GUIDE TO LIFE ARCHIVE

I Basic Philosophy

II Necessary Knowledge

III Productive Living

  • A: Practical Strategies
  • B: Emotional Well-Being

IV Autobiography

  • A: Life History
  • B: Experiencing The World
  • C: Inventing Reality

V Beauty

  • A: Analysis
  • B: A Collection

VI Art-Making

  • A: Techniques
  • B: Strategies

Appendix I: Picture Library

GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE

Gothic = pointed arch; flying buttress; vaulting rib; moulding.

In gothic architecture the outward thrust of the fireproof stone roof was resisted by external buttresses rather than thick walls. The wall between the buttresses was gradually pared away and replaced with glass. Gothic was a carved architecture - each stone was shaped for its place and decorated - shaped for maximum load bearing with minimal weight. The stones all had their place in an overall decorative scheme.

The pointed arch meant that vaulting ribs no longer had to be semicircular but could be more or less steeply pointed which meant the vaulting bays no longer had to be square as they always were in Romanesque. The pointed arch, by making possible rectangular and irregularly shaped bays completely emancipated the plan. A multiplicity of vaulting ribs could spring from one shaft and their curvature individually adjusted so they rose to whatever height needed by the overall vault plan. Awkward junctions of ribs at different angles were covered by bosses. More ribs simplified the construction by reducing the size of each cell of the vault as well as being a decorative device. Rectangular bays distributed the total weight of the building over twice as many supports. The thrust was more precisely concentrated and distributed to give a lightening of the whole structure. The technical possibilities of the pointed arch made possible the aesthetic qualities of Gothic e.g. window tracery.