When was fan vaulting most common

In continental examples the ridge rib is often not continuous, but only extends to the last pair of arches which abut against it obliquely. Ridge ribs are generally horizontnal in England and arched on the Continent, the "infilling " or "severy" having its courses meeting at the ridge in zigzag lines as in the nave of Westminster Abbey, and the naves and choirs of Lincoln, Exeter and Lichfield Cathedral, and as found in the churches of South-West France.

A wall-rib , called a "formeset," because forming a boundary for each compartment, was also introduced. Right: Lierne Stellar Vault, St. Mary Radcliffe. The complicated "stellar" vaulting of the late fourteenth and early fifteenth centuries No. The development was somewhat as follows: — In the thirteenth century the form of an inverted four-sided hollow rectangular pyramid was the shape given to the vault.

In the fourteenth century the masons converted this shape, by the introduction of more ribs, into a polygonal hexagonal pyramid, as in S. Sepulchre, Holborn, and elsewhere.

In the fifteenth century the setting out of the vault was much simplified by the introduction of what is generally known as "Fan " vaulting, described above. Owing to the reduction of the size of panels, due to the increase in the number of the ribs, a return was made to the Roman method of vault construction, for in fan vaulting the whole vault was often constructed in jointed masonry, the panels being sunk in the soffit of the stone forming the vault instead of being separate stones resting on the backs of the ribs.

The solid method seems to have been adopted first in the crown of the vaults where the ribs were most numerous. The difficulty of supporting the flat lozenge-shaped space in the top portion of the vault surrounded by the upper boundaries of the hollow cones was comparatively easy in the cloisters, where this type of vaulting was first introduced, because the vaulting spaces to be roofed were square or nearly so, but when it was attempted to apply it to the bays of the nave, which were generally twice as long transversely as longitudinally, difficulties occurred.

In King's College Chapel A. In the nave of Henry VII. At Oxford Cathedral a somewhat similar method was adopted, the pendants also placed some distance from the wall, being supported on an upper arch, and a polygonal form of ribs adhered to.

Fan vaulting is confined to England, and other examples beyond those already mentioned are in the Divinity Schools, Oxford; Trinity Church, Ely; Gloucester Cathedral see illustration above ; S. George's Chapel, Windsor; the retro-choir, Peterborough, and elsewhere. The depressed fon-centred arch is typical of the architecture of the Tudor period, although it seems to have been used in the vaulting of earlier churches. It is not found out of England, and appears to have been first used largely in fan vaulting, to which the reason for its adoption is held to be due.

For example, if the diagonal rib is to be a pointed two-centred arch, each portion must obviously be less than a quadrant, and the transverse and wall ribs, being shorter, must be con- siderably less than quadrants, especially if the compartment is oblong, and this would make the window arch in the nave wall of acute lancet form ; but the window arch was made equilateral or even less in height compared to its span in this period, and so the segments of a diagonal arch of two centres preserving the same curvature would not meet at their summit without becoming horizontal or possibly bending downwards to each other.

To obviate this the transverse and diagonal ribs in an oblong com- partment were sometimes made as four-centred arches, all the ribs starting with the same curvature, but at a certain height the portions above this level were drawn with a longer radius in order that they might meet the ribs from the opposite side of the vault at the required height.

These four-centred arches were afterwards applied to other parts of the buildings in England, as in arches to doors and windows, and tracery work in panelling, possibly with a desire to harmonize with the important superstructure of vaulting. Examples of "pendant" but not of "fan" vaulting are frequent in the Flamboyant period fifteenth century in France, as at Caudebec, and other places. Fletcher, Banister, and Banister F. London: B.

Batsford, Introduction Roman and Romanesque vaulting consisted entirely in the design of the vaulting planes or surfaces without reference to their meeting lines or groins, whereas mediaeval vaulting consisted in profiling the groins which were erected first and supporting the vaulting surfaces whech were made to adapt themselves to them.

Right: Groined, stilted, and pointed cross vaulting in square bays. A great advance was made by the introduction of the pointed arch, which was used firstly for the transverse and wall ribs only, the diagonal ribs i.

Norman vaulting was either cylindrical or barrel vaulting, as at the Tower of London; groined cross vaulting in square bays; other shapes in which the narrower vaulting arches were stilted, or, in the later period, were pointed; Sexpartite six part vaulting as in the choir at Canterbury Cathedral, rebuilt by William of Sens in A.

The pointed arch became permanently established, surmounting all the difficulties of difference in span, and enabling vaults of varying sizes to intersect without stilting or other contrivances. These floors were made with a plaster finish in order to scribe full size the shapes and carvings of the stone block to be worked.

If the Trinity Chapel is seen as an ideological piece, an architecture as furniture, viewed through perimeter grillage except during the chantry ceremony, then the fan vaulted cloister of Gloucester Cathedral built between and is the first manifestation of fan-vaulted architecture within which to perambulate and experience its spatial quality.

The five bays on the east sidewalk adjacent to the church entrance were the first to be made, presumably almost as a prototype and under strict supervision. The remaining bays completed later used a standardised jointing system that could not adapt to the vagaries of the earlier foundations. Warping is visible in the tracery, accommodating differences in the masonry shell as it takes up the inconsistencies of bay dimensions. The fan vaults of Gloucester cloister were constructed from centring bays based upon earlier Norman foundations.

From a single stone pilaster a ring of jointed masonry was laid in line with the curvature of the conoid. Subsequent rings were corbelled following this arch until the curved blocks met at the apex. Each block had been cut to a three-dimensional geometry following the circumference of the coursing and the arch spring. At the apex of the meeting of four conoids infill blocks lying almost flat to the geometric surface act as key stones to lock in the corbelled conoid form.

Because the cloister construction has to span between other existing structures and external buttresses around the cloister, the conoid pocket - that is the space behind the masonry shell - is left open to the void between the fan vault masonry and the lean-to roof above.

In other circumstances the conoid pocket is filled with mortar to increase the sectional depth of the conoid and to bring the line of forces within the structure of the fan vault. In Gothic architecture the re-aligning of forces travelling down the ribs and spandrels of the vault is achieved by flying buttresses or a pinnacle weight above the springing point of the arch.

Unlike the Gothic vault, where the expression of forces is described by ribs and spandrels, the blocks of the fan vault conoid are free to be carved to the reticulated design of the enclosure. The Gloucester cloister follows an almost dendritic pattern of cusped and scribed ribs, as though a tree design.

Because the rib carving is free from structural expression, the depth of carving and light modulation gives the space spectacular quality. Due to the circumstances in which the fan vault evolved it is often seen as an adaption or as an addition to the church, either as a side chapel or a porch, uncertain as to whether it is an ostentatious addition or part of a quiet, well-crafted country churchyard.

Although Harvey regarded the fan vault as somewhat inferior to the Gothic vault, its installed shell formation offers much as a way of thinking about contemporary skins. Since , The Architectural Review has scoured the globe for architecture that challenges and inspires. Buildings old and new are chosen as prisms through which arguments and broader narratives are constructed. In their fearless storytelling, independent critical voices explore the forces that shape the homes, cities and places we inhabit.

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