Vaults

Types
Considerations
Specifications
VAULT
An arched structure , usually of masonry , used as ceiling or
canopyor as a support for the roof.
Masonry walls are composed of wedge shaped pieces called
voussiors , which are held in place by the pressure of the
neighbouring pieces.
A temporary supporting structure must be erected within
thevaulted area during the construction
HISTORY OFVAULTS
In ancient Egypt vaulting was used, chiefly for drains
The Chaldaeans and Assyrians used vaults for the same purpose
Roman and Romanesque styles of vaulting started in the first
century.
Casting concrete in one solid mass, the romans created vaults
of perfect rigidity, devoid of external thrust and nobutresses
Roman vaults were the basis on which complex and varied
forms were developed in the middle ages
Greeks made no use of vaults.
DIFFERENCEBETWEEN
DOMESANDVAULTS
DOMES
A DOME IS AN ELEMENT OF
ARCHITECTURE THAT RESMBLES THE
HOLLOW UPPER PART OF A SPHERE.
VAULTS
A VAULT IS A CEILING OF BRICK , CONCRETE,
STONE , TIMBER ,ETC BUILT IN PRINCIPLE OF
ARCH

AN ARCH ROTATED AROUND ITS CENTRAL AXIS.

A
M IT CANNOT BE LIGHTED EXCEPT AT THE
A ENDS WITHOUT BEING STRUCTURALLY
DOMES
S CAN BE SUPPORTED BY COLUMNS OR WEAKENED
PIERS.
O MUST BE BUTTRESSED ALONG ITS ENTIRE
Types of vaults
BARRELVAULT
Barrel vault is an architectural element formed by
the extrusion of a singlecurve along a given
distance.

A barrel vault is generally semi-circular in cross

section.
The barrel vault is the simplest form of a vault
,effectively a series of arches placed side by side, i.e.,
oneafter another.
BARREL VAULT
HISTORY OF BARRELVAULTS
Barrel vaulting was known and employedby early civilizations,
includingAncient Egypt and Mesopotamia.

The earliest known example of avaultis atunnel vault found

under the Sumerian ziggurat at Nippurin Babyloni a, ascribed to
about 4000 BC,which was built of burnt bricksamalgamated with
clay mortar. The earliest tunnel vaults inEgypt are found at
Requagnah and Denderah,from around 3500 BC;these were built
in sun- dried brick in three rings over passages descending to
tombs: in thesecasesthe spanof the vault wasonly two metres.
ANCIENT ROMANS INHERITED THEIR KNOWLEDGE OF BARREL
VAULTING FROM ETRUSCANS. ROMANS WERE FIRST TO USE
THIS BUILDING METHOD EXTENSIVELY ON LARGE SCALE
PROJECTS ‘ HOWEVER ROMANS GRADUALLY BEGAN TO
PREFER THE USE TO GROIN VAULT . IN EARLY ROMANESQUE
PERIOD A RETURN TO STONE BARREL VAULTS WAS SEEN FOR
THE FIRST GREAT CATHEDRALS . ONE OF THE LARGEST AND
THE MOST FAMOUSE CHURCH ENCLOSED FROM THE BARREL
VAULT IS CHURCH OF CLUNY ABBEY BETWEEN 11TH AND 12
TH CENTURIES . IN 13 TH CENTURY THE CONSTRUCTION OF
BARREL VALTS ALMOST BECAME EXTINCT WITH ADVANCE OF
NEW GOTHIC STYLE . HOWEVER IN THE RENAISSANCE AND
THE BOROQUE STYLE WHICH GAVE INTREST IN ANTIQUE ART
AND ARCHITECTURE , BARREL VAULTIN WAS REINTRUDUCED.
Elements ofvaults
• ABUTMENT
A structure built to support the lateral
pressure of an arch or span,
e.g. at the ends of a bridge

• IMPOST
Top course of a pillar or a wall that supports
the arch or vault.

• INTRADOS
Inner curve of an a arch or vault.

• VOUSSIOR
A wedge shaped or tapered stone used to
construct an arch or a vault .
 THE BAREL VAULT IS THE MOST
STRAIGHT FORWARD SINGLE
CURVATURE SHELL
CONSTRUCTION.
ANY NUMBER OF CONTINIUOUS
SPANS ARE POSSIBLE BUT
SUFFICIENT GAPS SHOULD BE GIVEN
.

TWO TYPES OF BARREL VAULTS :

1. LONG SPAN BARREL VAULTS
2. SHORT SPAN BARREL VAULTS
LONG SPAN BARREL VAULTS SHORT SPAN BARREL VAULTS
• LONG SPAN BARREL VAULTS
ARE THOSE VAULTS IN • SHORT SPAN BARREL
WHICH THE SPAN IS VAULTS ARE THE
LARGER THAN ITS WIDHT. VAULTS IN WHICH
THE SPAN IS SHORTER
THAN ITS WIDTH
.
CONSTRUCTION OF
BARRELVAULTS
GROINVAULTS
The word “groin” refers to the edge between the intersecting vaults.
A Groin vault is created by two barrel vaults intersecting at right
angles. The arches of vaults are rounded or pointed. A Groin vault
also known as a Double Barrel vault.
Renaissance groin vault loggia at Santa Maria Maggiore at Guardiagrele
the Palladio’s Palazzo della Ragione, Vicenza. in Abruzzo
Characteristics of
Groinvault
Sometime the arches of groin vaults are pointed instead of round.
The groin vault required great skills in cutting stone to from a neat
arris.
Difficult to construct neatly because of the geometry of cross groins.
In comparison with a barrel vault, a groin vault provides good
economies of material and labour.
The construction of groin vault can be understood most simply by
visualizing two barrel vault section at right angles merging to form a
squarish unit.
Arris in Groinvault
• Arris is the sharp edge formed by the
intersection of two surfaces, such asthe
corner of a masonry unit.
• An arris rail is a structural element, whose
cross section is a 45 degree isosceles right
angled triangle.
• Arris rails are usually made of wood,and
are manufactured by cutting a length of
square-section timber lengthwise
diagonally.
RIBVAULTS
Ribbed vault is defined as the
intersection of two or three barrel
vaults. Rib vaults is
reinforced by masonry ribs.

Types of Rib vault:

There are two types of rib vault.
• Quadripartite rib vault :
When two masonry ribs dividing into
4 sections.
• Sexpartite rib vault:
W
h
e
Characteristics of Rib vault
When the Ribbed vault are edged with an armature of piped masonry
often carved in decorativepatterns.
Some ribbed vaults even have six section in eachbay.
It is best for roofingpurpose.
In eleventh centaury there was a new technique introduced asLeta, which became
an example of Ichoir side aisles atDurham cathedral.
Comparative study
Cathedral of Reims,France
Lierne vault of the nave ofChester
Cathedral
FAN VAULT
A fan vault is a form of vault used in the Gothic style, in which the ribs
are all of the same curve and spaced equidistantly, ina manner
resembling afan.
Structure :
The ribs of a fan vault are of equal
curvature and rotated at equal distances
around a central (vertical) axis, forming the
conoid shape which gives rise to the name.
In between sequences of conoids, flat
central spandrels fill thespace.
 Examples:

King's College Chapel, Cambridge BathAbbey,

South aisle
CLOISTER VAULT
In architecture, a cloister vault or domical vault
is a vault withfour concave surfaces (patches of
cylinders) meeting at a point above the centre
of the vault.
Structure:
Itcan be thought of as formed by two barrel vaults
that cross at right angles to each other: the open
space within the vault is the intersection of the
space within the two barrel vaults, and the solid
material that surrounds the vault is the union of the
solid material surrounding the two barrel vaults. In
this way it differs from a groin vault, which is also
formed from two barrel vaults but in the opposite
way: in a groin vault, the space is the union of the
spaces of two barrel vaults, and the solid material is
the intersection.
Maple leaf gardens,Torrent ( interior view)

( Vault under construction ,1931)

CatalanVault
The Catalan vault consists of plain bricks that form alow arch.
It is also known asthe Catalan turn, Timbrel vault, or Tile vaulting. It is widely used in
Catalonia from which it derives its name.

It is traditionally constructed by laying bricks lengthwise over a wood form or

"centring", making it a much gentler curve thanhas generally been produced by
other methods of construction.
Builders have to use afast setting mortar to allow the brick to hold itself after
being tapped into place.

This technique was by Catalan people with layers of thinner, lighter bricks to
create aceiling not only light but also very strong.
Catalanvault
Tile vaulting uses much less material and can be built much
morequickly.
Becausethe thin bricks are laid flat, with their narrow edges
in contact, the total thickness of the vault is less than
conventional masonry, and therefore the self- weight and
corresponding horizontal thrust values arereduced.
Tile vaulting can be constructed with minimal or no
formwork.
Gypsum plaster is used to hold thetile.
Catalan vaults consist of a single or series of arches
on theceiling which create a shell structure.
Resource efficiency:
Since this technique was popular among
common people, the material had to be easy
to make andaffordable.
Also, compared to making the same ceiling with a
solid design, Catalan vaults costs less and do not
require elaboratefalsework.
RampantVault
A continuous wagon vault, or cradle vault, whose two abutments are
located on an inclined plane, such as the vault supporting a stairway, or
forming the ceiling ofastairway.
The impost on one side is higher than the impost on the other side
Modern vaults
Hyperbolic paraboloids

The 20th century saw great advances in reinforced

concrete design. The advent of shell construction and
the better mathematical understanding of hyperbolic
paraboloids allowed very thin, strong vaults to be
constructed with previously unseen shapes.
Hyperbolic paraboloids
The hyperbolic paraboloid is a doubly ruled surface: it contains two families of mutually
skew lines. The lines in each family are parallel to a common plane, but not to each other.
Hence the hyperbolic paraboloid is a conoid.
These properties characterize hyperbolic paraboloids and are used in one of the oldest
definitions of hyperbolic paraboloids: a hyperbolic paraboloid is a surface that may be
generated by a moving line that is parallel to a fixed plane and crosses two fixed skew
lines. This property makes it easy to physically shape a hyperbolic paraboloid out of
concrete, and explains its frequent use in modern architecture, perhaps originally in
Eastern European Constructivist structures
The widely sold fried snack food Pringles potato chips resemble a truncated hyperbolic
paraboloid. The distinctive shape of these chips allows them to be stacked in sturdy
tubular containers, fulfilling a design goal that they break less easily than other types of
chip.
 Examples

Warszawa Ochota railway station, an Pringles. An example Surface illustrating a

example of a hyperbolic paraboloid of a hyperbolic hyperbolic paraboloid
structure paraboloid
Considerations
Considerations and Application
Application of Vaults
• Plain masonry built with blocks or bricks
• Floors for multi-story building: they can be leveled flat
• Roofs: can be left exposed and they will be waterproofed in a
conventional way with cement-lime sand plaster
• Earthquake zones: can be used with a reinforced ring beam

Two ways to build Vaults:

• Using a form to support the bricks during construction:
- This form is either made of wood or steel and it can be re-used
• Building “free spanning”. Also called the Nubian Technique
Considerations and Application
Timber Saving:
• Vaults can built with adobe, burnt bricks or stone

Stability Study:
• The shape of a vault is a crucial for stability and a stability study is
often needed.

Need of Skilled masons:

• Building a vault requires delicate hands of trained masons
• Never improvise
• Ask advise and specification from skilled people

Need of good Quality Materials:

• Vaults built with compressed earth blocks should be made of blocks
of very regular thickness
 SPECIFICATION:
Materials and Installation
Materials
• Bricks
• Stone
• Timber
• Wood
• Reinforced concrete
Materials & Installation
• Brick- installed vertically, leaning at an angle
Materials & Installation
• Stone- should have a window to avoid fenestration
Materials
• Timber
Materials
• Wood
Materials
• Reinforced Concrete (RCC)
ANALYSIS
Comparative Analysis
of the Traditional vaults vs the Modern
TRADITIONAL MODERN
MOSTLY BARREL, SOME GROIN GROIN USED FOR VAULTED
CATHEDRALS;
ROUNDED ARCHES POINTED ARCHES
MODEST HEIGHT ELEVATION SOARING HEIGHT
LITTLE DECORATION; SOLID MORE DETAILED FEATURES
DARK AND GLOOMY VIBE TALL, LIGHT-FILLED
Comparative Analysis
of the Advantages and Disadvantages of using Vaults
ADVANTAGES
Lower cost of construction for larger
floor area
Visually appealing
Dead load can be reduced
Curved shapes are strong in
compression
RCC Vaults reduce construction and
material cost
Concrete is easily poured and shaped
DISADVANTAGES
Increased cooling or heating costs
Good labor necessary in construction
Shuttering problem when not
constructed properly
Concrete Vaults often have an issue
with sealing; water pours inside
TALL, LIGHT-FILLED
Sources
• Brittanica
• Credo Reference
• Wikipedia
• Geometry and Construction Techniques of
Gothic Vaults