ABSTRACT
Johann Dientzenhofer’s Banz Abbey Church (1710–18) and Balthasar Neumann’s Church of Vierzehnheiligen (1743–72), both located in Upper Franconia (Germany), are characterized by their masonry vaults, sequences of oval domes separated by double-curved arches. This Late Baroque architecture has been called “Guarinesque”; however, the conceptual connection between the vaults and Guarino Guarini’s architecture remains to be thoroughly investigated. This paper discusses the geometric definitions of these vaults using the modern methods of geometric analysis and reverse geometrical engineering, based on 3D-laser scanning. Analysis of these scans reveals a design process based on plane circle segments and ovals, while more complex geometric procedures are not necessary to describe the vaults. Further, the relationship between these designs and the procedures of geometric design described in the treatises of stereotomy since the 16th century can be shown. Based on this background, the relation to Guarini’s Architettura Civile (1737) is discussed.
