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Why did Gothic cathedrals use generous proportions and lofty interior heights?

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The Great Court at the British Museum in London features a large central rotunda surrounded by wide steps and a glass and steel lattice roof, with visitors walking throughout the space. — Architecture The Great Court, designed by Foster and Partners, 2000; in the British Museum, London.

Gothic cathedrals utilized generous proportions and lofty interior heights primarily to fulfill a theological quest for light. Medieval thinkers, such as St. Augustine, regarded light as the most direct manifestation of God, driving architects to design spaces that could accommodate larger windows and maximize illumination.1

To achieve these soaring heights while maintaining structural integrity, Gothic masons employed three key engineering innovations:

Ribbed vaults: By using intersecting stone ribs to support thin stone panels, masons significantly reduced the weight of the ceiling and concentrated the structural load onto discrete points rather than continuous walls.21
Pointed arches: These arches distributed thrust more efficiently downward than traditional round arches, allowing for thinner, taller construction.21
Flying buttresses: These external supports carried the outward thrust of the high vaults away from the walls to freestanding piers. This relieved the walls of their supportive function, enabling them to be built thinner and opened up with expansive stained glass windows.231

Together, these elements allowed for the creation of cavernous, vertical interiors that served as a physical expression of the divine.24