CANTILEVER

A CANTILEVER is a beam anchored at only one end. The beam carries the load to the support where it is forced against by a moment and shear stress.^[1] Cantilever construction allows for overhanging structures without external bracing. Cantilevers can also be constructed with trusses or slabs.

AQUEDUCT

Aqueducts moved water through gravity alone, being constructed along a slight downward gradient within conduits of stone, brick or concrete. Most were buried beneath the ground, and followed its contours; obstructing peaks were circumvented or, less often, tunnelled through. Where valleys or lowlands intervened, the conduit was carried on bridgework, or its contents fed into high-pressure lead, ceramic or stone pipes and siphoned across. Most aqueduct systems included sedimentation tanks, sluices and distribution tanks to regulate the supply at need.

ARCHES

ARCH is a curved structure that spans a space and may or may not support weight above it.^[1] Arch may be synonymous with vault but vault may be distinguished as a continuous arch^[2] forming a roof. Arches appeared as early as the 2nd millennium BC in Mesopotamian brick architecture^[3] and their systematic use started with the Ancient Romans who were the first to apply the technique to a wide range of structures.

DOMES

DOMES  is an architectural element that resembles the hollow upper half of a sphere. Dome structures of various materials have an architectural lineage that extends into prehistory.
Corbel domes and true domes have been found in the ancient Middle East in modest buildings and tombs. The construction of the first technically advanced true domes began in the Roman Architectural Revolution,^[1] when the Romans frequently used them to shape large interior spaces of temples and public buildings, such as the Pantheon. This tradition continued unabated after the adoption of Christianity in the Byzantine (East Roman) religious and secular architecture—culminating in the revolutionary pendentive dome of the 6th-century church Hagia Sophia. An original tradition of using multiple domes was developed in the church architecture in Russia, which had adopted Orthodox Christianity from Byzantium. Russian domes are often gilded or brightly painted, and typically have a carcass and an outer shell made of wood or metal. The onion dome became another distinctive feature in the Russian architecture, often in combination with the tented roof.