Groin vault

Groin vault construction was first employed by the Romans, but then fell into relative obscurity in Europe until the resurgence of quality stone building brought about by Carolingian and Romanesque architecture.

It was superseded by the more flexible rib vaults of Gothic architecture in the later Middle Ages.

[4] Their application of groin vaults to vast halls like the frigidaria in the Baths of Caracalla and Diocletian became highly influential in church architecture in the Middle Ages.

The aspirations of church building reached its zenith then, and the groin vault was pursued aggressively for its ability to create strength, without massive buttress formations; in addition, it provided the church architects a remedy for the dim illumination inherent in the barrel vault design, since the barrel vault had to minimise fenestration to retain adequate strength.

20th-century structural engineers have studied the static stress forces of the groin vault design and validated the Romans' foresight in an efficient design to accomplish the multiple goals of minimum materials use, wide span of construction, ability to achieve lateral illumination, and avoidance of lateral stresses.