architecture Architecture is the art and technique of designing and building, as distinguished from the skills associated with construction. It is both the process and the product of sketching, conceiving, planning, designing, and construction, constructi ...

, a splayed opening (also splayed reveal) is a wall opening that is narrower on one side of the wall and wider on another. When used for a splayed window, it allows more light to enter the room. In fortifications, a splayed opening is used to broaden the

arc of fire The field of fire or zone of fire (ZF) of a weapon, or group of weapons, is the area around it that can easily and effectively be reached by projectiles from a given position. Field of fire The term originally came from the ''field of fire'' in f ...

(cf.

embrasure An embrasure (or crenel or crenelle; sometimes called gunhole in the domain of Age of Gunpowder, gunpowder-era architecture) is the opening in a battlement between two raised solid portions (merlons). Alternatively, an embrasure can be a sp ...

loophole A loophole is an ambiguity or inadequacy in a system, such as a law or security, which can be used to circumvent or otherwise avoid the purpose, implied or explicitly stated, of the system. Originally, the word meant an arrowslit, a narrow vertic ...

Splayed arch

A splayed arch (also sluing arch) is an

arch An arch is a curved vertical structure spanning an open space underneath it. Arches may support the load above them, or they may perform a purely decorative role. As a decorative element, the arch dates back to the 4th millennium BC, but stru ...

where the springings are not parallel ("splayed"), causing an opening on the exterior side of an arch to be different (usually wider) than the interior one. The

intrados An arch is a curved vertical structure spanning an open space underneath it. Arches may support the load above them, or they may perform a purely decorative role. As a decorative element, the arch dates back to the 4th millennium BC, but stru ...

of a splayed arch is not generally

cylindrical A cylinder () has traditionally been a Solid geometry, three-dimensional solid, one of the most basic of curvilinear geometric shapes. In elementary geometry, it is considered a Prism (geometry), prism with a circle as its base. A cylinder may ...

as it is for typical (

round Round or rounds may refer to: Mathematics and science * Having no sharp corners, as an ellipse, circle, or sphere * Rounding, reducing the number of significant figures in a number * Round number, ending with one or more zeroes * Round (crypt ...

) arch, but has a

conical In geometry, a cone is a three-dimensional figure that tapers smoothly from a flat base (typically a circle) to a point not contained in the base, called the ''apex'' or '' vertex''. A cone is formed by a set of line segments, half-lines, ...

shape. José Calvo-López, a Spanish scholar of architecture, subdivides the splayed arches into symmetrical (where both springers form the same angles with the faces of the wall), and the ox horn arches, where one springer is orthogonal to the wall, and another is not, creating a "warped" intrados (the use of the term "ox horn" should not be confused with , " cow's horn" — a design technique that was used for

skew arch A skew arch (also known as an oblique arch) is a method of construction that enables an arch bridge to span an obstacle at some angle other than a right angle. This results in the faces of the arch not being perpendicular to its abutments and it ...

profiles).

Double-splayed window

Double-splayed windows, widening towards both wall faces, with the narrowest part in the middle of a wall, are common in the

Anglo-Saxon architecture Anglo-Saxon architecture was a period in the history of architecture in England from the mid-5th century until the Norman Conquest of 1066. Anglo-Saxon secular buildings in Britain were generally simple, constructed mainly using timber with thatc ...

, although the use of this trait for dating is questionable, and English church buildings of the 12th century have such windows too.

Portals

Widely splayed portals (also splayed jambs, as opposed to un-splayed "square jambs") were used in the

Gothic architecture Gothic architecture is an architectural style that was prevalent in Europe from the late 12th to the 16th century, during the High Middle Ages, High and Late Middle Ages, surviving into the 17th and 18th centuries in some areas. It evolved f ...

to display sculpture on the western facades of churches. File:Bamberg Dom Fürstenportal 3087.jpg, Prince's portal at the

Bamberg Cathedral Bamberg Cathedral (, official name Bamberger Dom St. Peter und St. Georg) is a church in Bamberg, Germany, completed in the 13th century. The cathedral is under the administration of the Archdiocese of Bamberg and is the seat of Archbishop of ...

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* * * * * * * Arches and vaults {{architecture-stub

Splayed arch

Double-splayed window

Portals

See also

References

Sources