Architecture History & Asian Architecture Glossary

Vocabulary flashcards covering key terms, structures, styles, people, and concepts from prehistoric to contemporary architecture with an emphasis on Asian and Philippine contexts.

Calasiao Church

One of the largest churches in Pangasinan, noted for its bell tower, built by Fr. Ramon Dalmau.

Church of the Holy Sepulcher

Jerusalem church that houses two of Christianity’s holiest sites; originally built by Emperor Hadrian.

Okir

Lumad rectilinear or curvilinear plant-based decorative design.

Hammurabi

Babylonian king famed for issuing the first written code of laws.

Hammurabi’s Code

Earliest known comprehensive legal code carved on steles.

Angkor Wat

12th-century Khmer temple complex in Cambodia; world’s largest religious monument.

Wabi

Japanese aesthetic principle valuing understated, honest simplicity.

Hieroglyphics

Pictographic writing system of Ancient Egypt.

Hypostyle Hall

Large roofed space supported by many columns, typical in Egyptian and Achaemenid temples.

Arris

Sharp edge formed by the meeting of two surfaces, especially flutes on a Greek column.

Stonehenge

Neolithic stone circle in Wiltshire, England with central altar stone.

Parian Gate

Only Intramuros gate where Chinese traders could sell goods during Spanish era.

Pentelic Marble

Fine white marble from Mt. Pentelicus, prized by Greek sculptors.

Baroque Architecture

Dramatic, theatrical 17th-century interpretation of Renaissance forms.

Nightingale Floor

Creaking wooden floor in Japanese houses that alerts occupants to intruders.

Thai Stilt House

Traditional raised timber dwelling found throughout Central Thailand and Malaysia.

Imhotep

Architect of King Djoser’s step pyramid complex at Saqqara.

Donato Bramante

Renaissance architect who produced the first design for New St. Peter’s Basilica.

Sir Christopher Wren

English architect of St. Paul’s Cathedral, London.

Paco Park (Cementerio General de Dilao)

19th-century circular cemetery in Manila, later converted into a park.

Rumah Adat

Traditional ethnic house forms of Indonesia.

Pai Lou (Paifang)

Chinese memorial gateway honoring distinguished individuals.

Barasoain Church

Bulacan church where the First Philippine Republic was inaugurated in 1899.

Dougong

Interlocking wooden bracket system in traditional Chinese, Japanese and Korean architecture.

Tatami

Standard Japanese straw mat (≈0.9 × 1.8 m) used as planning module.

Renaissance Architecture

Period marked by revival of classical forms, monastic growth, and papal power (14th-16th c.).

Jericho

Oldest continuously inhabited town in the world, in the Jordan Valley.

Loboc Church

Bohol church famous for its extensive wall and ceiling murals.

Italian Renaissance Style

Returned to basilican plans with wooden roofs and dome-topped Greek-cross layouts.

Laws of the Indies

148 Spanish ordinances guiding colonial town planning in the Americas and Philippines.

Garuda

Half-bird, half-man guardian creature in Hindu-Buddhist mythology.

Ishtar Gate

Monumental glazed-brick gate to ancient Babylon.

Panolong

Decorative beam extension of a Maranao torogan house.

Opus Tessellatum

Roman floor mosaic of small tesserae set in rows for backgrounds.

Felix Rojas

First formally qualified Filipino architect; designed Sto. Domingo & San Ignacio churches.

Filippo Brunelleschi

Renaissance master who engineered the dome of Santa Maria del Fiore, Florence.

Sarcophagus

Decorated stone, wood or metal coffin for important personages.

Temenos

Sacred enclosure surrounding a Greek sanctuary.

Michelangelo’s Giant Order

Facade-spanning pilaster system invented for Rome’s Campidoglio.

Tenochtitlan

Capital of the Aztec Empire, site of modern Mexico City.

San Sebastián Church

Steel prefabricated basilica in Manila designed by Genaro Palacios, cast in Belgium.

Tipi

Conical portable tent of Great Plains Native Americans.

Dome of the Rock

Islam’s third holiest shrine on Jerusalem’s Temple Mount, linked to Muhammad’s ascension.

Las Piñas Bamboo Organ

Famous 19th-century organ with bamboo pipes, housed in Las Piñas Church.

Megalith

Large prehistoric stone monument.

Dolmen

Table-like megalithic tomb of two uprights and a capstone.

Menhir

Single standing prehistoric stone monolith.

Cromlech

Circular arrangement of upright stones supporting a horizontal slab.

Stone Circle

Ring of standing stones such as Stonehenge.

Stone Row

Linear alignment of upright stones.

Obelisk

Tall four-sided tapering shaft ending in a pyramidion, sacred in Egypt.

Wetu

Dome-shaped hut of Wampanoag and northeastern tribes.

Wickiup

Oval brushwood hut of nomadic peoples in the US Southwest.

Avebury

Neolithic henge with largest stone circle in Britain.

Skara Brae

Oldest known Neolithic village in Europe, Orkney Islands.

Paleolithic Period

Old Stone Age of hunter-gatherers living in rock shelters.

Mesolithic Period

Middle Stone Age of hut construction, canoes, and bow making.

Neolithic Period

New Stone Age of agriculture, animal domestication, and tomb-building.

Bronze Age

Era of advanced copper-bronze metallurgy and hut building.

Iron Age

Period of iron weaponry, hill forts, and thatched mud-stone houses.

Tumulus

Earthen burial mound from prehistoric times.

Wigwam

Dome-shaped Native American house of organic materials.

Stone Tower of Jericho

Oldest known stone ‘skyscraper’ dating to early Neolithic.

Lean-to

Simple sloped-roof structure leaning against a wall, used as shelter.

Shieling

Rough hut used during seasonal pasturing in Scotland and Ireland.

Rock Shelter

Natural overhang at cliff base used as habitation.

Cahokia Mounds

Prehistoric earthen platform mounds in Illinois, USA.

Çatalhöyük

Large Neolithic settlement in Anatolia with mud-plastered rooms.

Göbekli Tepe

World’s oldest known sanctuary with T-shaped stone pillars, Turkey.

Hagar Qim

Neolithic megalithic temple-tomb complex on Malta.

Dilmun Burial Mounds

World’s largest prehistoric burial mound field, Bahrain.

Capacocha

Incan ritual of child sacrifice during significant events.

Aztec Architecture

Ordered, symmetrical style expressing state power in central Mexico.

Mayan Corbel Vault

Maya triangular arch without keystone, forming narrow passageways.

Mesa Verde

Cliff-dwelling and pithouse archaeological park in Colorado.

Teotihuacan

Largest city in pre-Columbian Americas, with Pyramid of the Sun.

Temple of Quetzalcoatl

Teotihuacan stepped pyramid adorned with feathered-serpent heads.

Temple of Kukulkan

Chichén Itzá pyramid where equinox shadow forms a serpent.

Great Ball Court

Largest Mesoamerican ball court (166 × 68 m) at Chichén Itzá.

Milta

Zapotec religious center noted for geometric wall mosaics.

Palace of the Governors (Uxmal)

Puuc-style Maya palace with richly decorated upper facade.

Adobe Brick

Sun-dried mud brick common in Andean and Mesoamerican building.

Gate of the Sun

Monolithic Andean gateway at Tiwanaku aligned to solstice sunrise.

Sacsahuaman

Inca fortress outside Cuzco of precision-cut yucay limestone blocks.

Ashlar Masonry

Mortar-less fitted stone technique mastered by the Incas.

Kanji

Japanese writing system using adapted Chinese characters.

Ziggurat of Ur

Stepped temple-tower in ancient Sumer (Mesopotamia).

Pendentive

Triangular curved surface enabling a circular dome over a square bay.

Squinch

Arched niche bridging corners beneath an octagonal tower or dome.

Opus Alexandrinum

Byzantine–Roman floor inlay of colored geometric stones and disks.

Hagia Sophia

6th-century Byzantine basilica-mosque-museum famed for pendentive dome.

S. Basil the Blessed

St. Basil’s Cathedral, Moscow, with nine multi-colored onion domes.

Quadripartite Vault

Ribbed vault with four compartments over a bay.

Flying Buttress

Masonry half-arch transferring thrust from vault to outer pier.

Gargoyle

Carved waterspout projecting from Gothic roof gutter.

Bernard de Clairvaux

Cistercian abbot promoting austere, light-filled monastic architecture.

Abbot Suger

Rebuilder of St-Denis; pioneer of Gothic light and verticality.

Clustered Column

Bundle of shafts giving Gothic piers slender vertical emphasis.

Fan Vault

English Perpendicular conoidal vault with radial ribs resembling fans.

Mudejar Style

Iberian fusion of Muslim and Christian architectural techniques.