Glossary · F
Flying buttress
Also called flying buttresses, flyer, flyers, arc-boutant
A half-arch of masonry that springs from a detached buttress pier and leans against the upper wall of the nave, carrying the thrust of the high vault across the aisle.
Rules that use the word
Concentrate the loads; fill the rest with glass. Gather the weight and thrust of the vaults onto a few points by ribs, carry them down piers and out across the aisles by flying buttresses to external buttress piers, and the wall between the supports carries almost nothing, so it can be opened into windows.
The flying buttress. Carry the outward thrust of a high vault across the aisle roof by a half-arch of stone (the flyer) that leans against the clerestory wall at the level of the vault’s haunches and springs from a massive buttress pier outside the aisle, which takes the thrust down to the ground.
Where it appears in the book
In the chapters Walls and Openings, The Arch, Vaults, Romanesque and Gothic, Enlightenment and Revival.
A feature of Gothic architecture.
Nearby in the glossary
Finial · Five points · Flemish bond · Flute · Foil · Folly · Form-finding · Four-centred arch