DICTIONARY OF ARCHITECTURE BY D.K. CHING

BUILDING

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Frontispiece

A principal façade, or a part or feature of a façade, often treated as a separate element of the design and highlighted by ornamentation.

Corps de logis

French architecture: A term describing the central element of a building as opposed to its subsidiary wings and pavilions.

Pavilion

A projecting subdivision of a façade

Fenestration

Design, proportioning and disposition of windows and other exterior openings

Loggia

A colonnaded or arcaded space within the body of a building but open to the air on one side, often at an upper storey overlooking an open court.

Piano nobile or Beletage

Principal storey of a large building, usually one flight above the ground floor.

CEILING

The overhead interior surface or lining of a room, often concealing the underside of the floor or roof above.

Coffer, caisson or lacunar ceiling

A ceiling adorned with a pattern of recessed panels.

Plafond

A flat or vaulted ceiling of decorative character

Linear metal ceiling

Suspended ceiling of narrow metal strips

Luminous ceiling

Suspended ceiling of translucent panels

Louvered ceiling

Suspended ceiling of multi-cellular louvers

CERAMIC TILES

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Thick set process

Tile setting process in which ceramic tile is applied over a Portland cement mortar bed ¾ to 1-1/2 inch thick, allows for accurate slopes and planes

Portland cement mortar

Portland cement, sand, water and hydrated lime used in thick-set process.

Thin bed process

Tile setting process in which ceramic tile is bonded to a continuous , stable backing with a thin coat of dry set mortar, latex-portland cement mortar, epoxy mortar, or an organic adhesive. 1/32 to 1/8 in. thick.

Tile grout

Cementitious or resinous mix for filling joints in ceramic tilework.

COLOR

A phenomenon of light and visual perception that may be described in terms of an individual's perception of hue, saturation and lightness/brightness

Munsell System

A system for specifying colors arranged in three orderly scales of uniform visual steps according to hue, chroma and value. Hue extends in a rotary direction; value extends vertically; chroma extends from the central axis.

Spectrum

The distribution of energy emitted by a radiant source, arranged in order of wavelengths.

Optical mixing

Merging of juxtaposed dots or strokes of pure colors when seen from a distance

Advancing color

WARM color that appears to move FORWARD

Receding color

COOL color that appears to move AWAY

Color triangle

A triangular diagram developed by Father Birren to described the relationship between a PURE HUE, BLACK and WHITE. Yields secondary tints, tones, shades and grays.

COMPUTER GRAPHICS

The field of computer science that studies methods and techniques of creating, representing and manipulating image data

RGB

A color mode in which white is the additive combination of three primary lights - R Y G C B M

True color

A method for representing and storing graphical image information using a 24-bit color depth to allow more than 16 million colors to be displayed in a digital image.

COLUM N

A rigid, relatively slender structural member designed primarily to support compressive loads applied at the member ends.

CONCRETE

An artificial, stonelike building material made by mixing cement and various mineral aggregates with water

Pozzolan

A siliceous material, such as fly ash that reacts chemically with slaked lime in the presence of moisture to form a slow-hardening cement, named after Pozzuoli

Portland cement

A hydraulic cement made by burning a mixture of clay and limestone in a rotary kiln and pulverizing the resulting clinker into a very fine powder

Perlite

A volcanic glass expanded by heat to form lightweight, spherical particles, used as nonstructural lightweight aggregate and as loose-fill thermal insulation.

Cast-in-place concrete

Concrete deposited, formed, cured and finished in its final position as part of a structure.

Shotcrete or gunite

A lightweight concrete construction consisting of a mixture of cement, sand or crushed slag and water pumped through a hose and sprayed at high velocity.

Honeycomb

Voids on a formed concrete surface caused by segregation during placement or by insufficient consolidation

Spalling or scaling

The chipping or scaling of a hardened concrete or masonry surface caused by freeze-thaw cycles or the application of deicing salts.

Crazing

Numerous hairline cracks as a result of rapid drying shrinkage

CONSTRUCTION

The art, science or business of building

Design-build

Of or pertaining to an arrangement under which a person or organization contracts directly with an owner to design and construct a building or project

Turn-key

Of or pertaining to an arrangement under which a person or organization designs and constructs a building for sale or lease when ready for occupancy

Bidding

The competitive process of offering to perform the work described in a contracts for a specified sum.

Award

A formal acceptance of a bid or a negotiated proposal

Contract

A legally enforceable agreement, usually in written form, between two or more parties

Notice to proceed

A written communication issued by an owner authorizing a contractor to proceed with the work and establishing the date of commencement of the work.

Building permit

A written authorization to proceed with construction of a building project in accordance with approved drawings and specifications, issued by the local government agency having jurisdiction after plans have been filed and reviewed.

Building official

A person designated by government authority to administer and enforce the provisions of a building code.

Certificate of Occupancy

A document issued by a BO certifying that all or a designated portion of a building complies with the provisions of the Code, and permitting occupancy for its designated use.

CPM

Critical Path Method

CPM

A method for planning, scheduling and managing a project, combining all relevant information into a flow chart, including optimum sequence and duration of activities, relative significance of each event and the coordination required.

Bar chart

Generally shows the items of work and calendar covering the estimated construction period for the project. A dash or a colored line, extending from starting to completion date, indicates the estimated duration of each item. Actual progress is noted on the chart by a solid line or a line of a different color. The chart also may show percent completion of each item. Medium used for gauging and controlling construction activities.

Slippage

Difference between scheduled and actual accomplishment, usually indicated in %

Contract documents

The legal documents comprising a construction contract (incl. owner-contractor agreement), conditions, drawings and specifications including all addenda, modifications and any other items

Construction documents

Construction drawings and specifications setting forth in detail the requirements for the project.

Specifications

Part of the contract documents consisting of a detailed description of the technical nature of the materials, standards, and quality of execution of the work to be placed under contract.

Performance specification

Specification - How a particular component or system must perform

Reference specification

Specification - Refers to a standard, indicate the properties desired and the methods of testing required

Proprietary specification

Specification - Stipulates the use of specific products, systems or processes, no provision for substitution

ELECTRICITY

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Coulumb

SI unit of electric charge, equal to the quantity of electricity transferred across a conductor by a current of one ampere in one second.

Voltage

Potential difference or electromotive force, analogous to pressure in water flow

Volt

SI unit of potential difference and electromotive force; difference of electric potential between two points of a conductor

Power

Product of potential difference and current in a direct-current circuit

Watt

SI unit of power

Wattage

Amount of power

Kilowatt-hour

A unit of energy

Current

The rate of flow of electric charge

Ampere

SI unit of electric current

Resistance

Opposition of a conductor to the flow of current, causes heat

Ohm

SI unit of electrical resistance

Cell

A device for converting chemical into electric energy

Battery

A group of two or more cells connected together to produce electric current

Generator

Machine that converts mechanical energy to electrical energy

Electric motor

Machine that converts electric power to mechanical energy

Service drop

The overhead portion of service conductors extending from the nearest utility pole to a building

Transformer

An electric device consisting of two or more windings wound on the same core, which employs the principle of mutual induction to convert variations of AC in a primary circuit into variations of voltage and current in a secondary circuit

Circuit breaker

Switch that automatically interrupts an electric circuit to prevent excess current

Raceway

A channel expressly designed to hold and protect electric wires and cables

Junction box

An enclosure for housing and protecting wires or cables joined together in connecting or branching electric circuits

Knockout

A panel in a casing or box that can be readily removed

ELEVATOR

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elevator

A moving platform or cage for carrying passengers

oil-hydraulic elevator

An elevator system consisting of a car supported by a piston that is moved by or against a fluid under pressure

electric elevator

An elevator system with a car that is mounted on guide rails supported by hoisting cables and driven by electric hoisting machine; aka traction elevator

passenger elevator

An elevator for people

freight elevator

An elevator for cargo

dumbwaiter

An elevator for carrying food, dishes or other materials between floors of a building

bank

Row of elevators controlled by a common system, responding to a single call button

inclined lift

Chair or platform mounted on a steel guide rail and driven by an electric motor

FLOOR

The level, base surface of a room or hall upon which one stands or walks.

Finish floor

The wearing surface of a floor

Subfloor

A base for a finish floor, consisting of boards or plywood, or other structural sheathing

Joist

Any of a series of small, repetitive parallel beams supporting floors, ceilings or flat roofs

Mastic

Any of various pasty substances used as a sealant, adhesive, or protective coating

Underlayment

A material laid over a subfloor to provide a smooth, even base for flooring

HARDWARE

The metal tools, fastenings and fittings used in construction

Hinge

A jointed device usually consisting of two leaves joined together by a pin

Butt hinge

Hinge, composed of two plates secured to the abutting surfaces of a door and a doorjamb

Mortise hinge

Hinge, mortised into the abutting surfaces of a door and a door jamb

Half-mortise hinge

Hinge, one leaf mortised into the door and the other surface mounted to the doorframe