Search results for " spiral staircase"
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Il caracol quadrato in Sicilia (XVI secolo)
2022
Square spiral staircases appear in Sicily during the 16th century in different contexts and for different purposes. This contribution focuses on two case studies at the “opposite poles” of a casuistry that shares the common characteristics of suspended ramps revolving within a square masonry box around a central void. By analysing these cases we find a probable link with models from Spain. At the same time, they demonstrate a common descent from a constructive culture rooted in the Spanish and Mediterranean stereotomic experience of the early modern age.
Stereotomy of the Late-Medieval Mediterranean. Crossroads of Experimental Design
2015
This paper analyses some specific case studies of vault and spiral staircase construction built in Sicily in the 12th and 13th centuries during Norman and Swabian rule, as a site of experimenta-tion in the field of stereotomy. The list of such examples still extant (in Palermo some details of the cathedral, the muqarnas in the Zisa Palace and its palatine chapel – the first stone muqarnas in the Mediterranean -, in Syracuse and Catania the castles built during the reign of Frederick II, etc) must be considered in conjunction with similar constructions, now lost or ruined, especially by earthquakes (eg. the intriguing Hall of Syracuse and Mongialino Castle). Among these exam-ples are buildin…