An Introduction to Shell Structures: The Art and Science of Vaulting

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The art of building dome shell structures has given to the baroque for its assumed pompo- been with us since ancient times. Current ex- sity in glorifying curves. In practical terms amples in the Astrodome, the Superdome, such an attitude in design is clearly mani- the Kingdome, and the Florida Suncoast fested in the present cityscapes that are to- Dome stand to remind us of the counterpoint tally free of arches, domes, shells, and any they play to the Pantheon, S. Sophia, S. other form that is not rectilinear. Is this what Maria del Fiore, and St. Peter. The latter we really want-plans and elevations with may be thought of by some as being ancient only straight lines, ninety-degree angles, or, history, but they are present in the twentieth in some daring cases, forty-five-degree century and hence are a part of our present angles? It does not seem so. and future. Why do scholars continue to Similarly, the curricula in both civil engi- study them? What can they teach us? A re- neering and architecture in structures seem vival of interest in curvilinear structures is to ignore intentionally arches and vaults, lim- under way, as the current examples just cited iting these subjects to graduate programs in thin-shell design as being a specialized eso- testify. At the beginning of this century, under teric subject.