Fluting (architecture)

Fluting in architecture consists of shallow grooves running along a surface. Parthenon, Acropolis at Athens, GreeceFluted columns and pilasters inside Hadrian's Pantheon, Rome, ItalyThe Maison Carrée (Roman), Nîmes, FrancePersian columns at Persepolis, IranSpiral fluting on columns in the Nasir-ol-molk Mosque in IranFluted engaged columns at Djoser's funerary complex in Saqqara, EgyptAltarpiece of the Raimondi Chapel at San Pietro, Montorio, RomeFluted pilasters inside the Sagrestia Veccia, Basilica of San Lorenzo, FlorenceLincoln Memorial, Washington, D.C., USASupreme Court building, Washington, D.C., USAWar Memorial, Washington D.C., USA Fluting in architecture consists of shallow grooves running along a surface. The term typically refers to the grooves running vertically on a column shaft or a pilaster, but need not necessarily be restricted to those two applications. If the hollowing out of material meets in a point, the point is called an arris. Fluting promotes a play of light on a column which helps the column appear more perfectly round than a smooth column. As a strong vertical element it also has the visual effect of minimizing any horizontal joints. Greek architects viewed rhythm as an important design element. As such, fluting was often used on buildings and temples to increase the sense of rhythm. It may also be incorporated in columns to make them look thinner, lighter, and more elegant. There is debate as to whether fluting was originally used in imitation of ancient woodworking practices, mimicking adze marks on wooden columns made from tree trunks, or whether it was designed to imitate plant forms. Either way, it was not invented by the Greeks who popularized it, but rather learned from the Mycenaeans or the Egyptians. Fluted columns styled under the Doric order of architecture have 20 flutes. Ionic, Corinthian, and Composite columns traditionally have 24. Fluting is never used on Tuscan order columns. Fluting is always applied exclusively to the shaft of the column, and may run either the entire shaft length from the base to the capital, or only on the upper two thirds of the column shaft. The latter application is used to compliment the entasis of the column, which begins one third of the way up from the bottom of the shaft. Fluting might be applied to freestanding, structural columns, as well as engaged columns and decorative pilasters. If the lower third of the hollowed-out grooves appear to have been re-filled with a cylindrical element, it may be referred to as 'cabled fluting'. This decorative element is not used in Doric order columns. Cabled fluting may have been used to prevent wear and damage to the sharp edges of the flutes along the bottom part of the column.