Medieval vault’s geometry and the architect’s spacial perception

Abstract

Since ancient times, the broader meanings of geometry have been the shadow of both the architect and the scholar. Some textless drawings on ribbed vaults from the Dresden Book of vault projection (1544-1567) show the great value geometry had for mediaval masons . Shrouded by mystic veils, kept jealously in the masons guilds and handed down from master to novice, geometry has always been of great importance to the practical architect. The drawings of the Book, mysterious to the many, speak in clear voice to who is able to understand the melody of  space. The finding of a drawing by Marcello Piacentini on the vault of the Casa Madre dei Mutilati ed invalidi di Guerra in Rome (1925-1928) make us believe that the Dresden Book’s method stil played an important role in the formation and vast knowledge of the XXth. sec. architect.