Towers

A tower consists of a stack of tower sections.

You can modify the parameters of individual tower sections or the tower as a whole. 

Here are the parameters for a whole tower

Left offset Distance of left end of tower from left end of owning wall
Width Width of base of tower. Note that rectangular towers are all square in Church Builder. Other cases will be considered for later versions.
Insertion We can move the apse into the wall. Here is a tower inserted into a wall:

Tower inserted into end wall of nave

Note that parameters do not include the height of the tower. That is determined by the individual tower sections.

Tower sections

A range of tower sections are available in Church Builder:

Square tower section

 

The walls are rectangular blocks meeting as shown above in which one wall has been selected.

The parameters are:

Height Height of the tower section
Indent Width of ledge formed with tower section below. Thus the tower section is 2 x indent narrower than the tower section below.

This only applies to upper sections.

This approach means that we can change the width of a tower without having to modify all the tower sections one by one.
Wall thickness This thickness applies to all the walls of the tower section.

It is a simplification which we may consider overriding in later versions.
Square mitred tower section

 

The corners are mitred as shown above in which one wall has been selected.

Parameters are the same as the square tower section.
Octagonal tower section

 

Notice that where the square section corners meet the octagonal section corner extra pieces have been put in to mimic what often happens in real life.

Variations of this will be considered for future versions of Church Builder.

The parameters of the octagonal tower section are:

Height Height of the tower section
Indent Width of ledge formed with tower section below. Thus the tower section is 2 x indent narrower than the tower section below.

This only applies to upper sections.

This approach means that we can change the width of a tower without having to modify all the tower sections one by one.
Wall thickness This thickness applies to all the walls of the tower section.

It is a simplification which we may consider overriding in later versions.
Wall length ratio This is the ratio of the width of an end wall to the width of a corner wall expressed as a percentage of the total. 

A value of 50% means that the end walls and corner walls are the same width. This is the case with the example above.

In the example below, the ratio is 80%;
Squinch height Octagonal tower sections sitting on top of square sections have a problem at the corners which are now unsupported. Unless something is done, the corners may collapse. The solution is to insert squinches.

Here is an example for the ruined tower of Wymondham Abbey in Norfolk, UK:

The stepped arches are supporting the octagonal tower's corners.

In this version of Church Builder, we approximate these squinches like this:

Squinches under octagonal tower corners

 

 
Round tower section

 

The example above shows battlements added to the top of the tower.

The parameters for a round tower section are:

Height Height of the tower section
Indent Width of ledge formed with tower section below. Thus the tower section is 2 x indent narrower than the tower section below.

This only applies to upper sections.

This approach means that we can change the width of a tower without having to modify all the tower sections one by one.
Wall thickness This thickness applies to all the walls of the tower section.

It is a simplification which we may consider overriding in later versions.
Squinch height Round tower sections on top of square sections need support at the corners just like octagonal tower sections. The picture below shows this case in Church Builder:

Squinches supporting a round tower section on top of a square section.

 
Dome tower section  

Domes have the following parameters:

Indent Width of ledge formed with tower section below. Thus the tower section is 2 x indent narrower than the tower section below.

This only applies to upper sections.

This approach means that we can change the width of a tower without having to modify all the tower sections one by one.

 
Wall thickness The thickness of the dome.
Top opening width You can create an opening in the top of the dome to create structures such as this:

Dome from the outside

Dome from the inside

This is achieved by 

  • creating an opening in the top of the main dome

  • adding a round tower section

  • adding arches to the wall of the round tower section

  • adding a small dome on top.

 
Squinch height These are the same as the squinches for a round tower section sitting on top of a square section.

 
Spire octagonal simple tower section

 

The parameters are:

Height Height of the spire
Indent Width of ledge formed with tower section below. Thus the spire base is 2 x indent narrower than the tower section below.

This only applies to upper sections.

This approach means that we can change the width of a tower without having to modify all the tower sections one by one.
Wall thickness The thickness of the spire walls.
Spire octagonal tower section  

The parameters are:

Height Height of the spire
Indent Width of ledge formed with tower section below. Thus the spire base is 2 x indent narrower than the tower section below.

This only applies to upper sections.

This approach means that we can change the width of a tower without having to modify all the tower sections one by one.
Corner slope height This applies to the corner sections which join the spire to the square tower section underneath. See  below:

 
Wall thickness The thickness of the spire walls.

 

 
Spire cone tower section  

The picture shows spire cones on top of a round, battlemented tower and a square tower.

The parameters are:

Height Height of the spire
Indent Width of ledge formed with tower section below. Thus the spire base is 2 x indent narrower than the tower section below.

This only applies to upper sections.

This approach means that we can change the width of a tower without having to modify all the tower sections one by one.
Wall thickness The thickness of the spire walls.

 
Spire pyramid tower section  

The parameters are:

Height Height of the spire
Indent Width of ledge formed with tower section below. Thus the spire base is 2 x indent narrower than the tower section below.

This only applies to upper sections.

This approach means that we can change the width of a tower without having to modify all the tower sections one by one.
Wall thickness The thickness of the spire walls.

 

 

Transepts

Transepts are rectangular buildings attached to the wall. They always have a gable wall and it it always facing outwards. The side facing the owning wall is open.

They are usually found attached to a crossing tower to give a cruciform shape to the plan of the church.

In Church Builder you can add transepts to the sides of the nave, crossing tower and chancel but nowhere else.

Here is a simple, rough model of York Minster which has transepts attached to the chancel as well as the crossing tower. The model took 3 minutes to make - I didn't bother with the side aisles.

    Rough model of York Minster without the sideaisles

 

Here are the transept parameters:

 

Left offset Distance of left end of transept from left end of owning wall
Length Length of transept
Breadth Breadth of transept
Apex height Height from floor to top of sloping roof
Side height Height of transept's side wall
Apex projection The back end of the transept roof can be extended back to make a join with owning wall's roof as shown below::

Transept with apex projection joining the transept's roof with the nave's.
Insertion We can move the transept into the wall.

 

 

Wall sections

Each wall can be split into a number of horizontal wall sections. When you add a component, the walls have just one wall section.

The aim of wall sections is to enable you to add rows of arches, windows and columns to a wall.

The following components are added to a wall section:

The buttons for adding these are in the top section of the component control panel. when a wall is selected.

The following components are added to the wall as a whole:

The buttons for adding these are in the lower sections of the component control panel. when a wall is selected.

You can add a wall section to a wall by clicking on the Add wall section button.

This halves the height of the currently selected wall section and inserts a new wall section with the same height above it.

      Wall section added to wall above currently selected wall section

There is a limit to how small a height a newly created wall section can have and so you are prevented from adding many very short ones.

Each new section can have its own set of arches, windows and columns:

     Windows, arches and columns added to each wall section in wall

Here are the parameters of  a wall section

Height If you increase the height of wall section then the one above is reduced in height to compensate. The overall height of the wall will not be changed.

If you are working with the top wall section then the height of the one below it is adjusted.

You can only change a wall's height by working with the building that the wall forms a part of e.g. nave, sideaisle, tower section.
Wall thickness You can change the thickness of individual wall sections. 

 
Left projection You can extend upper wall sections out to the left
Right projection You can extend upper wall sections out to the right
Forward projection You can move upper wall sections forwards and backwards.

Wall section given left, right and forward projections as well as increase in thickness.

We are still considering how best to enable users to modify wall sections. This was our first guess.

Here are two examples of using wall sections

Making a clerestory - copying, pasting and reversing

We shall now go through the steps of adding a clerestory to both sides of a nave using wall sections.

Select a side wall of  the nave and add a wall section using the button shown below:

        
Increase the height of the bottom wall section using the slider or edit box shown below:

     
Add arches to the bottom section
Add columns to the bottom section
Select the top section by left clicking on it.
Add windows to the top section. We have completed this side.

Let us assume that both sides of the nave were built the same way.

Let us copy this left side to the other side of the church. we do this by copying each wall section in turn.
Turn the model and add a wall section to the other side.
Increase the height of the bottom wall section so it is the same as that of the bottom wall section on the other side.
Go back to the first side and select the bottom wall section by left clicking on it.

Now copy this selection by using menu item Edit | Copy
Go back to the second side and select the bottom section again.
Now paste in the copied wall section by using the menu item Edit | Paste.
Now the problem is that it is back to front compared with the first side! We want to reverse the copied wall section.
We solve this problem by using the reverse wall section button shown below:

The two sides of the nave now match!
Copy the upper wall section from the first side using Edit | Copy .

 
Paste in the copied wall section using Edit | Paste
And finally - reverse it
We now have our clerestorys. Its now time to add the sideaisles!

Putting a rose window above a door

To create this effect ...

Rose window above a door
 ...use wall sections like this:

Two wall sections used