Spain · Masonry; Thin-Tile Vaulting; Architectural Craft
Bóveda tabicada; volta catalana; bóveda a la catalana
A masonry vaulting method in which two or more layers of thin fired bricks or tiles are laid flat, one over another, to form a thin, light vault. The first layer is built 'in the air', with little or no timber centering, using fast-setting gypsum plaster that grips each tile within moments so that the vault grows from its supports as a series of self-supporting arches or rings. Later layers, with staggered joints, are set in lime mortar (cement mortar since the late 19th century) and the first layer serves as their formwork. A two-layer vault can be about 100 mm thick. The method is Mediterranean (Spain, Italy, France, North Africa), was used for churches, floors, roofs and staircases, and was carried to the United States by Rafael Guastavino in the 1880s. In Spain it nearly disappeared after the 1950s and has been revived in the last two decades by a few builders, architects and engineers. It has also been adopted by architects in India (Kerala, Tamil Nadu) as a steel-free, concrete-free roof.
Risk level: Vulnerable · Not listed by UNESCO. No national or regional heritage-craft listing was found in the sources consulted.
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