Tracing the past: analysing the design and construction of English medieval vaults using digital techniques.

中世纪建筑作品的一些最显著的特征，特别是更大的教堂和大教堂，是跨越其广阔内部空间的肋形拱顶。900多年来，它们一直激励着礼拜者和游客，他们的眼睛被这些迷人的建筑吸引到了天堂，并促使他们问道：他们是如何做到的？没有相应的文字或图画幸存下来，但数字方法现在使我们能够提出答案。除了装饰作用外，哥特式拱顶还具有结构功能，两者之间的相互作用值得进一步分析，以帮助理解中世纪石匠是如何概念化这一点的。在各个地点，2D和3D几何图形之间的相互作用显示出巨大的多样性和惊人的创造性水平。尽管最近的中世纪建筑研究启动了对实用几何图形及其可能的象征意义的新的批判性分析，但复杂的肋形拱顶及其相关几何图形的起源和发展仍然是一个重大的学术空白。该项目使用最新的数字测量工具调查了英格兰重要地点的中世纪拱顶的设计和建造，产生了其形式的准确记录。然后使用数字分析工具以2D和3D形式对金库进行取证检查，从而允许对其设计进行新的解读，达到以前使用模拟技术无法达到的详细程度。使用这一开创性的过程，我们可以确定个别网站的模式，以及相关网站的趋势，使现有的解释复杂化，并引发我们的研究将解决的新问题。例如，在威尔斯大教堂，我们确定了在一个以前被认为只使用一个设计程序的空间中使用四个不同的设计程序，从而支持对设计输入、施工顺序和现场管理的新解释。我们的研究质疑大多数以前对规范设计/符号几何的研究的有效性，因为它在使用的基础数据方面缺乏严谨性，这些数据是通过传统测量技术收集的，通常不是为了几何分析的目的，通常是通过小规模复制的平面图进行分析。除了了解中世纪拱顶是如何在英格兰设计和建造的主要价值之外，我们的测量数据将通过考古数据服务(ADS)免费提供给所有人，作为遗产和保护目的的资产。例如，在石匠进行的修复工作中，我们的分析将确保更清楚地了解采用原始建筑技术的方法，以便他们更好地为子孙后代保护这些建筑以及它们所体现的文化遗产。数字调查是昂贵的：像我们这样的部分调查如果进行商业调查，费用将超过5000 GB，而我们可以免费提供我们的数据。我们还将通过针对个别地点量身定做的展览和研讨会系列，与现场的保管人和公众分享我们的发现，同时还将讨论该项目的更广泛结果。我们项目的及时性对于更广泛的欧洲大陆和其他地区的学术研究至关重要。我们需要我们的数据和分析来检验他们的发现，并将他们置于更广泛的历史背景下，反之亦然；英格兰是唯一一个具有重大跳马传统的国家，尚未进行此类原创研究。在16世纪之前，这个国家见证了最早和/或最全面的铁瓷、激光和扇形跳马技术的发展，以及3D几何学中最伟大的实验，因此我们的研究是独一无二的，因为我们的研究针对的是这些技术首次出现的地方和时期。这些跳跃形式被认为是英国对欧洲哥特式晚期的主要贡献，因此我们的研究有可能改变人们对思想国际传播的理解。

Some of the most remarkable features of medieval works of architecture, particularly greater churches and cathedrals, are the ribbed vaults spanning their vast interior spaces. For over nine hundred years, they have inspired worshippers and visitors alike, their eyes drawn heavenwards by these captivating constructions and prompted to ask 'how did they do that?' No corresponding texts or drawings survive but digital methods now enable us to propose answers. Beyond their decorative role, gothic vaults fulfil a structural function and the interaction between the two merits further analysis, to help to understand how this might have been conceptualised by medieval masons. Across sites, the interaction between 2D and 3D geometries shows great variety and astounding levels of creativity.Whilst recent medieval architectural research has initiated a new critical analysis of practical geometry and its possible symbolism, the origin and development of complex rib vaulting and its associated geometries remains a significant scholarly lacuna. This project investigates the design and construction of medieval vaults at significant sites in England using the latest digital surveying tools, producing accurate records of their forms. Digital analysis tools are then used to forensically examine the vaults in 2D and 3D, allowing new readings of their design to a level of detail not previously possible with analogue techniques. Using this pioneering process we can identify patterns at individual sites, in addition to trends across related sites, complicating existing interpretations and prompting new questions which our research will address. For example, at Wells Cathedral, we have identified the use of four different design processes in a space which was previously considered to only use one, thus supporting new interpretations of the design input, construction sequence and site management. Our research questions the validity of most previous study of canonical design/symbolic geometry as it lacks rigour in terms of the base data employed, gathered by traditional surveying techniques, often not for the purposes of geometrical analysis and usually analysed via plans in small-scale reproduction.Beyond the main value of understanding how medieval vaults were designed and constructed in England, our survey data will be freely accessible to all via the Archaeology Data Service (ADS), acting as assets for heritage and conservation purposes. For example, in repair work undertaken by stonemasons our analysis will ensure a clearer understanding of approaches to original construction techniques so they are better equipped to preserve these structures for future generations, along with the cultural heritage they embody. Digital surveys are expensive: a partial survey such as ours would cost over £5,000 if carried out commercially, whereas we can make our data freely available. We will also share our findings with the custodians and public at sites through an exhibition and workshop series, tailored to individual sites whilst also discussing the broader results of the project.The timeliness of our project is crucial to wider academic studies on continental Europe and beyond. Our data and analysis is required to test their findings and set them in a wider historical context and vice versa; England is the only country with a significant vaulting tradition where such original research is yet to be undertaken. This country saw the earliest and/or fullest development of the techniques of tierceron, lierne and fan vaulting and the greatest experimentation in 3D geometry prior to the sixteenth century, therefore our research is unique in being directed towards the place and period where such techniques first emerged. These vaulting forms have been identified as England's main contribution to European Late Gothic and our research therefore has the potential to transform understanding of the international transmission of ideas.