by Jon Lackman | 27 March 2006 | Architecture, Medieval
According to LiveScience, “Computer animation software used in newer Star Wars films to bring the pint-sized Jedi to life has now been modified to investigate the mysteries of cathedral architecture … secrets guarded by stonemason guilds for centuries … How cathedrals were constructed, then, can say a lot about the circumstances of why and by whom they were built.” MIT architecture professor John Ochsendorf and his team “believe the precise details of how will be illuminated with their … approach. ‘The exact order of construction for a complex Gothic cathedral is unknown,’ Ochsendorf said. ‘For example, at what point were the flying buttresses added to a cathedral? We could begin to demonstrate that some sequences of construction were impossible of standing safely, which would give new insights into the creation and development of cathedral design.’”
