The oldest record of barrel vaults is estimated to date back to 4000 BC. These provided the spans in the Sumerian ziggurat at Nippur in Babylonia, built from fired bricks amalgamated with clay mortar.

ARCHITECTURE HOme in a Barrel VaultNew museums of late have tended to verge on the grandiose: the columned temple form of the Los Angeles County Museum, the mighty, circular Hirshhorn Museum planned ...

The house architect Beverley Spears designed for herself and her husband, Phillip Crump, has not won any formal accolades yet, because it’s brand new. But there’s no doubt it will be an award-winner.

A barrel vault of steel and brick fronted by glossy turquoise tiles shelters this community kitchen in Iran, designed by local studio Song Architects. Named Aghajoon Kitchen, the 539-square-metre ...

The semicircular arch requires a massive thickness for stability; the inverted chain can only be contained if the thickness exceeds about 10 per cent of the radius. A semicircular barrel vault to ...

The sequence of barrel vaults cleverly exploits the triangular shape of the square. © Aga Khan Trust for Culture / Deed Studio With a total length of 250 km, Tehran ...