15ARC 4.

EVEN SEMESTER- 2019

MODULE- 5
S. NIVEDITHA SMVSA
 GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE
OUTLINE: 1. OUTLINE
2. INTRODUCTION
3. CHARACTERISTICS OF
Gothic- Introduction& typology GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE
▪ Study of principles of design of buildings through study of its Architecture:
4. MONUMENTAL BUILDINGS
a) Monumental; Notre Dame, Paris.
b) Domestic (Built to inhabit) and • NOTRE DAME, PARIS
c) Civic space; • CHARTRES CATHEDRAL

Gothic building elements

▪ Study of Gothic Architecture, typical characteristics including:
a) The pointed arch,
b) The ribbed vault and
c) The flying buttress,
d) Aesthetic elements with examples like chartres cathedral: french high
gothic style
INTRODUCTION:
▪ Gothic architecture is a style of architecture that flourished during the high and late
medieval period.
1. OUTLINE
▪ It evolved from Romanesque architecture and was succeeded by Renaissance
architecture. 2. INTRODUCTION
▪ Originating in 12th-century France and lasting into the 16th century.
3. CHARACTERISTICS OF
▪ Early Gothic – ca. 1140 to 1194
GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE
▪ High Gothic – ca. 1194 to 1300
▪ Late Gothic – ca. 1300 to 1500 4. MONUMENTAL BUILDINGS
▪ Gothic architecture was originally known as “French Style”. During the period of
Renaissance it fell out of fashion and it was not respected by many artists. They • NOTRE DAME, PARIS
marked it as “Gothic” to suggest it was the crude work of German barbarians • CHARTRES CATHEDRAL
(Goths).
CHARACTERISTICS OF GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE:
▪ Gothic architecture is the architecture of the late medieval period, characterized by use
of: a. Pointed arch,
b. Tall minarets,
c. Rib vault,
d. Buttresses, including flying buttresses;
e. Large windows which are often grouped and stained glass painted
with bible stories, or have tracery;
f. Rose windows,
g. Towers, spires and pinnacles; and
h. Ornate façades,
i. Long beam column create a sense of flying.
j. The plan of the church is based on the latin cross, but there is a pair
of towers added on both sides of the doors at west.
ARCHITECTURAL ELEMENTS OF GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE- STRUCTURAL:
1. POINTED ARCH:

▪ The gothic style brought innovative new construction techniques that

allowed churches and other buildings to reach great heights.

▪ One important innovation was the use of pointed arches

▪ During the gothic era, builders discovered that pointed arches would
give structures amazing strength and stability.

▪ It is simply known as the gothic arch and was reconstructed from

cylindrical vault of roman architecture.

▪ There are 4 stones at the end of the arch supporting the power from the
top so that the height and the span of the arch are no longer restricted
and the arch can be made as large and high as possible.
▪ Builders turned from the
semi-circular, unbroken arch
to the pointed arch
– Looked lighter and pointed
upward
– Solves geometric difficulties

▪ Impossible to arrange all

arches and ribs to a common
level using exclusively semi-
circular ribs

▪ With a pointed arch, ribs

could easily be made level
ARCHITECTURAL ELEMENTS OF GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE- STRUCTURAL:
2. RIBBED VAULT:
▪ Earlier Romanesque churches relied
on barrel vaulting.

▪ While barrel vaulting carried weight on

continuous solid walls, ribbed
vaulting used columns to support the
weight.

▪ The ribs also delineated the vaults and

gave a sense of unity to the structure.

▪ Arches, usually three pairs per

rectangular bay, running diagonally

▪ Organic metaphor alluding to the

role of ribs in anatomy as the body’s
skeletal structure supporting tissues

▪ Cross ribs act together with outer frame

to create a complete armature of arches
along the edges and main folds of the
vault
ARCHITECTURAL ELEMENTS OF GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE- STRUCTURAL:
3. FLYING BUTTRESSES:
▪ Buttresses are the supporting facility to share the pressure from the
main walls. It has been largely used in Roman architecture.

▪ The original buttress was solid and covered by roof.

▪ However, the buttress with Gothic style is exposed out to be known as

flying buttress.

▪ In order to prevent the outward collapse of the arches, Gothic architects

began using a revolutionary "flying buttress" system.
▪ Freestanding brick or stone supports were attached to the exterior
walls by an arch or a half-arch.

▪ Due to the further requirements of the height, the role and appearance of
buttress have been greatly enhanced.

▪ It is covered with complicated decorates and elaborate carvings.

▪ Effected by powerful external arches

swung above the side aisles and the
ambulatory

▪ Arches rise from colossal freestanding

piers
– Absorb and channel disruptive forces,
such as wind and weight, safely to the
ground
– Towering piers could be erected without
much affecting the nave or choir interior
ARCHITECTURAL ELEMENTS OF GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE- STRUCTURAL:
4. CLERESTORY: 5. BEAM COLUMN:
▪ Clerestory: the upper part of the nave, ▪ Many columns, no longer simple round, come together and emphasize
choir, and transepts of a large church, the vertical lines, which makes the whole architecture to form an
containing a series of windows organic whole with simple lines and grand appearance.

▪ A triforium is a shallow arched gallery

within the thickness of an inner wall,
above the nave of a church

▪ Tribune/ gallery
ARCHITECTURAL ELEMENTS OF GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE- DECORATIVE:
1. STAINED GLASS:
▪ Gothic architecture gradually abolishes the
gallery and aisle and increases the size of
the window.

▪ These windows are high enough, almost

to be used as the walls.

▪ The stained glass, covered with religious

stories which help to illustrate the doctrines
to illiterate people is of high artistic
achievement.

▪ Since the walls themselves were no longer

the primary supports, Gothic buildings
could include large areas of glass.

▪ Huge stained glass windows and a

profusion of smaller windows created the
effect of lightness and space.

▪ There are two main colors, blue and red.

▪ Blue symbolizes the heaven and red
symbolizes the blood of Christ.

▪ The stained glass creates a mysterious but

brilliant scene, which express people’s
longing for the kingdom of heaven.
ARCHITECTURAL ELEMENTS OF GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE- DECORATIVE:
2. GARGOYLES:
▪ Cathedrals in the High Gothic style became ▪ Architects often used multiple gargoyles on buildings to divide the flow of
increasingly elaborate. rainwater off the roof to minimize the potential damage from a rainstorm.

▪ Over several centuries, builders added ▪ A trough is cut in the back of the gargoyle and rainwater typically exits
towers, pinnacles, and hundreds of through the open mouth.
sculptures.
▪ Gargoyles are usually an elongated fantastic animal because the length
▪ In addition to religious figures, many Gothic of the gargoyle determines how far water is thrown from the wall.
cathedrals are heavily ornamented with
strange, leering creatures which are called
gargoyles.

▪ These gargoyles are not merely decorative.

▪ Originally, the sculptures were waterspouts

to protect the foundation from rain.

▪ Since most people in Medieval days are

illiterate the carvings took on the important
role of illustrating lessons from the from the
scriptures.

▪ In architecture, a gargoyle is a carved or

formed grotesque with a spout designed to
convey water from a roof and away from
the side of a building, thereby preventing
rainwater from running down masonry walls
and eroding the mortar between.
ARCHITECTURAL ELEMENTS OF GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE- DECORATIVE:
3. SCULPTURES:
▪ Sculpture was used everywhere on
Gothic churches.

▪ Figures of saints stood around the piers;

scenes from the old and new testaments
were carved above doorways.

▪ People were depicted more realistically

during the Gothic period than during the
Romanesque.

▪ The folds and wrinkles of garments were

shown falling in a natural way.

▪ The faces of the statues had expressions,

and their almond shaped eyes seemed to
look in one direction or another.

▪ This was unlike Romanesque sculpture,

which was stiff and not naturalistic

▪ Gothic carvers often combined beautiful,

natural-looking, and saintly figures with
imaginary demons, imps, or other
invented creatures.
DIFFERENCE BETWEEN ROMANESQUE VS GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE:

▪ By the 12th century, Romanesque architecture, was established throughout Europe and provided the basic architectural forms
and units that were to remain in evolution throughout the Medieval period.

▪ The important categories of building: the cathedral church, the parish church, the monastery, the castle, the palace, the great
hall, the gatehouse, the civic building, had been established in the Romanesque period.

▪ Many architectural features that are associated with Gothic architecture had been developed and used by the architects of
Romanesque buildings.

▪ These include ribbed vaults, buttresses, clustered columns, ambulatories, wheel windows, spires and richly carved door
tympana.

▪ These were already features of religious architecture before the development of the Gothic style, and all were to develop in
increasingly elaborate ways.

▪ It was principally the widespread introduction of a single feature, the pointed arch, which was to bring about the change that
separates Gothic from Romanesque.

▪ The technological change permitted a stylistic change which broke the tradition of massive masonry and solid walls penetrated
by small openings, replacing it with a style where light appears to triumph over substance.

▪ With its use came the development of many other architectural devices, previously put to the test in scattered buildings and then
called into service to meet the structural, aesthetic and ideological needs of the new style.

▪ These include the flying buttresses, pinnacles and traceried windows which typify Gothic religious architecture.
DIFFERENCE BETWEEN ROMANESQUE VS GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE:

Ribbed vaulted cathedrals

PISA cathedral, Italy

CHARTRES CATHEDRAL- 1194-1220:
▪ Chartres cathedral was designed as the pilgrimage church,
with broad aisles, doubled in the choir, for easy
circulation and enormous aisled transepts with triple portals
and porches to rival the west front.

▪ The aisles are of equal height.

▪ All vaults are quadripartite, that of nave 37m height.

▪ It is located at 50 miles southwest of Paris Beautifully

preserved example of French, High Gothic architecture.

▪ Fire destroyed much of the city of Chartres in 1134,

damaging the Western face of the eleventh- century church

▪ A new facade was designed and construction begun,

starting at the north tower.

▪ By 1145 both the north and south towers were underway.

▪ The portals, known as the "Royal Portals," between the

towers were finished by about 1150 as were the three
lancet windows above them.

▪ The last element of the facade, the spire of the north tower,
was designed and built in the early years of the sixteenth
century.

▪ The base of the same tower is the oldest part of the

surviving facade.
CHARTRES CATHEDRAL- 1194-1220:

▪ An arcade of alternately round and octagonal cored

(piers flanked by four attached shafts) supports a band
triforium and a clerestory with windows are of plate
tracery, with a rosette set above twin lancets.

▪ Indeed, chartres was almost designed around its

windows.

▪ Vast rose windows decorate the west front and the

two transept facades.

▪ The clerestory is filled with brilliantly colored stained

glass, for which Chartres is famous.

▪ The stained glass which fills the windows is among the

finest produced in the middle ages.

▪ The exterior, as originally designed, would have had

seven towers, including a crossing tower.

▪ To support enormous areas of window, chartres is very

sturdily built, with substantial flying buttresses,
decorated with spokes like sections of rose windows.

▪ The west front central tympanum (arched area below

the arch and above the lintel of a doorway) usually
depicts Christ at the center Chartres' also has Mark's
lion, John's eagle, Matthew's man/angel, and Luke's
bull.
CHARTRES CATHEDRAL- 1194-1220:

INTERIOR OF CHARTRES ROSE WINDOW AND LANCET

ROYAL PORTAL

QUADRIPARTITE VAULTS
CHARTRES CATHEDRAL-
1194-1220:
▪ Gothic churches have at least 3-
5 portals and a large rose
window over main portal.

▪ Chartres cathedral has more

than 2000 carved figures, each
positioned as part of a perfect
system, bringing order to chaos.

▪ Sculpture was moralistic –

intended to instruct.
NOTRE DAME DE PARIS- 1163 TO 1345 CE:
▪ The Notre Dame de Paris is one of the finest monumental buildings of French Gothic style of Architecture.
▪ It was started by Bishop Maurice De Sully in 1163 and the west towers were the last to be completed in 1250.
▪ It was the first cathedral built on a monumental scale and became the prototype for future cathedrals in France
▪ Its dimension is 420 ft. X 154 ft. and has height of 226 ft with two 69m tall towers
▪ The spire, which reaches 90m, was added in the 19th century
▪ The original plan contained double ambulatories and was on a bent axial line.
▪ The interior elevation was ▪ Double span flying
originally of four levels, with an buttresses support the nave.
arcade of columnar piers; a tribune,
originally covered with transverse ▪ In the 19th century attempts
barrel vaults, and lit by round were made to lighten the
windows; decorative oculi opening interior by expanding the
into the tribune roof spaces; and clerestory windows
small clerestory windows. downwards, by removing
▪ The central nave is divided into the decorative oculi of the
number of bays with cylindrical third storey: the tribunes
columns of Corinthian capitals were rebuilt with larger
carrying pointed arches. windows and ordinary
▪ The high vault is sexpartite, quadripartite vaults.
covering double bays.
▪ The vault is very high- just over 30m
and the wall which supports it very
thin and articulated by very slender
shafts.
▪ The Notre-Dame Cathedral has several
large rose windows.
▪ The massive front window has a
diameter of 13.1 meter. The
spectacular eastern buttresses are
15m wide.
NOTRE DAME DE PARIS- 1163 TO 1345 CE:

NORTH ELEVATION WEST ELEVATION

FLOOR PLAN DETAIL OF FLYING BUTTRESSES

NOTRE DAME DE PARIS- 1163 TO 1345 CE:
▪ The main doorway has a central pillar with a statue
of Christ. The cathedral is crowned with a beautiful
central wheel window of 10m in diameter.

▪ The west side features 3 wide portals, the gallery of

Kings and the famous gargoyles.

▪ Above the portals is the Gallery of Kings with 28

statues of Judean Kings and higher up are the famous
gargoyles and grotesques.

▪ The building was not originally designed to include

the flying buttresses around the choir and nave but
after the construction began, the thinner walls
(popularized in the Gothic style) grew ever higher
and stress fractures began to occur as the walls
pushed outward.
▪ In response, the cathedral's architects built supports around the outside walls,
and later additions continued the pattern.
S. NIVEDITHA SMVSA
 Spire
Rose window

Lancet window
Arcade

NORTH ELEVATION WEST ELEVATION

FLOOR PLAN DETAIL OF FLYING BUTTRESSES

NOTRE DAME DE PARIS- 1163 TO 1345 CE:

 FLOOR PLAN

ROYAL PORTAL SOUTH ELEVATION

CHARTRES CATHEDRAL- 1194-1220:

 FLYING BUTTRESSESS

ARCHES & TRACERIES

COLUMN AND BEAM METHOD VAULTS

STRUCTURAL ELEMENTS OF GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE

ELEVATION GARGOYLES

TRACERY WINDOW

DECORATIVE ELEMENTS OF GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE

REFERENCES:

1) Sir Bannister Fletcher, “History of Architecture’, CBS publishers, 1992

2) Francis D.K. Ching, “ A Global History of Architecture- 3rd edition”, Wiley, 2017