Glossary · T
Transept
Also called transepts
The arms of a cross-shaped church projecting north and south at the crossing.
See also: Crossing
Rules that use the word
The Latin cross: nave, aisles, transept, apse. Lay out the church as an Early Christian basilica (a tall nave lit from above, lower aisles on either side, a sanctuary ending in an apse to the east) and cross it with a transept, so that the plan becomes a Latin cross with a tower over the crossing.
The crossing square as module. Let the square of the crossing set the measure of the whole church: the nave and transept arms are multiples of it, each nave bay is a square of the same size, and each aisle bay a square one quarter its area.
Apses in echelon. Multiply altars at the east end by opening apses off the transept arms and the choir, stepped back from the main apse in echelon, each with its own small semidome and roof.
Where it appears in the book
In the chapters Frame and Skin, Byzantium and the Early Church, Romanesque and Gothic, The Islamic World, South and Southeast Asia, Gardens and Landscape.
A feature of Early Christian, Gothic architecture.
Nearby in the glossary
Torus · Torus moulding · Trace italienne · Tracery · Transom · Transverse arch · Treillage · Triclinium