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Gothic architecture is most famous in the architecture of many cathedrals, monasteries and churches in Europe. The Gothic style evolved from Romanesque architecture, a medieval aesthetic characterized by arches, vaulted ceilings, and small stained glass windows. They utilized flying buttresses and piers for the stability of the whole structure system. They depend on the correspondence between the physical space of the church and its spiritual aim to conduct the soul towards the contemplation of the divine. They used Iron Tie rods within the masonry structures, and was called the Reinforced Brick Structural System. In the early English style, the start using curvilinear shapes and forms as in domes.
Vault systems:
- Fan Shaped Vault
- Four Partite Vault High gothic
- Six Partite Vault. Early gothic
- Multi Partite Vault
Santa Maria del Fiore is the cathedral of Florence. Santa Maria de las Flores (Santa Maria dei Fiori) is a Gothic cathedral, begun in 1296 by architect Arnolfo di Cambio and continuously since 1331 by Giotto, who made her beautiful campanile free, and later by other architects.
The cathedral has a Latin cross with three naves. As is typical of Italian Gothic, it tends to the horizontal and polychrome stone by inserting rows and marble. They took 25 years to complete the dome when the cathedral took 130 years under construction.
Analysis:
The inner dome was octagonal shaped thick enough for an imaginary circle to be embedded in it at each level. herringbone brick pattern was used to transfer the weight of the laid bricks to the nearest vertical ribs of the non-circular dome. The outer dome was not thick enough to contain horizontal circles. The outer dome was thickened at the inside of its corners at nine different elevations, creating nine masonry rings, which can be observed from the space between the two domes. The outer dome relies entirely on its attachment to the inner dome and has no embedded chains.
Ribbed vault structural system was implemented to cover the whole of the interior space. Flying buttresses were utilized and piers for the stability of the whole structure system, Four partite vaulting System, Elaborated Vaults with ribs called Liernes, and flowing curvilinear shapes and forms as its central dome .
Islamic Era :
The dome is considered as one of the most important architectural elements in the architecture of mosques in particular, and Islamic architecture in general where the use of domes in Islamic architecture started from the Umayyad period in Jerusalem in 691 AD. It is known that the dome was influenced by Byzantine architecture at its inception. The continued use of domes in Islamic architecture, in its various forms, led to the development of domes’ concept among Muslim architects to become one of the most important architectural elements in the Islamic Architecture because of its transcendental symbolism.
Since history, the architect was able to link architecture to his beliefs, and applied that to serve his intellectual trends by developing the design concept for him. most notably, the shifts and changes that have occurred in the forms of the domes since the dome is characterized by its deep memory as it clearly documents the symbolism in Islamic architecture over time, and the Muslim architect considers it as an important historical record, but it needs to be studied and analyzed to keep up with the current architecture and its developments.
In the first Islamic conquest, the wooden roofs, mud, brick, and branches of trees and palms were used as structural elements, and we see this in the Mosque of Basra 14 E, Kufa Mosque 17H and The Mosque of Amr ibn al-As 21H, also did not use the contracts, also when the reconstruction of some mosques did not use domes.