Buttress Taper: Stepping up one level at a time

A buttress attached to a wall. It is divided into three to four sections from the ground up, each section thinner than the one below, with a sloping drip surface at the joint, and topped with a small pinnacle or a sloping stone slab. The spacing of the buttresses aligns with the interior bays. The wall surface thus creates distinct undulations and shadows. Avoid: making the buttress a square column of uniform width from top to bottom, removing the segmented drip surfaces, the buttress position not corresponding to the windows, making the wall surface flat without depth.

Translated from Chinese by AI.

一道貼在牆上的扶壁。從地面往上分成三到四段,每一段都比下一段薄,交接處做出斜的洩水面,頂端收成一個小尖或壓一塊斜石。扶壁的間距與室內的開間對齊。牆面因此產生明顯的凹凸與陰影。避免:把扶壁做成上下等寬的方柱、拿掉分段的洩水面、扶壁的位置與開窗不對應、讓牆面平整沒有深度。