The Vault with Curvilinear Ribs in the "Hall of Arms" in the Albrechtsburg Meissen: Studies on the Concept, Design and Construction of a Complex Late Gothic Rib Vault

The current state of research on the design and construction of late Gothic vaults is principally based on the interpretation of sources, but rarely on surveys of existing vaults. In particular the idea for the criteria upon which the radii of the single ribs and arches were determined (so-called "principal arch"), is found to derive from sources dating from later periods when Gothic vaulting was no longer generally practised. In fact, this interpretation cannot be supported by geometric surveys on existing vaults: the plain contradiction to the actual geometric properties of some of the vaults studied so far have called for a critical revision of this interpretation. For investigating the design criteria and procedures starting from the built object, and also debating the methodological aspects of using the "building as source", a rewarding subject is the vault with curvilinear ribs in the "Hall of Arms" in the Albrechtsburg at Meissen (Germany), which was built by Jacob Heilmann in 1521. This is due to its ambitious design, high quality of execution and good state of preservation. A detailed survey of this structure is presented, discussing different aspects of the design, construction, and detailing, e.g.: Investigations on the geometrical concept of the vault by means of "reverse geometric engineering", on the background of the problem mentioned above. Further, the stone-cutting of the single members of the vault, which offers interesting aspects of standardization and its limits in nerves with double curvature: standardization in medieval constructions has been object of discussion, but not yet studied in the ambit of late Gothic vault construction. The question whether and how the vault surface was determined in the design, being the principle structural feature working as a shell structure; this is of particular interest as the relation between the rib system and the shell is complex and has consequences on the stone-cutting of the arches. The question how the design specifications for the single rib members could be derived from the general concept of the curves (clarified in the survey); the context to the graphic sources and technical prose related to late Gothic vault design and structural design. The aim is to understand the entire design process, the criteria of the decisions taken, their relation to the contemporary theory, and the communication process which took place for the creation of this extremely demanding structure