ARCH&UD 10B Midterm Key Terms

Precedent

In architecture, a term for an existing building or built work that can be referenced for future design projects

De Architectura

A Roman text on architectural theory written by Vitruvius in ca. 30 BCE; later became a key reference for Renaissance designers who wanted to base their work on that of the ancients

Dougong

A traditional Chinese structural element composed of interlocking brackets; evolved to become highly elaborate and decorative

Chhatri

A semi-open, domed pavilion common in Indian architecture

Iwan

A typically Islamic architectural space originating from Iran, enclosed on three sides and open on the other; usually vaulted with a pointed arch

Cruciform Plan

Literally “cross-shaped“, a common layout of Christian architecture from the Middle Ages onward; often divided into the Greek Cross (square plan, radial symmetry) or the Latin Cross (elongated nave, bilateral symmetry)

Baroque

A 17-18th century stylistic movement in art, music, and architecture characterized by elaborate and highly expressive ornamentation

Trivium

A street layout popularized in the Baroque period with features three straight roads converging on a single building or open space

Law of the Indies

A set of almost 150 Spanish ordinances that dictated the layout of their colonial cities; most notably, they specified a rectangular grid with a central plaza, the plaza mayor

Mestizo Baroque

An umbrella term for various hybrids of European Baroque and indigenous arts found throughout the Spanish colonial Americas

Palais

A French royal or aristocratic residence in the city

Château

A French royal or aristocratic residence in the countryside

French Garden

Also known as the French Formal Garden Style; a form of landscaping that uses elaborate geometry and clearly artificial designs to create a sense of formal order

Broderie

Grass or planting beds laid out in artistic shapes or patterns; directly translates to “embroidery”

Enfilade

An interior layout common to the Baroque in which suites of rooms are laid out in a row with their doorways aligned along a single axis

Rationalism

A belief or system which holds human reason and logic as the best source and test of knowledge

Classical Orders

Sets of decorative elements and proportions derived from ancient Greek and Roman architecture, most easily identified by their differing columns; the most commonly referenced are the Doric, Ionic, Corinthian, and Composite orders

Rococo

A design style characterized by asymmetry, dynamically curving forms, and an overall extravagance of ornament; emerged in 1720s France as either a subgenre or offshoot of the Baroque

Antiquities of Athens

A text by James Stuart and Nicholas Revett, published in 1762 which features numerous meticulously measured drawings of ancient Athenian buildings; an important resource for Neoclassical architects

Architecture Parlante

French for “architecture that speaks”; a design philosophy that holds that a building should very clearly express its intended purpose through form and decoration

Globalization

The process by which the economies, cultures, and social practices of different nations grow increasingly interconnected and interdependent

English Landscape Garden

A form of landscaping that favors a picturesque, naturalistic aesthetic that often deliberately obscures its artificial origins

Picturesque

An aesthetic category which, in landscape design, refers to environments whose appeal comes from being composed as though for a painting

Plantation

A large-scale farm which focuses on growing profitable cash crops rather than food or other necessities; historically common in colonial settings, producing commodities like tea, sugar, tobacco, and cotton

Nationalism

A political philosophy that the nation (a people with a collective identity, often ethnic and/or cultural) should be congruent with the state

Romanticism

An aesthetic movement which focuses on creative individualism, intense emotion which takes precedence over logic, and in many cases takes particular interest in folk or medieval histories

Sublime

A type of beauty that comes from the overwhelming, irregular, or even the fearsome; described by Edmund Burke as evoking a “delightful horror”

Chinese Landscape Garden

A form of landscaping which sought to create miniaturized ideal landscapes, suggestive of the harmony that should exist between humans and nature

Infrastructure

Aspects of the built environment like roads, sewers, gas lines, and electrical grids which enable modern urban life

Haussmannization

A process of “creative destruction” that remakes urban space through comprehensive, top-down redevelopment projects; most commonly associated with its Parisian namesake

Eclecticism

A mixture of elements from historic styles to create something new

Beaux Arts

Named for the French Ecole des Beaux Arts (School of Fine Arts), a style which mixed Neoclassical, Baroque, and Renaissance elements with new industrial materials and construction methods

City Beautiful Movement

An urban planning style and philosophy which saw beauty and order as a means of cultivating moral and civic virtue in the public

Cast Iron

Iron which is shaped by being melted and poured into molds; produces heavy, brittle pieces which work well under compression but poorly under tension and cannot be hammered or drawn into new shapes

World’s Fair

An international exhibition of industry, commercial products, and the arts of multiple participating countries; began with the Great Exhibition of 1851 and remained popular until the 1960s; Also commonly known by the French term “exposition universelle.”

Wrought Iron

Iron which is formed by a process of reheating, hammering, and rolling into shape; generally more malleable than cast iron, and functions much better under tension

Utopian Community

A settlement separate from ordinary society which relies on unique physical and social structures to pursue a “better” society and lifestyle for its inhabitants

Garden City

An urban concept devised by Ebenezer Howard which separated industrial and residential zones by wide expanses of natural and agricultural land, with these zones connected by railroad lines

Arts and Crafts Movement

A movement in architecture and product design which rejected mass machine production in favor of individual, artisanal crafting processes; often modeled its labor ideals on the medieval guild system

Bungalow

A type of house first associated with British India, but which became popular in the United States in the early 20th century; typically features one floor and a large porch or veranda, covered by a wide, low-sloped roof

Art Nouveau

A visual style which sought both to unify the fine and applied arts and to break away from historical eclecticism in favor of an aesthetic that heavily featured sinuous, dynamic ‘whiplash’ curves based on plants and made frequent use of industrial materials

Gesamkunstwerk

German term that translates as “total work of art”, referring to an art object (such as a building) which combines many or all art forms into a single production