West Tower Research Articles

Three Tall Buildings in Sao Paulo, Brazil

The Centro Empresarial Nacoes Unidas is an urban development with a total floor area of more than 300,000 m² near the Pinheiros River in Sao Paulo. It consists of three towers: the West Tower, The East Tower and the North Tower. The towers are destined for office use; therefore, the floors are column free, except in the service core. The development has five floors below street level, with about 3700 parking spaces. At the top of each tower, a helipad was designed to operate with heavy twin-turbine helicopters; this is usual for major office buildings in Sao Paulo. The underground area and the super-structures are of reinforced concrete, and the floor structures of the three towers are post-tensioned.

The South Aisle and Chantry in the Parish Church of St Bridget, Brigham

During a nineteenth-century restoration of Brigham parish church, the evidence of earlier building activity was carefully observed, recorded, and described in 1878 by Isaac Fletcher, a prominent member of the parish, in a paper read there to members of the Cumberland and Westmoreland Antiquarian and Archaeological Society. The author was able to speculate on earlier phases of the church’s history, having had the advantage of witnessing various stages of the restoration, carried out under the direction of the architect, William Butterfield, and having corresponded with the rector on the physical evidence that was uncovered as a result. When the floor of the nave was excavated the foundations of an early north arcade were exposed, and these were assigned to the earliest building at Brigham, c. 1080. Citing the evidence of changes in walling material and developments in the arcade columns, bases and capitals, Fletcher decided that in c. 1150 the church was enlarged by the addition of a narrow south aisle, of the same height and width as the earlier north aisle, whose arcade columns were set at the same intervals as those of the north arcade. Another enlargement of the church was carried out in c. 1220, when a large west tower and a small chancel were built. This then is a brief account of the architectural background against which the new south aisle and chantry, founded by Thomas de Burgh, rector of Brigham, has to be considered (Fig. 1).

‘Greater and More Splendid’: Some Aspects of Romanesque Durham Cathedral

Preliminary study for a group of perspective reconstruction drawings of the exterior of Durham Cathedral has led to a reappraisal of the original design and of its progress towards completion. The west towers may be fifty or more years earlier than the generally accepted date of c. 1200, preceding the Galilee chapel. The paired eastern towers strongly suggest links with the ‘imperial’ churches of the Rhineland, and are not readily paralleled in Normandy. Some English churches with eastern towers are listed, indicating that they were not especially rare.Durham was built on the largest scale to house the body and shrine of St Cuthbert. It was an avant-garde showpiece indicating the wealth and importance of its bishop and monastic community at both English and European levels.

Evaluation of L'Ambiance Plaza Posttensioned Floor Slabs

This paper summarizes a structural evaluation of the posttensioned floor lift slabs of L'Ambiance Plaza, Bridgeport, Connecticut. The evaluation has been conducted to investigate, among other factors, the effect on slab stresses of the unorthodox horizontal splay of posttensioned tendons around column 4.8E and the effect of shear wall openings that existed during the lifting operation, for ideal lifting conditions (slab perfectly level), and for scenarios less than ideal. Initially, hand computations are made using simplified beam models to examine two areas of the west‐tower slab design that appeared particularly suspicious. Those computations reveal that a more refined stress analysis is warranted. To investigate the slab stresses more precisely, linear elastic finite element analyses of a typical west‐tower floor slab are conducted. Results from the analyses indicate that the anomalous layout of the posttensioning tendons in the west tower could be considered a possible cause that triggered the failure or, at a minimum, was clearly a factor in the propagation of the collapse after it had begun. The inclusion of nominal amounts of auxiliary bonded mild reinforcement (structural integrity steel) in the bottom of the slabs, continuous through the column strips, might have confined the slab failure, assuming the column supports and jacks could sustain the redistributed load.

Le problème du transept occidental en Grande-Bretagne

There are only five examples of a western transept in Britain : three in England — Bury St. Edmunds, Ely and Peterborough — and two in Scotland — Kelso and Kilwinning. In all cases, a western choir, traditionally associated with a west transept on the Continent, has been replaced by one or more western portals, which therefore, it would seem, drastically changed the function and meaning of the west transept form. What are the reasons for this change ? In the case of the two earliest examples — Bury and Ely — it was perhaps an interest in asserting the Anglo-Saxon heritage of these abbeys by the erection of a monumental axial west tower, a feat facilitated by the construction of a transept and crossing. But the transept at Peterborough was narrow and surmounted by two towers, perhaps the result of the conflation of a west transept with a two-tower façade. It may have served as a prototype for certain similar constructions in France as at Saint-Germer-de-Fly and Noyon Cathedral. The reasons for the appearance of the form in Scotland, at Kelso with an axial lantern tower, and at Kilwinning with two towers, are yet to be determined. It is worthy of note that it was only after 1200 that examples of a west transept with portais replacing a choir occur in Germany.

La façade préromane en Angleterre

This paper examines the development of the west façade in England from the seventh to the eleventh century, and assesses the characteristics of Insular architecture as evidenced by a series of monuments. Three main phases are discerned. In the first, from the seventh to the ninth centuries, the nave was preceded by a west porch or porticus, of one, two or three storeys, lower than the nave gable. In the second, from the tenth to the eleventh centuries, there was some influence from the Carolingian westwork ; but the typical form to emerge was the single west tower, serving a variety of functions. The third phase was the introduction of the Romanesque façade from Normandy and France in the last third of the eleventh century : this had little architectural continuity with the Anglo-saxon past, though occasionally there was a functional continuity.

The West Portal in the Porch at Higham Ferrers: A Problem of Interpretation

SummaryThe thirteenth-century west portal of Higham Ferrers Church, Northamptonshire, despite its rural setting, has claims to represent international and metropolitan taste in its ornament and general layout. The sculptured portal was originally part of a larger decorative and iconographic scheme, the coherence of which was drastically impaired in the rebuilding of the west porch, tower, and spire in the 1630s. Fragments of what seem likely to have been major sculptural groups were then built into the westface of the tower. Thefigurescenes, framed in medallions, which fill the left and rightportion of the tympanum of the portal are among the best preserved thirteenth-century sculptures in England, but the identification of the individual scenes is fraught with difficulty nor is it easy to judge the level at which the sculptures were intended to communicate. Contemporary illustrated Psalters, designed for personal devotional use, may provide the key, but curious symptoms of seventeenth-century interference also require interpretation.

Investigation of the Collapse of L'Ambiance Plaza

Results from an investigation of the collapse of the L'Ambiance Plaza building on April 23, 1987, are presented. The building was being constructed using the lift‐slab method; collapse occurred during construction. The investigation included examination of debris at the site of the collapse, review of eyewitness accounts of the collapse, review of project documentation, laboratory and field tests, and analyses of the structure. Several potential failure mechanisms are investigated. The most probable cause of the collapse is determined to be loss of support at a lifting jack in the west tower during placement of a group of three floor slabs. The loss of support was likely due to excessive deformation of a shearhead lifting angle, which caused a lifting nut to slip off its lifting angle. This failure mechanism was duplicated in laboratory experiments. As loads were redistributed after the initial failure, the remaining jack rod lifting nuts along column line E supporting the package of floor slabs slipped off their lifting angles and the slabs failed in flexure and shear. These slabs fell causing the slabs below them to fail.

Investigation of the Collapse of LAmbiance Plaza

Results from an investigation of the collapse of the LAmbiance Plaza building on April 23, 1987 are presented. The building was being constructed using the lift-slab method; collapse occurred during construction. The investigation included examination of debris at the site of the collapse, review of eyewitness accounts of the collapse, review of project documentation, laboratory and field tests and analyses of the structure. Several potential failure mechanisms were investigated. The most probable cause of the collapse was determined to be loss of support at a lifting jack in the west tower during placement of a group of three floor slabs. The loss of support was likely due to excessive deformation of a shearhead lifting angle, which caused a lifting nut to slip off its lifting angle. This failure mechanism was duplicated in laboratory experiments.

The Ethelbert Tower of St Augustine's Abbey, Canterbury

The great Romanesque church of the abbey of St Augustine, Canterbury, was begun shortly after 1070 and was probably substantially complete by the end of the century. Now almost totally destroyed, its west façade was an imposing one with two great towers. One of these, the so-called Ethelbert Tower, survived the general destruction following the Dissolution mostly intact. Its gradual decay, collapse, and final demolition in 1822 is recorded in a series of drawings and prints, beginning c.1615, which allow a reconstruction of the tower in some detail. Usually dated as late as 1120–30, it is here suggested that the internal spatial relationship of the tower to the former nave and aisles indicate that the construction of the west towers and façade must have proceeded simultaneously with the west bays of the nave, c. 1100, at least up to the eaves level, if not, as is more likely, for their full height. Consequently, the chevron ornament which appeared in the Ethelbert Tower's lower stages is to be dated prior to the appearance of the motif at Durham Cathedral, c. 1110, and should not he used, as it has been, to date the tower (and façade) to the third decade of the twelfth century. The abbey's twin-tower façade would have been one of the earliest completed in Great Britain, and could have served as the model for that of Durham (and Westminster Abbey) with regard to the integration of the towers into the basic design of the nave.

St. Mary at Wiveton in Norfolk, and a Group of Churches Attributed to its Mason

SummaryA number of ecclesiastical buildings in Norfolk and northern Suffolk show a common repertoire of distinctively elaborated mouldings, which in several cases involves such precise repetition of formations that the same templates must have been used repeatedly. On the evidence of the mouldings, and of other detailed similarities between the buildings, it is argued that they may all be seen as the work of the same designing mason, and the documentation suggests that his active career was centred on the second quarter of the fifteenth century. The range of his personal manner of design in parochial churches is best seen at Wiveton, near the north coast, but he was also able to work on a more expanded scale, as in the Erpingham Gate into Norwich Cathedral close; the connecting link between the two scales of his work is to be found in the parochial west tower of Wymondham abbey.

Raymond Gairard and Romanesque Building Campaigns at Saint-Sernin in Toulouse

A restoration nearing completion at Saint-Sernin in Toulouse has shed light on the building sequence and the role of St. Raymond Gairard, credited by 15th- and 16th-century vitae with completing the "corpus" up to the windows before his death. New evidence suggests that Raymond's "corpus" included the inception of an ambitiously conceived tower façade and vestibule left unfinished in an unsuccessful post-Raymondine campaign to vault the nave in solid brick masonry. The correlation of different masonry types and footings with architectural carving such as bases, moldings, and capital styles, as well as masons' marks leads to the further conclusion that the choir with crossing and transepts was completed in several major campaigns, the last two of which were undertaken after Raymond's nave walls. If the Vita Raimundi excludes Raymond from participation in a "capitis membrum" as historians have believed, it either errs or uses "corpus" to denote the entire crossing and the nave together and "capitis membrum" to denote the crypt wall with its surrounding ambulatory. Whichever the case, the date of 1118 given for Raymond's death in the necrology is not consonant with the archaeological evidence, including the probable date of the transept sculpture toward 1100. Raymond, in this view, would have been most active between 1080 and 1100, the period suggested by primary documents, when he designed the ambitious five-aisled nave and west tower façade, and adopted exposed alternating stone and brick masonry to complete the transepts. The sculpture of Bernardus Gelduinus and the Porte Miègeville Master may both testify to his last active years.

Debatten 1915–1976 om Uppsala Domkyrkas restaurering, II

Summary and conclusion The above is the second part of a report on the debate on the restoration of Uppsala cathedral (the first part was published in Konsthistorisk tidskrift 1976, pp. 115–144). The report has its origins in a course given at the University of Stockholm in 1974 under the auspices of the the institute of the History of Art. During the last fifty years, a large number of early Swedish churches has been restored. The main purpose of this work was often to remove 19th century additions, which aimed at the restoration of the building in a uniform style, and to provide instead a design supposedly more historically accurate or, according to the restorers at least, aesthetically more pleasing. Restoration of this type was usually carried out without protest or discussion, being regarded as the concern of a small group of experts centred in and around the appropriate state authority, the Swedish Central Office of National Antiquities (the central authority for the preservation of cultural monumen...

3D Analysis Of The South West Tower Of The WestBlock Parliament Buildings, Ottawa, Canada

A 3-dimensional finite element analysis was conducted to determine the cause of cracking of the massive stone masonry walls of the historic South West tower and to help define a suitable stabilization scheme. The paper provides an overview of the tower's geometry and distress and of key 3-D analysis results.

Boston before Bulfinch: Harrison's King's Chapel

Research Article| March 01 1954 Boston before Bulfinch: Harrison's King's Chapel Priscilla Metcalf Priscilla Metcalf Search for other works by this author on: This Site PubMed Google Scholar Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians (1954) 13 (1): 11–14. https://doi.org/10.2307/987555 Views Icon Views Article contents Figures & tables Video Audio Supplementary Data Peer Review Share Icon Share Facebook Twitter LinkedIn MailTo Tools Icon Tools Get Permissions Cite Icon Cite Search Site Citation Priscilla Metcalf; Boston before Bulfinch: Harrison's King's Chapel. Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians 1 March 1954; 13 (1): 11–14. doi: https://doi.org/10.2307/987555 Download citation file: Ris (Zotero) Reference Manager EasyBib Bookends Mendeley Papers EndNote RefWorks BibTex toolbar search Search Dropdown Menu toolbar search search input Search input auto suggest filter your search All ContentJournal of the Society of Architectural Historians Search This content is only available via PDF. Article PDF first page preview Close Modal You do not currently have access to this content.

St. Nicholas Blakeney, Norfolk: Arms on the West tower

St. Nicholas Blakeney, Norfolk: Arms on the West tower

Societies and Academies

PARIS.Academy of Sciences, October 12.—M. Duchartre in the chair.—On the theory of the antagonism of visual fields, by M. A. Chauveau.—An apparatus for carrying out various experiments connected with the study of binocular contrast, by the same author. The instrument described is that used by M. Chauveau in the experiments the results of which were communicated to the Academy on September 7 and 21. In the main it consists of a stereoscope having arrangements by means of which exact equality of luminous impressions may be realized, and the colours of the two fields altered independently.—New réscau of isotherms for carbonic acid, by M. E. H. Amagat. The author has determined the isotherms of carbonic acid for every 10° from 0° to 100°, and also those corresponding to 32°, 35°, 137°, 198°, and 258°; the pressures having been taken up to 1000 atmospheres, The results obtained are graphically shown in the accompanying figure, in which the abscissæ represent pressures, and products of P x V furnish the ordinates.—Variation of the composition of Jerusalem artichokes at different periods of their growth; rôle of the leaves, by M. G. Lechartier. Analyses of the dried black leaves which appear on Jerusalem artichokes in the autumn have been made, and the results compared with analyses of green and yellow leaves. The effect of different fertilizers on their composition has also been studied. It appears that the black leaves must have had the same composition as the green leaves, and the substances which they lose are utilized for the nutrition of the higher leaves of the plants. They preserve their vitality as long as the soil furnishes the plant with sufficient phosphoric acid and potash. But if either of these fertilizers be absent, the leaves begin to dry up.—Observations of Tempel-Swift's periodic comet, made at Paris Observatory with the West Tower equatorial, by M. G. Bigourdan. Observations for position were made on October 8 and 9. It is remarked:

Societies and Academies

PARIS. Academy of Sciences, October 13.—M. Hermite in the chair.—M. Tisserand presented the second volume of his “Traité de Mécanique Céleste,” and noted that it deals principally with two subjects—viz. the figure of celestial bodies, and their movement of rotation.—Presentation of the fifth volume of the “Bulletin du Comité international de la Carte du Ciel”; state of progress of preliminary works, by Admiral Mouchez.—On a photograph of the Ring Nebula in Lyra, obtained at Algiers Observatory, by the same author.—On a photograph obtained with a nine hours' exposure at Toulouse Observatory, by M. B. Baillaud. (For the three above communications, see Our Astronomical Column.)—Observation of D'Arrest's comet (rediscovered by Mr. Barnard on October 6, 1890) made at Paris Observatory with the West Tower equatorial, by M. G. Bigourdan. The observation for position was made on October 10.—On the linear equations from partial derivatives, by M. A. Petot.

Societies and Academies

PARIS. Academy of Sciences, September 10.—M. Des Cloizeaux in the chair.—Remark on a point in the theory of secular irregularities, by M. F. Tisserand. The reference is to Le Verrier's statement regarding the stability of the planetary system, in connection with a certain position between Jupiter and the sun, determined at about double the distance of the earth from the sun. An attempt is made to ascertain whether there exists an analogous position, in which the originally slight eccentricity of the orbit of a small mass might gradually assume proportions calculated to disturb the general equilibrium of the system.—The French vines, by M. A. Chatin. The treatment is described, by which a vineyard at Meyzieux, Isère, has been preserved, like a green oasis, in the midst of the wilderness created round about by the combined attacks of Phylloxera, mildew, and black rot. The treatment consists partly in a systematic process of nippings (éborgnements), partly in the application of a strong manure, including granulated phosphorus and products, with a base of nitrogen, potassa, and lime.—Degrees of oxidation in the fluorescent compounds of chromium and. manganese (continued), by M. Lecoq de Boisbaudran. Several experiments are described tending to show that the pink compound is the real cause of the fluorescence.—Observations of Barnard's new comet, made at the Paris Observatory (equatorial of the West Tower), by M. G. Bigourdan. This comet, discovered on September 2 at the Lick Observatory, showed on September 5 a round nebulosity from 1′ to 1′.5 in diameter, with somewhat stellar nucleus of 11.5–12 magnitude, not occupying the centre of the nebulosity.—Positions of Brooks's comet (August 7, 1888), measured at the Observatory of Beson, by M. Gruey. The observations are for August 9–12, when the magnitude varied from 7 to 9.—On the planet Mars, by M. Perrotin. These remarks are made in connection with four new designs of Mars, forming a sequel to those published in the Comptes rendus of July 16. They still show the two canals—one simple, one double—running from the equatorial region nearly along the meridian towards the North Pole. A new canal is also revealed, which presents the appearance of a straight dark band traversing the white Polar ice-cap.—On the chlorides of indium, by MM. L. F. Nilson and Otto Pettersson. To the previously-determined trichloride, InCl3 the authors here add three distinct and stable chlorides. These are a trichloride, InCl3, a dichloride, InCl2, and a monochloride, InCl, showing that a metal of the third group in the natural system of the elements may act as a mono-, a di-, and a tri-valent in clearly-defined combinations.—On the part played by symbiosis in certain luminous marine animals, by M. Raphaël Dubois. In previous communications the authors showed that the fundamental reaction necessary to produce animal luminosity was of the same order as those effected under the action of the ferments. Their further studies of Bacillus pholas and Bacterium pelagia, the respective parasites of Pholas dactylus and Pelagia noctiluca, enable them to reconcile their theory of photogenous fermentation with the hypothesis of the oxidation of a phosphorated substance, as proposed by some biologists. These researches also help to explain how marine phosphorescence may be caused by the disintegration of marine animals, and how this phenomenon may cease or reappear, and assume various degrees of intensity, according to circumstances.—On the myelocytes of the Invertebrates, by M. Joannes Chatin. Hitherto spoken of as present in the organism of the Vertebrates alone, the author here shows that the myelocyte formation occurs also in the Invertebrates. He makes it evident that they cannot be assimilated to free nuclei, but represent true cellules normally constructed, with all their essential parts. He further points out that the intimate structure and real nature of the myelocytes may be studied much more conveniently in the lower than in the higher organisms.—On Heterodera schachtii, by M. Willot. In connection with his recent communication (Comptes rendus, August 3), on the destruction of this micro-organism by sea-water, the author points out that Dr. Strubell, of the University of Erlangen, has independently, but subsequently, made the same discovery.

Societies and Academies

PARIS. Academy of Sciences, August 13.—M. Janssen, President, in the chair.—Remarks in connection with the “Connaissancedes Temps pour 1890” (212th year of publication), presented to the Academy by M. Bouquet de la Grye. Amongst the improvements and additions made to this volume are: the semi-diameter of the sun, the duration of its transit, the parallax and aberration for every day in the year, the conditions of visibility of Saturn's ring, and! tables for calculating the phases of the solar eclipses for every point on the surface of the globe. By means of certain typographical expedients, all these additions have been made without increasing the size of the volume.—On a general property of elastic solid bodies, by M. Maurice Lévy. A demonstration is offered of the following theorem: If two systems of forces in equilibrium be successively applied to an elastic solid body, whether isotropous or crystallized, free or not (and consequentlv to a system of similar bodies connected together in any way), then the sum of the work produced by the forces of one of these systems, for the elastic displacements due to, the other, is equal, to the sum of the work produced by the forces of the latter for the elastic displacements due to the first.—On the influence exercised by antipyretic substances on the quantity of glycogen contained in the muscles, by MM. R. Lépine and Porleret. In a previous note (Comples rendus for April 3, 1888), the authors-showed that antipyretic substances act as an impediment to the, transformation of the hepatic glycogen into sugar. They now give the results of their further researches on the influence exercised by the antipyrine and acetanilide in determining the proportion of glycrgen contained in the muscles. Compared with healthy animals, those intoxicated with these substances have an excess of muscular glycogen varying from 28 to 30 per cent.—On the precautions required to be taken in order to secure good photographs of lightning, by M. Ch. Moussette. An experiment is described, which is intended to show that the defective photographs of electric discharges are mainly due to the vibrations communicated to the apparatus by the trembling of the ground, the force of the wind, or the crash of the thunder. Hence, in order to obtain good impressions, these disturbing elements should be neutralized to the utmost.—Observations of Brooks's new comet, made at the Paris Observatory with the equatorial of the West Tower, by M. G. Bigour-dan. This comet was discovered by Mr. Brooks at the new Observatory of Geneva, State of New York, on August 7, 1888. It was faintly visible in Paris on August 9, and the present observations were taken on the three following days.—On amorphous antimony, by M. F. Hérard. The author has succeeded in obtaining directly the allotropic modification of antimony indicated by Gore, and resulting from the decomposition of a chloride, bromide, or iodide of antimony. It takes the form of a gray powder containing 98.7 per cent, of antimony, with density 6.22 at o° C., and point of fusion about 614°, whereas crystallized antimony melts at about 440°.—On four new titanates of zinc, by M. Lucien Lévy. Since his communication (Comptes rendus, vol. cv. p. 378) on a trititanate of zinc obtained by means of fluorides, the author has obtained four other titanates by fusing titanic acid with mixtures of zinc and potassa sulphates, These titanates are here described, analvzed, and reduced to their proper formulas.—M. A. Duponchel has a note on a 24-years' cycle of periodicity in the oscillations of temperature on the surface of the globe, based on the records of mean temperatures in Paris from the year 1765 to 1783, and from 1804 to the present time.