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Rethink Society

Architecture · 50+2 series · Sacred Space

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12th–16th centuries

When Walls Began to Disappear

Gothic Cathedral

Historic diagram of a flying buttress on Amiens Cathedral.
An 1890 engraving of the flying-buttress system at Amiens Cathedral.Charles Herbert Moore, 1890 · Public domain · Wikimedia Commons · Source record

The Moment

Pointed arches, rib vaults and flying buttresses allowed walls to become lighter and taller.

The Rethink

Structural systems could liberate architecture from the massive wall.