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The Pantheon

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Write an article on The Significance of the Structural System Engaged at the Pantheon. It needs to be at least 2750 words. Its construction then took an extended period so as to provide the Pantheon concrete sufficient time to heal and achieve strength. The design used is similar to that of a massive circular-shaped barrel with a dome casing on top, including a light-well within the midpoint of the dome. Furthermore, thin brickwork wraps the exterior round-walls even as the main entry contains dual bronze doors, which are a foot high and shielded with an elevated broad porch. The porch contains 16 finely positioned granite columns that hold up the gable-fashioned roof (MacDonald 15). Even though the beams within the roof makeup comprising the porch were initially made of wood, they were replaced with bronze strip-out.The pantheon diameter is approximately one meter more than that of the famous St Peters Basilica and that’s why it had the designers reinforced it using concrete (Moffett, Fazio and Wodehus 14). Interestingly, the dome center has a circular aperture or oculus that is eight meters transversely and thus not under any load whatsoever. The most outstanding feature of the Pantheon is the slanting shape that makes it discernible from any location a person stands in the vault. Fascinatingly, it was constructed totally with no steel reinforcement rods for defying tensile fracturing, but instead, a unique combination of concrete was used that has enabled it to last several centuries later (Baker 30). It is this design using concrete that makes the Pantheon be an unparalleled structure not practiced in contemporary design standards or structural engineering practices. This is more so due to the designer's emphasis on steel reinforcement rods, instead of concrete in reducing tensile cracks. Thus, the aim of this paper is to elaborate on the significance of the Pantheon using the arch and vault system.
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