Thread: This is what Google thinks is the Cologne Cathedral

Originally Posted by Bleipriester

When I remember correctly it was the art to build the walls without buttresses.

The Romans knew their stuff with respect to structures in pure compression, using stone and concrete, but much of this knowledge was lost during the fall of Rome. Da Vinci developed structural designs in the 15th and 16th centuries but few understood his theories. Galileo, Hooke and Newton developed the basis of modern structural engineering in the 17 century. It wasn't until the 18th century when Leonhard Euler developed his equations for columns and then beam theory in collaboration with Daniel Bernoulli, and a full mathematical basis for using tension elements (iron and steel) became available. Steel didn't become widely available for large scale structures until Bessemer developed his process in the 1850's.

Most of the major buildings constructed prior to the 18th century was by gifted architects trained in empirical theories developed by observing the great Roman structures.

Originally Posted by Damn Yankee

The Romans knew their stuff with respect to structures in pure compression, using stone and concrete, but much of this knowledge was lost during the fall of Rome. Da Vinci developed structural designs in the 15th and 16th centuries but few understood his theories. Galileo, Hooke and Newton developed the basis of modern structural engineering in the 17 century. It wasn't until the 18th century when Leonhard Euler developed his equations for columns and then beam theory in collaboration with Daniel Bernoulli, and a full mathematical basis for using tension elements (iron and steel) became available. Steel didn't become widely available for large scale structures until Bessemer developed his process in the 1850's.

Most of the major buildings constructed prior to the 18th century was by gifted architects trained in empirical theories developed by observing the great Roman structures.

Nice. But what about the buttresses?