devices which evolved in response to the forms
which were adopted out of structural necessity
were to be much imitated at the time of the
Italian Renaissance, and subsequently.
The Gothic cathedrals of the medieval
period, in which vaulted roofs were balanced
on highly complex buttressed wall systems,
belong to the same generic type of building as
the vaulted basilicas and bath houses of
Imperial Rome. It is interesting to note,
however, that, although the architects of the
Gothic period were faced with very similar
structural problems to those of their Roman
predecessors and that their structural solution
to it was similar, they produced an architecture
which was quite different in style and character
from that of the Romans.
The structural solution adopted by the
Gothic builders was, therefore, similar struc-
turally to that of the largest Roman buildings.
The vaulted roof of a large hall (the nave of
the church) was supported on vertical struc-
tural systems of great thickness but from
which much mass was extracted to improve
the efficiency with which material was used
(Fig. 5.6). In the case of the Gothic buildings
the sculptural effect occurred on the exterior
of the building and took the form of
buttresses, flying-buttresses, finials and all of
the other elements of the Gothic architectural
vocabulary. The basic structural arrangement
was the same as in the Roman buildings but
the architectural treatment of it was entirely
different.
In some of the later buildings of the Gothic
period the degree of refinement was extreme
(Fig. 5.7). In these buildings the loads from the
vaulting were concentrated into slender
columns braced by stabilising buttresses. The
walls linking these were extensively pierced
with traceried windows. The walls, in fact, had
a minimal structural function and had become
virtually non-loadbearing curtain walls. The
structural system of these late Gothic cath-
edrals was really that of the rigid frame rather
than of the loadbearing wall - a remarkable
achievement in a material with minimal tensile
strength. The relationship between architec-
tural aspiration and structural technology was
Fig. 5.6 Notre-Dame Cathedral, Paris, France, 12th
century. As in the case of the Roman vaulted halls the
vault here is supported on a wall system of great thickness.
The architectural treatment of the buttressing system is
quite different however.perhaps closer in these buildings than has ever
been achieved subsequently.
Present-day tall single-storey buildings,
which are used for single-space large enclos-
ures such as sports halls, normally have
roofing systems which do not exert significant
lateral thrust at the tops of the walls. They are
not therefore true vaulted halls. The walls are
nevertheless subjected to significant out-of-
plane forces due to the action of wind pressure
and must have adequate strength in bending
to resist this. The strategies which are adopted
in modern practice to achieve this are similar
to those which were used in historic times -
that of providing high overall thickness without
the use of an excessive volume of masonry.
The fin and diaphragm wall systems are
examples of this (Fig. 5.41). A notable alterna-
tive method is the use of corrugations as is
seen in the distinctive work of the Uruguayanarchitect Eladio Dieste (Fig. 5.8). 151
Masonry structures