Glossary · S
Sail vault
Also called vela, pendentive dome
A vault formed from a single hemisphere cut by the four vertical sides of a square bay, so that each side is a semicircular arch; also called a pendentive dome or vela.
Rules that use the word
The sail vault: one sphere, uncut. If the sphere that forms the pendentives is simply continued above the ring, the bay is covered by a single shallow dome, the sail vault or pendentive dome, which springs directly from the four corners.
The sail vault over a square bay. Cover a square bay with a hemisphere whose diameter is the bay’s diagonal, cut off by the four vertical planes of its sides; the cut edges are then the four semicircular arches of the bay.
Where it appears in the book
In the chapters Domes, Renaissance and Baroque.
A feature of Renaissance architecture.
Nearby in the glossary
Royal cubit · Rustication · Şadırvan · Sahn · Salle de verdure · Sarsen · Sash window · Scaenae frons