Did you know?

The Armory Show was an art exhibition in 1913 in New York City at the 69th regiment armory. It included works of the European avant-garde seen for the first time by most Americans who were startled by such work as Duchamp's Nude Descending a Staircase. The Armory Show created a sensation and introduced modern art to the United States, an important event that changed the direction of American art.

B. Words for Discussing Architecture

Unit 8

Iconography

The study and interpretation of the symbolic meanings of images or representational figures. For example, in Christian iconography, the figure of the dove signifies the Holy Spirit, and the figure of a fish symbolizes Jesus. Each epoch develops its own iconography as, for instance, images of Buddha in Buddhism or Shiva in Hindu iconography.

words in context: The study of iconography attempts to uncover the origins of symbols and the conventions from which the images arose so as to interpret them. It is essentially the study of icons — recognizable symbols.

Vault

This is basically a curved ceiling over a room made of brick, tile, blocks, or concrete. A vault can take several forms: Roman vaults were perfectly rigid and could be placed over vast spaces. Medieval systems favored the barrel vault, which spanned two walls in a continuous arch. The groined vault, at the intersection of two barrel vaults, forms four arched openings.

words in context: Curved "ribs" to strengthen the groins and sides of a vault appeared in the eleventh century and became the supporting skeleton of Gothic architecture.

MULLIONS

Slender vertical bars that divide panes in windows.

words in context: Tudor buildings (see below) of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries in England often used mullioned windows to give manor or country houses a warm, domestic look.

Buttresses

Projecting supports built into or against the external wall of a building to strengthen it, particularly when a vault or arch places a heavy load on one section. A flying buttress is a masonry arch that transfers the weight or thrust of a vault to a lower support. Buttresses were often ornamented with gables and sculpture.

words in context: In cathedrals such as Notre-Dame de Paris, buttresses give the appearance of a "flying structure" and express the elasticity and equilibrium of Gothic architecture.

After studying the terms above, use these new words in the sentences below:

1 are an architectural element that include barrel, ribbed, and groined.

2. support and strengthen massive arches or vaults so as to transfer the weight to a lower support.

3. The study of the history and symbolic meanings of images and figures is called .

4. A is one with many panes divided by strips of wood.

Test Yourself: Write the letter next to the number to match word and meaning.

1. buttress a. strips of wood or other material that divide window panes

2. vault b. arch or vault supports designed to transfer weight

3. mullions c. study of symbolic images or figures

4. iconography d. curved ceiling over a space; there are several forms

On a separate sheet of paper, write a sentence using each of these new words.