Timbrel vaulting is a medieval building method where tiles are used as a substitute for steel. The craftsmen associated with this construction method have long gone, but their legacy is still with us today.
Brick, stone and concrete are materials strong in compression, but weak in tension (if the structural breadth increases, the material has to be supported by many columns or it collapses).
Nowadays, this problem is solved by steel structures or the use of steel reinforced concrete - the tensile strength of steel is significantly more than that of bricks, stone or plain concrete. Pre World War II, the weak tensile strength of brick was compensated for by superior craftsmanship.
The "timbrel vault" allowed for structures that today no architect would dare to build without steel reinforcements. The technique was cheap, fast, ecological and durable.
The Mapungubwe Interpretation Centre in South Africa is designed by Peter Rich Architects from Johannesburg. The project won the World Building Award at the World Architecture Festival (WAF) held in Barcelona in 2009
The Mapungubwe Interpretation Centre, which is built to house artefacts from the region;s prehistory, was constructed using local materials and using the skills and labour of local people. Unemployed South Africans were trained in the manufacture of earth tiles and in building the timbrel vaults.
Timbrel vaulting (or Catalan vaulting) is being rediscovered as an ecological building technique because it saves large amounts of building materials and thus embodied energy. This also makes it a cheap building method, at least in regions where hand labour is affordable.
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