Medieval and Manuscripts

Flying buttress

The flying buttress (arc-boutant, arch buttress) is a specific form of buttress composed of a ramping arch that extends from the upper portion of a wall to a pier of great mass, to convey to the ground the lateral forces that push a wall outwards, which are forces that arise from vaulted ceilings of stone and from wind-loading on roofs. The namesake and defining feature of a flying buttress is that it is not in contact with the wall at ground level, unlike a traditional buttress, and transmits the lateral forces across the span of intervening space between the wall and the pier. To provide lateral support, flying-buttress systems are composed of two parts: (i) a massive pier, a vertical block of masonry situated away from the building wall, and (ii) an arch that bridges the span between the pier and the wall – either a segmental arch or a quadrant arch – the flyer of the flying buttress.

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See also

• ▸Christ Church, Rouse Hill
• ▸First Russian Antarctic Expedition
• ▸Clayton and Bell

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