Byera Hadley research reports
Sean Akahane-Bryen / 2013
South German Late Gothic Design and Building Praxis
Digital Technology, Architectural History
Germany, Europe
This is a report and parametric modelling study of Late Gothic vaults in South Germany and surrounds in order to test hypotheses regarding the design as applied to the execution of complex vaults.
Late Gothic architects’ drawing tools consisted of a straight-edge, square and compass; but they projected three-dimensional vaults from a two-dimensional plan—knowledge once believed to be a masonic secret.
This report documents a survey of Late Gothic vaults, mostly concentrated in Swabia, Bavaria, Saxony, and Bohemia and dating from the 14th to the mid-16th century, undertaken in the autumn of 2014. It aims to understand the efficiencies, opportunities and problems of the technique in order to inform contemporary design and construction.
