Hitourbano

Architecture Glossary

4.- ARCHITECTURE GLOSSARY

From de series book “The Arts,  Architecture”, by  Eleanor Van Zandt. The British Council.

AESHTETIC

(adjetive) Relating to the sense of the beautiful; artistic. (noun) The set of principles underlying a particular style – for example, the functional aesthetic.

AISLE

Part of a church, or other building, which is separated from the main area by a row of columns or piers, for example.  In a church the aisles run down either side of other nave.

AMBULATORY

An aisle that encloses an apse.

AMPHITHEATRE

A circular space surrounded by rising tiers of seats built by the Greeks and Romans – the Colosseum in Rome, for example.

APSE

The curved end of a church, behind the main altar, or containing it.

ART DECO

A style of architecture and design popular in Europe and the United States in the 1920s and 1930s.

ARTICULATED

(as an architectural term)  Given clarity, emphasis or visual interest by means of one or more architectural features, such as windows , mouldings, pilasters.

ASHLAR

Masonry composed of smooth, rectangular, closely fitting stone bloks.

ASYMMETRICAL

Having different elemnts on either side of a central dividing line.

AVANT-GARDE

Describes pioneers in the arts, whose ideas are in advance of those currently accepted.

BATTER

The sloping face of a wall.

BATTLEMENT

The fortified top of a castle wall.

BUTTRESS

A brick or masonry support for a wall to counteract the outward thrust of a roof or a vault.

CALLIGRAPHY

Artistic script produced with a brush or pen.

CANTILEVER

A horizontal projection, such as step or balcony, that has no external braces but is sopported by a downward force behind a fulcrum (the point on wich a lever turns).

CENTRALLY PLANNED

Describes a buildings that is designed around one central point.

CLERESTORY

The upper part of the wall of a church,  above the aisles, usually with windows.

CLOISTER

An enclosed, covered walkway surrounding a courtyard in a monastery or convent.

COFFERED

Describes a ceiling that is carved or moulded with recessed squares or many-sided shapes.

COLONNADE

A row of evently spaced columns.

COSMOS

The concept of a structured universe.

COVING

The concave moulding at the point where the ceiling joins the wall.

CRENELLATIONS

The alternate indentations of a battlement.

CROSSING

The point where the transepts cross the nave in a church.

ENTABLATURE

In classical architecture,  it is the decorated horizontal beam supported by columns.

FACADE

The face, or elevation of a building, usually referring to the front of the building.

FIGURATIVE

A term used in painting or sculpture to describe images depicting figures as distinct frome abstract images.

FUNCTIONALIST

Relating to the belief that the form of an object or buildings should be determined by it use.

HALF-TIMERING

A method of building in wich the walls consist of an interlocking timber frame. The spaces between the timbers are filled with woodern laths covered in plaster.

ICON

An image,  sometimes painted or carved in relief, that is the focus of devotions in Othodox Christianity.

INCISED

Cut or engraved.

MASONRY

Construction in stone.

MAUSOLEUM

A large tomb.

MONUMENTALITY

The quality of being impressive and imposing like a monument.

MOSAIC

A type of floor or wall decoration formed of small pieces of coloured glass or sotone, called tesserae, set in cement.

MOTIF

A theme taking the form of a piece of decoration on a building; a curling plant motif, for example, would be found in Art Nouveau decoration.

MOULDING

A form of decorative woodwork or plasterwork.

NAVE

The part of a church that is west of the crossing and flanked by the aisles.

OCULUS

A circular opening in a wall or in the top of a dome.

PAVILION

A building joined to a main building at end of a wing.

PEDIMENT

A triangular or semicircular projecting feature crowning a door, window or portico.

PIAZZA

An italian word for large, open space in a town.

PIER

A stone pillar supporting an arch or vault.

PILASTER

A rectangular column that projects only very slightly from a wall. In Classical architecture it would be in the form of one of the orders.

PINNACLE

A small, decorative spire, used in Gothic architecture.

PORTICO

In Classical architecture, a partly enclosed space at the front of tempe or house, at the centre of the facade  and composed of columns and roof.

PREFABRICATED

Made of sections constructed separately then assembled on the site.

PRESTRESSED CONCRETE

A development of reinforced concrete in which the steel rods are replaced by wire cables in ducts.

REINFORCED CONCRETE

Concrete in which steel rods or mesh is embedded to increase its strength.

RIBS

The structural bands in a ceiling vault.

RUSTICATED

Applied to masonry in wich the edges of the stone are bevelled and the face of each block is roughend.

SENSUOUS

Appealing to the senses.

STYLOBATE

The platform structure on which a colonnade stands.

SYMMETRICAL

Having all elements identical and in balanced on either side of a central dividing line.

TRACERY

NArrow, decorative stone carving separating the panels of a Gothic stained glass windows, or forming a screen, or applied to a wall.

TRANSEPTS

The two arms of a cross-shaped church at right angles to the nave and chancel.

TRAVERTINE

A cream-coloured porous limestone.

VAULT

An arched ceiling or roof of stone or brick. A barrel vault is the simplest of vault, being like a continuous arch.