Glossary · B
Barrel vault
Also called tunnel vault, barrel
A vault of continuous semicircular (or pointed) section, like a tunnel; it needs continuous support along both sides.
See also: Groin vault, Transverse arch
Rules that use the word
Let the roofline follow the vaults. Divide each wall into bays with pilaster strips and end each bay in a semicircular gable, the zakomara, that follows the curve of the barrel vault behind it; shape the roof to the gables.
A barrel vault needs a continuous wall. A barrel (tunnel) vault is an arch extruded along its axis. It thrusts outward all along both sides, so it must rest on continuous thick walls, which can be pierced only sparingly, and only below its springing.
Two barrels crossed gather their thrust at the corners. Intersect two barrel vaults of equal height at right angles: the result is a groin vault, whose weight and thrust are gathered along the diagonal groins to the four corners, leaving the sides free for openings.
Where it appears in the book
In the chapters The Arch, Vaults, The Roof, Frame and Skin, The Classical World, Byzantium and the Early Church, Romanesque and Gothic, South and Southeast Asia.
A feature of Buddhist India, Renaissance, Neoclassical architecture.
Nearby in the glossary
Baptistery · Bar tracery · Barchessa · Bargeboard · Base · Basilica · Bastion · Batter