Double helix of bricks: How a 600-year-old dome built during the Italian renaissance could inform construction techniques today

Despite numerous theories, it was unknown exactly how the domes were built without the use of temporary supporting structures. Now, Harry Cockburn reports, detailed computer analysis allows researchers to look at the forces at work in each individual brick

Intersecting spiraling loxodromic curves hold up the inner layer of the famous duomo - the dome of the Santa Maria del Fiore Cathedral in Florence (Getty)

The astonishing duomo, which has floated miraculously over the Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore in Florence for almost 600 years, is credited as a centrepiece of the Italian renaissance.

The self-supporting octagonal masonry dome, designed by Filippo Brunelleschi and completed in 1434, became an exemplary architectural feat of the era. At 45.5 metres across, it is still the largest masonry dome in the world.

What’s more, the design required little scaffolding and no central “shoring” to hold up the dome while it was under construction.