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vault

From The Columbia Encyclopedia
ceiling over a room, formed in any one of a variety of curved shapes. A vault is generally composed of separate units of material, such as bricks, tiles, or blocks of stone, so shaped or cut that when assembled they form a tightly wedged and stable construction whose weight can be concentrated upon the proper supports. Vaults are also formed in a homogeneous material, as when built in concrete. In modern work ceilings in the form of masonry vaults are often merely of plaster applied against a curved framework of wood or metal. Since antiquity vault surfaces have been enriched at various times in diverse ways—with coffers, carvings, plaster decorations, mosaics, or frescoes. Vaults constructed of numerous blocks of material pressing against one another exert not only the accumulated downward weight of the material and of any superimposed load but also a side thrust or tendency to spread. To avoid collapse, adequate resistance against this thrust must thus be concentrated at the haunches…
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Full text Article vault

From Philip's Encyclopedia
Concrete enabled the Romans to build vaults of a...
Curved roof or ceiling usually made of stone, brick or concrete. The simple barrel vault is semi-cylindrical; the groin vault consists of two barrel vaults intersected at right-angles; the ribbed groin is the same as the groin vault except that it has ribs to give the edges extra support; the…
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Full text Article vault

From Word Origins
Vault ‘arched roof’ [14] and vault ‘jump’ [16] are distinct words, although they share a common ancestor: Latin volvere ‘roll, turn’ (source also of English involve, revolve , etc). Its feminine past participle volūta evolved in Vulgar Latin into *volta , which was used as a noun meaning ‘turn’, …
| 109 words
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Full text Article vault

From The Thames & Hudson Dictionary of Art Terms
vault
A roof based on the structural principle of the arch . A vault constructed as a continuous semi-circular arch. Synonym: tunnel vault. The only exception to the above definition, being constructed by building out a series of corbel acting as cantilevers from two or four walls until they meet to…
| 240 words , 1 image
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Full text Article vault

From Britannica Concise Encyclopedia
Four common types of vault. A barrel vault (also...
In building construction, an arched structure forming a ceiling or roof. The masonry vault exerts the same kind of thrust as the arch , and must be supported along its entire length by heavy walls with limited openings. The basic barrel vault, in effect a continuous series of arches, first appeared…
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Full text Article vault

From The Columbia Encyclopedia
ceiling over a room, formed in any one of a variety of curved shapes. A vault is generally composed of separate units of material, such as bricks, tiles, or blocks of stone, so shaped or cut that when assembled they form a tightly wedged and stable construction whose weight can be concentrated upon…
| 671 words
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Full text Article vault

From The Hutchinson Unabridged Encyclopedia with Atlas and Weather Guide
In architecture, a continuous arch of brick, stone, or concrete, forming a self-supporting roof over a building or part of a building; also a vaulted structure, for example under a street pavement. Of the many different types of vault, the barrel vault or tunnel vault is the simplest form of…
| 465 words
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Full text Article VAULT

From 100 Ideas that Changed Architecture
The simplest forms of vault are produced by extruding or rotating a semicircular arch: the former is a barrel vault, the latter a dome . Like a masonry arch, a pure barrel vault requires wooden centring to support it during construction. Some of the oldest examples of vaults, for granaries at Thebes…
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Full text Article Vaults

From 1001 Inventions: The Enduring Legacy of Muslim Civilization
An architectural vault is a stone arch that makes a ceiling or canopy, making it possible to have a roof over a large space made of bricks, stone blocks, or a mixture of mortar and debris. Until metal girders and trusses were introduced in the 19th century, the only alternatives to stone vaults were…
| 1,290 words
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Full text Article vault 1

From The American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language
vault 1 top to bottom: barrel, groin, and rib...
a. An arched structure, usually of masonry or concrete, serving to cover a space. b. An arched overhead covering, such as the sky, that resembles the architectural structure in form. A room or space, such as a cellar or storeroom, with an arched ceiling, especially when underground. A room or…
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Full text Article Edinburgh’s vaults

From Chambers Dictionary of the Unexplained
Supposedly haunted underground passageways and chambers in Edinburgh that were chosen for experiments in 2003. The South Bridge Vaults in Edinburgh were selected in 2003 for a series of experiments, conducted by Dr Richard Wiseman of the University of Hertford, to record the reactions of people in…
| 394 words
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