before the invention of steel and iron beams i assume they were mostly masonry, how did the buildings get very tall with just masonry. or were they build another way?
2007-03-23 17:31:31 · 6 answers · asked by Anonymous in Science & Mathematics ➔ Engineering
a good example of a pre- steel tall structure is the medieval castle. just to tell you, iron has been available since the Romans. castle walls were constructed from two parallel walls of stone blocks held together with mortar and filled with gravel and dirt. wooden scaffolds were constructed around the walls to move workers and materials. the scaffolds were removed after completion. Large, high roofs are usually missing from castles because they were made of wood, arranged in ached ribs and covered and shingled. In cathedrals, arched ceilings were molded from cement. The Invention of the vaulted arch, in which the ribs crossed each other in "x" shapes made larger arches possible. However, the solid stone walls had to carry a large amount of weight, so windows were small situated high up, where they would have less weight to support. the large, low windows found in the Norte Dame cathedral in Paris are the result of an innovation in stone construction known as the flying buttress. The buttress was a stone arch that reached from the ground outside to the exterior of the building, and relieved stress and weight from the walls. They appear in the hundreds around cathedrals.
2007-03-23 17:58:19 · answer #1 · answered by mathfire 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
The Philadelphia City hall the world's tallest masonry building: at 548 ft.
The Monadnock Building is a historic proto-skyscraper in the Loop district of downtown Chicago, Illinois. It is the tallest masonry load bearing-wall structure in the world 197 feet (17 stories).
Note the difference the Monadnock has load bearing walls. The city hall has pure mass.
2007-03-23 17:55:13 · answer #2 · answered by Village Player 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Concrete existed even in Roman times. The Greeks reportedly built the lighthouse at Alexandria that was over 400 feet high. So they muddled through.
2007-03-23 17:37:08 · answer #3 · answered by cattbarf 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Before steel frame buildings, buildings weren't tall at all. They were 15 or 20 stories max.
2007-03-23 18:35:28 · answer #4 · answered by Scott S 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Most were built using blocks of stone. They were able to do this using wood staging and lifting devices made of wood.
2007-03-23 17:39:01 · answer #5 · answered by Rick B 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I guess they built the tower of Babel with mud
2007-03-23 17:39:26 · answer #6 · answered by sm bn 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋