Dome:
A dome is shaped as if it were a series of arches rotated on a circular base. Domes are often used to make roofs to span large round or square spaces. A dome can be constructed by building a frame of ribs, which look like a circle of arches connected at their centers. The open areas between the ribs can be filled or covered with wood, brick, stone or concrete. The wooden ribs of the dome of Florence Cathedral stand out clearly because the architect used the structure of the dome as a decorative element in his design. (Slide of Florence Cathedral, by Brunelleschi, not shown here.)
The concrete dome that covers the Pantheon (top left slide) in Rome was the highest in the world for six hundred years. The building is 142 feet high and just as wide. The oculus (Roman for "eye"), an uncovered opening in the very center of the top of the dome, lets in sunlight and a clear view of the sky.
With the rise of Islam in the 7th century, a distinctive architectural style began in Arabia and eventually spread to many other countries. The Taj Mahal (middle left slide), an example of Islamic architecture in India, was created by the Shah (Emperor) Jehan as a tomb for his wife. The pointed dome, the pointed arches, and the four minarets all mark this as an Islamic building.
In Russia, roofs such as this one on the Cathedral of the Assumption (bottom left slide) had to be able to shed heavy loads of snow, so church builders made domes that were so sharply pointed and bulbous that they came to be called onion domes.
An igloo is a dome made from wind-packed snow cut into sloping blocks. (Slide of igloo, not shown here.) The blocks are laid out in a circle and rise in a spiral, making smaller and smaller circles that lean in toward each other until the blocks meet at the top. Openings are cut for the entrance, a chimney, and sometimes to insert a window of clear ice.
A geodesic dome is made by forming triangles of steel, wood or plastic bars and connecting them together to form part of a sphere. This self-supporting dome can then be covered with different materials to seal it from the elements. (Slide of Epcot Center in Orlando, Florida, not shown here.)
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AIE is a program of the AIA Philadelphia Chapter
Structure in Architecture and the AIE Web site: Copyright 1999 Foundation for Architecture
AIE is a program of the AIA Philadelphia Chapter
Structure in Architecture and the AIE Web site: Copyright 1999 Foundation for Architecture