What term describes an arch starting from a detached pier and abutting against a wall to take the thrust of the vaulting?

What term describes an arch starting from a detached pier and abutting against a wall to take the thrust of the vaulting?

• A. Buttress
• B. Arch
• C. Piers
• D. Abutment

Answer: (A)

A buttress is the projecting mass that resists the outward thrust of a vault by connecting a detached pier to a wall. It acts as a counterforce to the lateral push generated by arches and vaults, transferring that thrust into the ground and stabilizing the wall. In medieval architecture you often see a buttress beginning at a separate pier and pressing against the wall to take up the vault’s thrust, and when the support crosses space from a distance to the wall, that can be a flying buttress as well. This distinguishes it from an abutment, which is simply the end-support of an arch or vault, and from a plain arch or a pier that merely elevates the vault. So the term that fits the description is buttress.

A buttress is the projecting mass that resists the outward thrust of a vault by connecting a detached pier to a wall. It acts as a counterforce to the lateral push generated by arches and vaults, transferring that thrust into the ground and stabilizing the wall. In medieval architecture you often see a buttress beginning at a separate pier and pressing against the wall to take up the vault’s thrust, and when the support crosses space from a distance to the wall, that can be a flying buttress as well. This distinguishes it from an abutment, which is simply the end-support of an arch or vault, and from a plain arch or a pier that merely elevates the vault. So the term that fits the description is buttress.