A TO ZDictionary of

ARCHITECTURE TERMS FOR KIDS

Created byCarolyn Brooks

St. Stephen Martyr SchoolLouisville, Kentucky

A

B

C

D

E

F

G

H

IJ

K

L

M

N

O

X

W

V

T

S

R

Q

P

U

Z

Y

Index (click on a letter to go to that section)

A• Arcade- A row of

arches or columns that create a covered walkway.

Arcade inside the Mosque of Uqba also known as the Great Mosque of Kairouan, situated in Kairouan, Tunisia

AArches

Roman Arch

Gothic Arch

Modern: St. Louis Arch

AArchitect –

A professional designer of buildings

BBalcony- A small porch that sticks off a building above ground level.

B

Bay window- A window that projects out from a building ( if it is only on an upper floor, it’s called an ORIEL WINDOW ).

BBeam- A horizontal piece of structure supported at both ends.

Example of post and beam construction

BBracket- A piece of wood or stone used to hold up another building part, such as a cornice, balcony, lintel or sill.

Stone brackets

In architecture, a buttress is a projecting mass of masonry, used for

resisting the outward thrust of an arch, to strengthen and support a wall, or for

ornament and symmetry.

BUTTRESS

Flying buttresses

C• Cantilever- A piece of building structure that is only supported on one end.

C• Column- A vertical piece of structure that supports a beam.

There are three basic styles of Greek columns:

1. The plain Doric came first.

2. Then the stylized rams

horns of the Ionic.

3. Lastly the very ornate

Corinthian columns capped with acanthus leaves was developed.

http://www.cmhpf.org/kids/dictionary/ClassicalOrders.html

C

Cornice- The molding that projects out from the top of a

building.

DDome

A rounded roof, with a circular

base, shaped like an arch in all directions.

D

DoorDoors are generally used to separate interior spaces

(rooms, closets, etc.) for privacy, convenience, security, and safety reasons. Doors are also used

to secure passages into a building from the exterior for reasons of safety and climate control.

DDormer

A window that sticks out from a roof to provide more light and air.

EEAVES

The eaves are the edges or lower borders of the roof of a building, which overhang the walls, and

cast off the water that falls on the roof.

FFacade

The outside “ face” of the building.

FRIEZEThe term refers to any long, narrow,

horizontal panel or band used for decorative purposes—e.g., on pottery, on

the walls of a room, or on the exterior walls of buildings.

GGable- The end of a roof shaped like a triangle.

The House of the Seven Gables 1668. This house was featured in Nathaniel Hawthorne's novel of the same name.

GGazebo- An outdoor, open-air structure used

for relaxing.

HHearth - floor of the fireplace, usually

extending into a room and paved with brick, flagstone or cement

IIONIC ORDER

There are three basic styles of Greek column - The Corinthian capped with

acanthus leaves, the Ionian capped with a stylized ram horns and the plain Doric.

IIgloos (or Iglu) are snow houses used by the Inuit (Eskimos) of northern Canada. Not all Inuit people used igloos -- some built sod houses instead, using whale bones instead of wooden poles for a frame. Like a sod house, the igloo is dome-shaped and slightly excavated, but it is built from the snow, with large blocks of ice set in a spiral pattern and packed with snow to form the dome.

JJAMB (DOOR OR WINDOW)A door jamb is the vertical portion of

the frame onto which a door is secured.

KKeystone- The center stone in an arch

LLintel- The piece of structure over a door or window opening, which supports the weight of the wall above it.

LLonghouses were built by native peoples in various parts of North America, sometimes reaching over 330 ft but generally around 16 feet wide.

MMasonry is the building of structures from individual units laid in and bound together by mortar. The common materials of masonry construction are brick, stone such as marble, granite, travertine, limestone, concrete block, glass block, and tile.

MEDALLION Plaster like

ornamental round ceiling accent,

sometimes used as a trim collar for ceiling fans or hanging lights

M

NThe Narthex of a church is the entrance or lobby area, located at the end of the nave, at the far end from the church's main altar.

NNaveFrom navis, ship, an early symbol of the church. The central aisle; the part of a church located between the chief entrance and the chancel, and separated from the aisles by piers or columns.

NAVE O F TH E CATHEDRAL OF THE ASSUMPTION

IN LOUISVILLE KY

NNOMADIC TENTS were used by      nomads, people who followed their flocks to

pasture and water, and moved around according to the seasons.

OOrnament- Any decoration on a building that has no structural purpose.

OOculus window the name of the round opening in the top of the dome of the Pantheon in Rome, and in reference to other round windows, openings, and skylights.

Pantheon

PParapet-A low guarding wall at any point of sudden drop, as at the edge of a terrace, roof, battlement, balcony, etc.

PPediment- A small gable over door or window. The upper part of the

Greek National Academy building in Athens, showing the pediment with its neoclassical sculptures.

Post and lintel constructionPost and lintel is where a horizontal member

(the lintel—or header) is supported by two vertical posts at either end.

Q• Quoins- Large

dressed stones that wrap around the corner of a building.

Quatrefoil a symmetrical shape which forms the overall outline of four partially-overlapping circles of the same diameter.

R• Roof- The top of a building which protects the inside from the weather.

http://www.buffaloah.com/a/DCTNRY/roof/index.html

SSill- The piece of the structure under a window or door opening.

S• Skylight- A window in the roof.

SStoop- A short set of steps up to the front door of a building

SStructure- The parts of the building that supports weight; a building’s skeleton.

Spire - any slender pointed

construction surmounting a

building; generally a

narrow octagonal pyramid set

above a square tower

S

Steeple: a tall ornamental structure; a tower, composed of a series of stories, diminishing in size, and topped by a small pyramid, spire or cupola.

S

TTepees (also spelled Teepees or Tipis) are tent-like American Indian houses used by Plains tribes. A tepee is made of a cone-shaped wooden frame with a covering of buffalo hide. Like modern tents, tepees are carefully designed to set up and break down quickly. As a tribe moved from place to place, each family would bring their tipi poles and hide tent along with them. Originally, tepees were about 12 feet high, but once the Plains Indian tribes acquired horses, they began building them twice as high.

T• Turret A small tower that is part of a building, usually round and corbeled from a corner

Tower

A building or part of a building that is exceptionally high in proportion to its width and length

T

UURN - vase of varying size and shape, usually having a footed base or pedestal

Found in cemeteries on monuments as a symbol of immortality (the storing of the vital organs was of extreme importance to the ancient Egyptians who believed that life would be restored through the vital organs placed in the urn).

VVault: An arched structure of stone, brick, or reinforced concrete, forming a supporting structure of a ceiling or roof

WWainscoting -- A decorative or protective facing, such as wood paneling.

W  Window- An opening in a wall that lets in light and air.

Everything you could possibly what to know about a window:http://www.buffaloah.com/a/DCTNRY/w/window.html

WWigwam The wigwam was a round shelter used by many different Native American cultures in the east and the southeast. It is considered one of the best shelters made. It was as safe and warm as the best houses of early colonists. The wigwam has a curved surface which can hold up against the worst weather in any region.

XXtreme architecture – Antoni Gaudi

Modernist architect

The Cathedral of the Sagrada Familia in Barcelona.

http://www.gaudiclub.com/ingles/I_VIDA/i_menu.html

http://www.artcyclopedia.com/artists/gaudi_antoni.html

XENODOCHIUMDuring the Middle Ages, a xenodochium was a room in a

monastery for the reception and entertainment of strangers and pilgrims and traveler, similar to an inn or hotel. (This particular xenodochium’s foundation dates to Roman occupation

over the land—sanctuary blessed in 1377)

Tismana Monastery In Romania was used in the MIddle Ages as a xenodochium

Y

YURT

A yurt is a portable, felt-covered, wood lattice-framed dwelling structure traditionally used by nomads in the steppes of Central Asia.

ZZIGGURAT

The ziggurat was an ancient Mesopotamian brick-built temple tower. Ziggurats were constructed of rectangular units of diminishing size, generally with a shrine for the god on top. They existed in every major Sumerian, Babylonian, and Assyrian centre.

http://www.nlcs.k12.in.us/oljrhi/brown/mesopotamia/meso.htm