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A buttress is an architectural structure built against or projecting from a wall which serves to support or reinforce the wall. Buttresses are fairly common on more ancient (typically Gothic) buildings, as a means of providing support to act against the lateral (sideways)
File:Anglebuttress.PNG, Angled buttress
File:Claspingbuttress.PNG, Clasping or clamped buttress
File:Diagonalbuttress.PNG, Diagonal or 'french' buttress
File:Setbackbuttress.PNG, Setback buttress
File:Buttress - Palace of Westminster - London - England - 040404.jpg, A buttress and a flying buttress, mostly concealed, supporting walls at the
A buttress is an architectural structure built against or projecting from a wall which serves to support or reinforce the wall. Buttresses are fairly common on more ancient (typically Gothic) buildings, as a means of providing support to act against the lateral (sideways) force
In physics, a force is an influence that can cause an Physical object, object to change its velocity unless counterbalanced by other forces. In mechanics, force makes ideas like 'pushing' or 'pulling' mathematically precise. Because the Magnitu ...
s arising out of inadequately braced roof
A roof (: roofs or rooves) is the top covering of a building, including all materials and constructions necessary to support it on the walls of the building or on uprights, providing protection against rain, snow, sunlight, extremes of tempera ...
structures.
The term ''counterfort'' can be synonymous with buttress and is often used when referring to dams, retaining walls and other structures holding back earth.
Early examples of buttresses are found on the Eanna Temple (ancient Uruk
Uruk, the archeological site known today as Warka, was an ancient city in the Near East, located east of the current bed of the Euphrates River, on an ancient, now-dried channel of the river in Muthanna Governorate, Iraq. The site lies 93 kilo ...
), dating to as early as the 4th millennium BC.
Terminology
In addition to flying and ordinary buttresses, brick and masonry buttresses that support wall corners can be classified according to their ground plan. A clasping or clamped buttress has an L-shaped ground plan surrounding the corner, an angled buttress has two buttresses meeting at the corner, a setback buttress is similar to an angled buttress but the buttresses are set back from the corner, and a diagonal (or 'French') buttress bisects the angle between the walls where they meet. The gallery below shows top-down views of various types of buttress (dark grey) supporting the corner wall of a structure (light grey).Gallery
Palace of Westminster
The Palace of Westminster is the meeting place of the Parliament of the United Kingdom and is located in London, England. It is commonly called the Houses of Parliament after the House of Commons and the House of Lords, the two legislative ch ...
File:Zejtun cultural heritage 11.jpg, Buttress at Our Saviour's Chapel, Żejtun
Żejtun ( ) is a town in the Southern Region of Malta, with a population of 11,218 at the end of 2016. Żejtun is traditionally known as Città Beland, a title conferred by the grandmaster of the Order of the Knights of Malta, Ferdinand von ...
, Malta
File:2014 02 13 16 12 25 Milano ITALY Duomo facciata facade con lampione with street lamp photo Paolo Villa FOTO3972.JPG, Façade buttresses at Milan Cathedral, Italy
File:Barrage Daniel-Johnson2 edited.jpg, Buttresses on the 700ft tall Daniel-Johnson Dam, Quebec
File:Stone Butresses (48013292043).jpg, Thick buttresses characterize Earthquake Baroque architecture like Paoay Church, Philippines
File:Western side of the Great Mosque of Kairouan.jpg, Buttresses of the western side of the Mosque of Uqba in Kairouan, Tunisia
Tunisia, officially the Republic of Tunisia, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It is bordered by Algeria to the west and southwest, Libya to the southeast, and the Mediterranean Sea to the north and east. Tunisia also shares m ...
File:Standalone row house in Centralia, Pennsylvania.JPG, Buttresses to support the wall of this row house
A terrace, terraced house (British English, UK), or townhouse (American English, US) is a type of medium-density housing which first started in 16th century Europe with a row of joined houses party wall, sharing side walls. In the United States ...
were constructed after its neighboring house was taken down as part of the Centralia mine fire.
File:Church of St. Lucas, near Jelsa, Hvar, Croatia 20230826 06.jpg, Buttresses supporting 14th-century chapel of St. Lucas near Jelsa, Croatia
Croatia, officially the Republic of Croatia, is a country in Central Europe, Central and Southeast Europe, on the coast of the Adriatic Sea. It borders Slovenia to the northwest, Hungary to the northeast, Serbia to the east, Bosnia and Herze ...
See also
* Cathedral architecture * Flying buttress * Strainer arch *Pilaster
In architecture, a pilaster is both a load-bearing section of thickened wall or column integrated into a wall, and a purely decorative element in classical architecture which gives the appearance of a supporting column and articulates an ext ...
*Retaining wall
Retaining walls are relatively rigid walls used for supporting soil laterally so that it can be retained at different levels on the two sides. Retaining walls are structures designed to restrain soil to a slope that it would not naturally keep to ...
References
External links
{{Wikisource1911Enc, Buttress Fortification (architectural elements) Castle architecture Columns and entablature Architectural elements Arches and vaults