Bay (architecture)

In architecture, a bay is the space between architectural elements, or a recess or compartment. The term bay comes from Old French baie, meaning an opening or hole.[1]
Examples
- The spaces between posts, columns, or buttresses in the length of a building, the division in the widths being called aisles. This meaning also applies to overhead vaults (between ribs), in a building using a vaulted structural system. For example, the Gothic architecture period's Chartres Cathedral has a nave (main interior space) that is "seven bays long." Similarly in timber framing a bay is the space between posts in the transverse direction of the building and aisles run longitudinally.[2]
- Where there are no columns or other divisions, and regularly-spaced windows, each window in a wall is counted as a bay. For example Mulberry Fields in Maryland US, a Georgian style building, is described as "5 bay by 2 bay", meaning "5 windows at the front and 2 windows at the sides".
- A recess in a wall, such as a bay window.[2]
- A division of space such as an animal stall, sick bay, or bay platform.[2]
- The space between joists or rafters, a joist bay or rafter bay.[2]
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Source: "Bay (architecture)", Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, (2022, October 29th), https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bay_(architecture).
See also
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