Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • RESEARCH HIGHLIGHT

Leonardo’s construction design takes shape centuries later

Researchers make a 3D-printed beam based on the Renaissance polymath’s idea for a masonry structure.
Shear and flexural deformations in flextegrity segmental beams inspired by Leonardo’s triangular masonry construction.

A segmented beam inspired by a design in the Codex Atlanticus, a collection of Leonardo da Vinci’s drawings, can flex while also bearing weight. Credit: Claudio Boni and Gianni Royer-Carfagni

One of Leonardo da Vinci’s many intuitions could form the basis of a new type of masonry structure1.

Access options

Rent or buy this article

Prices vary by article type

from$1.95

to$39.95

Learn more

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Nature 623, 669 (2023)

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-023-03528-y

References

  1. Boni, C. & Royer-Carfagni, G. Proc. R. Soc. A 479, 20230453 (2023).

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Subjects

Latest on:

Nature Careers

Jobs

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing

Search

Advanced search

Quick links