling courses of stone masonry. The resulting stepped surface can be smoothed or curved, but no arch action is uncurred.
Corbel Volt
An inclined bar of masonry carried on a segmental arch and transmitting an outward and downward thrust from a roof or vault to a solid buttress that through its mass transforms the thrust into a vertical one.
Flying buttress, arc-boutant
A subordinate vertical structure terminating in a pyramid or spire, used esp. in Gothic architecture to add weight to a buttress pier.
Pinnacle
The part of a pier that rises to take the thrust of a flying buttress.
Buttress pier
A sloping top on a buttress or prohecting pier to shed rainwater.
Amortizement
A projecting edge of a buttress.
Nosing
A distinct, slender, vertical masonry feature engaged in a wall or pier and supporting or feigning to support an arch or a ribbed vault.
Shaft
A shaft that leads to the springer of a rib or group of ribs, either rising from the ground or from a corbel at a greater height in the face of the masonry.
Vaulting Shaft
A vault having a semicircular cross section.
Barrel vault, cradle vault, tunnel vault, wagon vault
A vault having circular cross section that is larger at one end than the other.
Conical vault
A vault springing from an abutment higher at one side than at the other.
Rampant vault
A barrel vault having a circular plan in the shape of a ring.
Annular vault
A compound vault for covering a triangular space, formed by the intersection of three barrel vaults.
Tripartite Vault
A compound vault formed by the perpendicular intersection of two vaults, forming arched diagonal arrises called groins.
Groin vault, cross vault
A compound vault having a central vault intersected by vaults of lower pitch.
Underpitch vault, Welsh vault
A compound vault having a narrower transverse vault springing from a higher level so that the ridges are at the same height.
Stilted vault
A compound vault formed by four coves meeting along diagonal vertical planes.
Cloister Vault, coved vault
A surface framed by the ribs of a ribbed vault.
Web
A vault supported by or decorated with arched diagonal ribs.
Rib vault, ribbed vault
A rib vault divided into four parts by intersecting diagonal ribs.
Quadripartite vault
The keystone at the crown of an arch or at the intersection of two or more vaulting ribs.
Key
A horizontal rib marking the crown of a vaulting compartment.
Ridge Rib
A rib vault divided into six compartments by two diagonal ribs and three transverse ribs.
Sexpartite Vault
Any of several archlike members supporting a vault at the groins, defining its distinct surfaces or dividing these surfaces into panels.
Rib
A rib spanning the longitudinal axis of a rib vault and dividing it into bays or compartments.
Arc doubleau, transverse rib
A rib springing from a point of support on either side of the ogives or transverse ribs of a rib vault.
Tierceron, intermediate rib
A rib against a wall, parallel to the longitudinal axis of a rib vault.
Formeret, arc formeret, wall rib
A rib crossing a compartment of a rib vault on a diagonal.
Ogive, diagonal rib, groin rib
An ornamental vaulting rib other than one springing from a pier or a ridge rib.
Lierne
An ornamental, knoblike projection, such as a carved keystone at the intersection of ogives.
Boss
A sculptured ornament suspended from a roof truss, vault, or ceiling.
Pendant, Drop
A vault having ribs, liernes, or tiercerons arranged in a star-shaped pattern.
Star Vault, Stellar Vault
Wells Cathedral: Lady Chapel star vault ceiling
A vault composed of a number of concave conoidal sections, usually four, springing from the corners of the vaulting compartment, often decorated with ribs that radiate from the springing like the framework of a fan.
Fan vault
