Cornice
June 8, 2009 by blogtopia
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A cornice is horizontal molded projection that completes a building or wall; or the upper slanting part of an entablature. The term cornice comes from Italian cornice, meaning “ledge.” Cornice molding is generally any horizontal decorative molding which crowns any building or furniture element: the cornice over a door or window, for instance, or the cornice around the edge of a pedestal. A simple cornice may be formed just with a crown molding.
The function of the projecting cornice is to throw rainwater free of the building’s walls. In residential building practice, this function is handled by projecting gable ends, roof eaves, and gutters. The elimination of the cornice has been important enough in modernist architecture, that elaborate internal drainage systems are provided.
Ball flower
June 5, 2009 by blogtopia
Filed under Definitions
The ball-flower (also written ballflower) is an architectural ornament in the form of a ball inserted in the cup of a flower, which came into use in the latter part of the 13th, and was in great vogue in the early part of the 14th century. It is generally placed in rows at equal distances in the hollow of a molding, frequently by the sides of mullions.
The earliest known is said to be in the west part of Salisbury Cathedral, where it is mixed with the tooth ornament. It seems to have been used more and more frequently, till at Gloucester Cathedral, in the south side, it is in profusion.
Baluster
June 5, 2009 by blogtopia
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A baluster (according to OED derived through the French: balustre, from Italian: balaustro, from balaustra, "pomegranate flower" [from a resemblance to the swelling form of the half-open flower, from Latin balaustium, from Greek balaustion) is a moulded shaft, square or of lathe-turned form, in stone or wood and sometimes in metal, standing on a unifying footing and supporting the coping of a parapet or the handrail of a staircase.
Multiplied in this way, they form a balustrade. Individually, a baluster shaft may describe the turned form taken by a brass or silver candlestick, an upright furniture support, or the stem of a brass chandelier, etc..
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Bargeboard
June 5, 2009 by blogtopia
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Bargeboard (probably from Medieval Latin bargus, or barcus, a scaffold, and not from the now obsolete synonym vergeboard), the boards fastened to the projecting gables of a roof to give them strength and to mask, hide and protect the otherwise exposed end of the horizontal timbers or purlins of the roof to which they were attached.
Bargeboards are sometimes moulded only or carved, but as a rule the lower edges were cusped and had tracery in the spandrels besides being otherwise elaborated.
Barrel vault
June 5, 2009 by blogtopia
Filed under Definitions
A barrel vault, also known as a tunnel vault or a wagon vault, is an architectural element formed by the extrusion of a single curve (or pair of curves, in the case of a pointed barrel vault) along a given distance. The curves are typically circular in shape, lending a semi-cylindrical appearance to the total design. The barrel vault is the simplest form of a vault: effectively a series of arches placed side by side, i.e., one after another.
As with all arch-based constructions, there is an outward thrust generated against the walls underneath a barrel vault. There are several mechanisms for absorbing this thrust. One is, of course, to make the walls exceedingly thick and strong – this is a primitive and sometimes unacceptable method. A more elegant method is to build two or more vaults parallel to each other; the forces of their outward thrusts will thus negate each other.
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