Entablature Blocks at www.japanese-home-gardens.com

Its timber-roofed nave and light arcades are not Roman in space and mass despite the Corinthian columns and entablature blocks. Neither has his building the colorful mosaics and pavements of the basilicas. The stiff foliage of the Corinthian capitals and the awkward responds show that Brunelleschi had not mastered Roman architecture. Instead, his is a new style with its linearism and elegance.

Structurally, the interiors of early Christian basilicas were simple. Colonnades divided the nave from the side aisles. Sometimes the colonnade held lintels, or beams, as in Santa Maria Maggiore in Rome; sometimes it supported a light arcade with arches springing directly from the capitals of the columns rather than from intervening blocks of entablature. This departure from earlier Roman precedent exists in San Paolo, f.l.m., restored on its original lines after a fire in the early 19th century.

A large area of paving blocks likely to receive considerable traffic should be bedded on mortar on a prepared foundation. Start to lay the blocks in one corner of the patio and work diagonally across the surface. This makes it easier to ensure that they are laid consistently flat. Place i/zin thick offcuts of wood between the blocks as consistent joint spaces, or simply butt up the blocks for finer joints. As you work across the surface, kneel on a piece of board to distribute your weight.