GOTHIC

The Gothic period is heavily influenced and inspired by the Romanesque era, and it is the final part of the medieval period. It also marks the beginning of the Renaissance. In this Gothic era, urbanism made its return. New towns were built with rectilinear structures and organizational traits like defensive walls, gates, and streets. They had narrow facades because of limited space. Also, in terms of urban government development, buildings of specific purposes, like schools, libraries, and town halls, were created.

ST. DENIS

Gothic churches follow the model of the chevet of St. Denis. A chevet is a form of the Early Christian apse, and St. Denis highlights three main elements that make up architecture and design of the Gothic era. These elements are Gothic arches, rib vaults, and flying buttresses.


GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE

Arches tend to meet at a point to maintain consistent heights throughout the building. Gothic roofs use these arches to create design, rather than just practical structure, using the rib vaults mentioned above. In churches specifically, Gothic design built off of previous Romanesque architecture, changing and improving it to be better.



CATHEDRAL OF NOTRE DAME DE PARIS

The facade of this cathedral belongs to the Gothic period. It is a thick and heavy wall with horizontal windows. Like most Gothic cathedrals, it also has two towers, three portals, arcading, voussoirs, round windows, and tympana. The three portals relate to the belief in the Trinity, which was the religious aspect of culture that the Gothic era aligned with.



TRIFORIUM

Gothic cathedrals focused a lot on interior elevations. One of these forms of elevations that were used is the triforium, which is a gallery above the nave and below the clerestory. Though, this took up too much space, and didn't allow too much natural light to reach the interior. So, in order to solve this problem with natural light, the triforium was removed.

 

FLYING BUTTRESS

Gothic cathedrals developed the use of flying buttresses. These buttresses hold walls in place and help them maintain stability. With the use of these, columns, walls, and glass were all able to be used for design purposes, rather than structural.


TRACERY

Tracery takes on two different forms: trefoil and quatrefoil. Tracery holds glass in place with not only structural intent, but also design techniques that make decorative forms. They are very delicate and detailed, in order to emphasize the patterns it creates.

SAINTE-CHAPELLE

One of king Louis IX's passions was collecting artifacts from Jesus' death and his religious devotion. In order to store these items that he collected, Sainte-Chapelle was created. This building represents the rayonnant style very well. Almost like a radial design, rayonnant style uses lines that radiate out from a single point. It also highlights Gothic glass use very well, in its use of glass walls for design, not only structure.


FURNITURE

A Gothic chair takes its form from almost like a chopped up choir stall, where one piece turned into a chair. The main difference between Gothic chairs and chairs from previous eras is the scale and the size of it. Gothic designs tends to exaggerate and emphasize the size to show a form of high status and royalty. For daily chairs, they take on the X-frame stools with Gothic detailing.


CURRENT APPLICATIONS



ONE STEP FURTHER

Augustus Welby Northmore Pugin was a 19th-century architect and designer who played a key role in the Gothic Revival movement. Pugin believed that Gothic design represented moral and spiritual values, and he sought to bring these ideals into modern architecture. One of his most famous works is the interior design of the Palace of Westminster in London, including the iconic Houses of Parliament. Pugin's use of pointed arches, intricate wood carvings, and stained-glass windows in this project are great examples of how he adapted Gothic design to a contemporary setting.


Extra Links:
Augustus Welby Northmore Pugin: https://www.britannica.com/biography/A-W-N-Pugin
Gothic Architecture: https://www.britannica.com/art/Gothic-architecture

Comments

  1. Professor VanderNoordaaOctober 14, 2024 at 2:19 PM

    MaKayla,
    I appreciated this detail Blog entry on Gothic architecture. You took us from general descriptions of the Cathedrals to very detailed and specific attributes that made up a Gothic Cathedral. The removal of the Triforium was very important to increasing the amount of light that came into the Cathedral. The current examples you provided were great! I also enjoyed your deeper dive into Augustus Welby Northmore Pugin and his role in the Gothic Revival. 50/50 points

    ReplyDelete

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