The Octagon of York MinsterGraham WhiteAward: Top 100
School: kentucky country day school The Chapter House of York Minster is located in York, England. The structure features walls and pillars in an octagonal shape, mostly made of stone and stained glass. For the most part, the columns are doing the heavy lifting of the structure, while the stained glass is mostly for show. The stained glass itself is held together by smaller stone and wooden pillars, which help disperse the pressure the windows are facing so that the glass does not break. Near the center, there are several small horizontal pillars, which are meant to hold it all together with tension. Along with this, the larger pillars disperse all the gravity down to the ground equally and ensure the structure stands completely still. The height of the structure gradually increases the force on the base of the pillars and the floor; because of this, the architects decided to use stone, which can withstand a massive amount of compression force. To further help support the ceiling, they layered the columns using a combination of bricks and other smaller, separate columns made of larger pieces, which ensured the bricks did not collapse into the structure. The windows help disperse light all around, which makes the chapter house bright; however, it is not as bright as the sun because the stained glass helps block out a large amount of light. Overall, the Chapter House of York Minster is a very well-designed structure. 
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