barrel vault

noun

Architecture.

1. a vault having the form of a very deep arch.

barrel vault

noun

1. Also called: wagon vault.  tunnel vault. architect a vault in the form of a half cylinder

Other Word Forms

• barrel-vaulted adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of barrel vault¹

First recorded in 1840–50

Example Sentences

There is no grand lobby with barrel vault ceiling; instead, the viewer is greeted by the sloping walls and gentle asymmetries of a rough-hewn cave, our most archaic form of shelter.

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In his work, for example, he was as intrigued by the barrel vault — a form common to Roman architecture — as he was by Japanese concepts of in-between space, known as ma.

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Johnson’s heavy-handed barrel vault has been replaced by a delicate glass V-shaped butterfly roof.

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Kahn played with natural light in the Fort Worth building, suffused with skylights, reflectors and cycloid barrel vaults.

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Masaccio’s painting shows Christ on the cross in front of a chapel with a barrel vault—but of course the chapel does not exist; it is entirely a painted chapel.

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