# Catalan Vault

> A shallow vault of thin flat tiles laid in layers without formwork, from Catalonia and Valencia; brought to the US by Rafael Guastavino.

- URL: https://roof.wiki/catalan-vault/
- Topic: History of Roofing
- Also known as: timbrel vault; thin-tile vault; boveda tabicada; volta catalana; Guastavino tile; tile arch system
- Regions: Europe, North America, Latin America
- First published: 2026-11-02 · Last reviewed: 2026-11-02
- Cite as: "Catalan Vault." roof.wiki. https://roof.wiki/catalan-vault/

## Key facts

- **Other names:** Timbrel vault, thin-tile vault, boveda tabicada, Guastavino tile
- **Origin:** Catalonia, Valencia and the Mediterranean
- **Layers:** Usually three courses of flat tile
- **Formwork:** Not needed for the first layer
- **Guastavino patent:** Tile Arch System, US, 1885

The Catalan vault, also called the timbrel vault or thin-tile vault (Catalan volta catalana, Spanish bóveda tabicada), is a way of building a vaulted ceiling or roof from thin bricks or tiles laid flat. The first layer is laid "in space" without centering or formwork, and further layers, usually three in total, are bonded over it with mortar. The curve is much flatter than in most brick vaulting. Such vaults often carry a floor or roof above them.

## Origins and spread

The technique developed and flourished in Catalonia, Valencia and neighbouring regions and is found throughout the Mediterranean. The Romans built brick vaults but did not lay them in this way. The name "Catalan vault" was coined at an architectural congress in Madrid in 1904. The method was taken to New Spain and is still used in parts of Mexico. In Catalonia, the architects Antoni Gaudí and Josep Puig i Cadafalch helped spread it in more recent times.

## Guastavino in the United States

Rafael Guastavino (1842-1908), a Valencian architect and builder, moved to New York in 1881 with his son Rafael Jr. In 1885 he patented his Tile Arch System, based on the Catalan vault, using thin terracotta tiles and layers of mortar. Father and son eventually held 24 patents.

The Guastavino Fireproof Construction Company, incorporated in 1889, specialised in fireproof construction. Run first by the father and then by the son, it carried out its last contract in 1962. Hundreds of major buildings contain Guastavino vaulting, among them:

- Boston's Central Library (1889);
- New York's City Hall subway station (opened 1904), Carnegie Hall and Grand Central Terminal;
- the dome of the Cathedral of St. John the Divine, New York;
- the Great Hall ceiling at Ellis Island, rebuilt in 1917;
- the Basilica of St. Lawrence, Asheville, North Carolina (designed 1905).

In the US the technique is often simply called Guastavino tile. John Ochsendorf and Michael Freeman's *Guastavino Vaulting: The Art of Structural Tile* (2010) documents the company's work.

## How it works

Because each tile is thin and laid flat, a Catalan vault is light for its span. It works mainly in compression, like any masonry vault, so its shape must follow the line of thrust, and the walls or ties must resist the outward push at its springing. Building without formwork saves the timber that centering would otherwise require.

## Roofing relevance

Catalan vaults often serve as the structure that carries a floor or roof above. The method relates to other unreinforced vaulting traditions such as the Nubian vault and the mud-brick barrel vaults of Iran, which are also built without centering.

## Sources

1. Catalan vault — Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catalan_vault
2. Rafael Guastavino — Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rafael_Guastavino