Historical and Constructive Study of Plank Timber Vaults in Madrid, Spain

ABSTRACT

Plank timber vaulting is a constructive system that uses vertically laminated timber arches. It was developed in Europe in the seventeenth century to adapt existing buildings to the Baroque style. A survey was undertaken in the city of Madrid, Spain, to make an inventory of this type of vaults in seventeenth to nineteenth century buildings. 22% of a total of ninety-one analyzed buildings had plank timber vaults, of which 38% correspond to barrel vaults, 38% to groined three-centered vaults, 10% to ribbed groined vaults and 14% to pointed neogothic vaults. Two types of construction systems can be distinguished: hanging and self-supporting vaults. Scots or Salzmman, maritime and Stone pine timber were found. These vaults were constructed in an easy and economical way thanks to the high strength to weight ratio of timber. The state of conservation was generally good, mainly because they are protected by the roof of the building and are located in a well-ventilated space.

KEYWORDS:

• Construction
• structure
• timber
• vault
• wood
• planked timber

Acknowledgments

Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad (Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness). Plan Nacional I + D 2013–2016. Proy.: BIA 2014-55089-P. Timber Construction Research Group, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, Spain.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad [Proy.: BIA 2014-55089-P]; Timber Construction Research Group, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, Spain [Ayudas Grupos Investigación 2017].