Ribbed tiled vaulting: Innovation through two design-build workshops

Traditional tile vaults are typically constructed springing off from walls or straight arches built from support element to support element on falsework. From these, the vault’s surface can be built in space with minimal or no guidework. Built on previous research and focusing on continuous surface expression and fully representing three-dimensional equilibrium surfaces in compression, this research explores the design potential of three-dimensional networks of structural ribs, made possible by new funicular form-finding approaches. This new structural typology for tile vaults was investigated and tested through two intensive, design-build workshops in Australia, the first at the University of Technology, Sydney (UTS) in October 2012, and the second at Monash Art Design & Architecture (MADA), Melbourne in May 2013.