re: Notre Dame fire, engineering
@rey Oh yeah. The stone vaults are the critical bit. Had they not held, there's a good chance the walls would have collapsed too, and that would have been that. The wooden roof is mostly to protect the stone over the longer term, as well as artistic styling.
And yeah, say what you will of all the things medieval builders did or didn't know, but buildings don't last 850 years by accident.
re: Notre Dame fire, engineering
@rey Tbh, I was terrified the heat of the fire and falling wood might crack the vaults. It did in a few places, bust most of them held.