Ground and structure
Vault
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It is a curved roof formed by extending an arch in one direction or by crossing several arches.
What it solves
It covers spaces with materials that only resist compression, such as earth, brick or stone. Its mass protects from heat and from the noise of rain.
Today
Control the thrust with thick walls, buttresses or tie rods. Waterproof the top surface well where it rains a lot.
Common mistake
Building an earth vault without protecting it from the rain, which washes it away and makes it lose its shape.
Tomorrow
In the Sahel, mason training programs have built Nubian vault roofs without steel or timber. A thin brick or earth vault can be a low-carbon roof for the dry zones of the tropics.
Where it comes from
- 1Ancient Egypt Ramesseum, Thebes, reign of Ramesses II
Its granaries have mud-brick barrel vaults with a span of 3.7 meters. - 2Nubia Egypt and the Sahel, revived since the 1940s
The Nubian vault is built with inclined adobe bricks without formwork. Hassan Fathy revived it at New Gourna, near Luxor. - 3Timbrel vault Mediterranean and New Spain, traditional, named in 1904
Three layers of thin brick laid flat, almost without formwork. It reached Mexico in colonial times and is still used. - 4Maya Mesoamerica, pre-Hispanic period
A vault of stones projecting until it closes, reinforced with timber crossbeams.
Masters
- Eladio Dieste Church of Christ the Worker, Atlántida, Uruguay, 1960
He covers the nave with very thin undulating vaults of reinforced brick. The curved form gives the stiffness the material would not have if flat. - Hassan Fathy New Gourna, Luxor, Egypt
He revives the Nubian adobe vault, built without formwork by leaning inclined courses against a wall. With earth and local labor he roofs entire houses without timber or steel.
See also
Also in Ground and structure
Diagrams and texts by LDB Arquitectura. They are shared under the CC BY 4.0 license, which allows them to be used and adapted with credit to the source.