Name: Stabilizing Notre Dame's Famous Buttresses
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After the Notre Dame fire of 2019, a team of architects and engineers must design a way to stabilize the famous cathedral's buttresses before its roof and entire structure collapses.

If the vaulting collapses, the weight of the buttresses will push in the 100-foot walls.

Stabilizing Notre Dame's Famous Buttresses

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After the Notre Dame fire of 2019, a team of architects and engineers must design a way to stabilize the famous cathedral's buttresses before its roof and entire structure collapses.

If the stone vaulting collapses, the weight of the buttresses will push in the 100-foot walls.

If the stone vaulting collapses, the weight of the buttresses will push in the 100-foot walls.

Tech & Engineering

Stabilizing Notre Dame's Famous ButtressesPublished: November 20, 2020Narrator: The stricken cathedral is a giant house of cards. If the stone vaulting collapses, the weight of the buttresses will push in the 100 foot walls. And Notre-Dame will be no more.Philippe Villeneuve: (Merci à tous d’être là) Thank you for being here.Narrator: So Phillipe heads up a rapid response team; dozens of engineers, architects and scientists. Their task is to prevent a total collapse of the cathedral.Narrator: It’s not only a difficult job, it’s also hazardous. The crumbling stone vaults and twisted scaffolding make any visit inside to investigate the stability of the structure extremely dangerous.Carlo Blasi: (Et on peut voir d’ici l’intérieur….) And we can see from here the inside of…. [alarm sound]Lise Leroux: Go out. The scaffolding is moving. Scaffolding!Narrator: Motion sensors are installed in the melted jumble of scaffolding overhead. These can be triggered by gusts of wind, a warning before a possible full-scale collapse.Narrator: There are evacuations like this each week; necessary, but an impediment to the urgent work of stabilizing the structure.Narrator: To avert a catastrophic collapse, engineers could build a steel skeleton inside the nave to brace the walls. Then, even if the vaulting caves in, the walls of Notre-Dame would stay standing. But, it’s far too dangerous for workers to erect steelwork beneath the compromised structure.Philippe Villeneuve: (On ne peut pas aller sous les voûtes parce qu'on ne sait pas si elles vont tomber ou pas.) We can’t go under the vaults because we don’t know whether they will fall or not. Narrator: So, instead of bracing the walls from the inside, the team will build timber frames under the buttresses outside. Now, if the vaulting does fall in, the buttresses can’t push on the walls, and they won’t come tumbling down.Worker A: (C’est la liste des pieces entaillées pour le chantier.) Here’s the list of the beams we need to cut for the site.Worker B: (N’oblier pas d’essayer de tailler en premier ce qu’ils doivent assembler à côté.) Don’t forget, let’s cut the beams they need to assemble first…Philippe Villeneuve: (Il sont très difficiles parce que en fait aucun arc boutants est identique, donc aucun cintre et identique. Il sont sur mesure.) They are very difficult because no flying buttress is identical to another. They are made to measure.Narrator: Workers at this factory race to cut and assemble around 250 tons of timber, to create the massive supports Philippe’s team needs to prop up the vaults. It’s critical each support fits perfectly beneath each flying buttress to hold its weight. Narrator: But finally, five months later, all 28 flying buttresses are locked in place and the walls are safe.

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Stabilizing Notre Dame's Famous Buttresses

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Support Provided By

Explore More

Saving Notre Dame

Building the Great Cathedrals

Moving a Wooden Covered Bridge