Architecture

Buttress

An architectural structure built against or projecting from a wall, which serves to support or reinforce the wall. Buttresses are fairly common with more ancient building, as a means to provide support to act against the lateral (sideways) forces arising from roof structures which lack sufficient bracing.

Pediment

An element in classical, neoclassical and baroque architecture, consisting of a gable, originally triangular shape, placed above the horizontal structure of the entablature, typically supported by columns. The tympanum or triangular area with the pediment, was often decorated with relief sculpture depicting scenes from Greek and Roman mythology or allegorical figures.

Arcuated columns

Area between an arch's curve and entablature

tombs

Besides temples, what did the Egyptians build structures for?

Sharp high arches

Gothic architecture arches .

Fluting

In architecture this is the shallow grooves running vertically along a surface. This typically refers to the grooves running on a column shaft or a pilaster, but need not necessarily be restricted to those two applications.

Metopes

In classical architecture, this is a rectangular architectural element that fills the space between two triglyphs in a Doric frieze, which is a decorative band of alternating triglyphs and metopes above the architrave of a building of the Doric order. They often had painted or sculptural decoration; the most famous example of this are the Parthenon marbles some of which depict the battle between the Centaurs and the Lapiths.

Entablature

Refers to the superstructure of moldings and bands which lie horizontally above columns resting on their capitals. They are major elements of classical architecture, divided into architrave (the supporting member immediately above; equivalent to the lintel in post and lintel construction), the frieze (an unmolded strip that may or may not be ornamented), and the cornice (the projecting member below the pediment).

Corinthian Order

The last developed architectural order developed of the classical Greek and Roman architectural orders. This is an offshoot of the composite order (Ionic and Doric orders) is the most ornate of the orders, characterized by slender fluted columns and elaborate capitals decorated with acanthus leaves and scrolls. This architectural order named for the Greek city of Corinth, this architectural order can be traced back to the late Greek Classical Period ca. 430-323 BCE.

Oculus

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

Engaged column

A column embedded in a wall, which partly projects from the surface of the wall, they are sometimes defined as semi or three-quarter detached. These columns are rarely found in classical Greek architecture, while they existed in profusion in Roman architecture, most commonly embedded in the cella walls of pseudoperipteral buildings. These columns erve a similar function as wall buttresses but are distinct from pilasters, which are ornamental not structural.

Capital

A column's capital forms the topmost member of the column or pilaster. Capitals mediate between the column and the load thrusting down upon the it, broadening the area of the column's supporting surface

Travertine

A form of limestone deposited by mineral springs, especially hot springs

Triumphal Arch

A freestanding arch which celebrates Roman emperor's greatness, military victories, etc.

Clerestory

A high section of wall which contains above level, which serve to admit light and/or fresh air into a space. It often refers to the upper level of a Roman basilica.

Lintel

A load bearing building component, a decorative architectural element or a combined ornamented structural item. They are often found over portals, doors, windows and fireplaces. Tympana often are bounded by these and arches.

Composite Order

A mixed architectural order from ancient Greece, which combines the volutes of the Ionic order capital with the acanthus leaves of the Corinthian order. The volutes for the columns of this order are larger than Ionic and Doric orders, however, the columns for this order also have echinus molding with egg-and-dart ornamentation between the volutes. The column of this order is ten diameters high.

Portico

A porch leading to the entrance of a building, or extended as a colonnade , with a roof structure of walkway, supported by columns or enclosed by walls. They may be one or more ranks of columns deep, like for an Ancient Greek Stoa or the Roman Pantheon

Relief

A sculptural technique, creating relief sculptures gives the impression that the sculptural material has been raised above the background plane. What is actually being performed when a relief is cut in from a flat surface of stone (relief sculpture) or wood (relief carvings), the field is lowered, leaving the unsculpted parts seemingly raised. Reliefs often require considerable chiseling

Arcade

A succession of arches, each counter thrusting the next, supported by columns, piers or a covered walkway enclosed by a line of such arches on one or both sides, in warmer or wet climates, these exterior arcades provide shelter to pedestrians and can be lined with stores

Column

Also a pillar in architecture and structural engineering is a structural element that transmits, through compression, the weight of the structure above to other structural elements below. In other words, a column is a compression member. The term column applies especially to a large round support (the shaft of the column) with a capital and a base or pedestal and appearing to be made of stone

Blind arcade

An arcade which consists of a series of arches which has no actual openings, and is applied as a decorative element to the surface of a wall, i.e. the arches are not windows or openings, but are part of the masonry face. These arcades are not designed to have any load bearing function and serve as an ornamental architectural element

Barrel Vault

An arch or vault focused on the extrusion of a singular or pair of curves in a pointed barrel vault along a given distance. Curves are typically circular in shape, forming a semicylindrical appearance in the design of the arches placed side by side.

Vault

An arched form used to provide space with a ceiling or roof. The parts of a vault exert lateral thrust which require counter resistance. When vaults are built underground, the ground provides all the resistance required, for the parts of the vault which exert lateral thrust. When vaults are built above ground various replacements are used to supply the necessary resistance, an example of this are the thicker walls used for barrel or continuous vaults

Architrave

An architectural element in Classical architecture. The supporting member immediately above the entablature equivalent to the lintel in post and lintel construction. It is a lintel or beam that rests on the capitals of columns

Pilaster

An architectural element in classical architecture used to give appearance of a supporting column and to articulate the extent of a wall, with a solely ornamental function. They consist of a flat surface raised from the main wall surface, usually treated as though its a column. This architectural element unlike engaged columns or buttresses cannot support wall and roof structures.

Dome

An architectural element which resembles the hollow upper half of a sphere. There are also a wide variety of forms and specialized terms to describe them, they can rest upon a rotunda or drum, and can be supported by columns or piers

Ionic Order

An architectural order from ancient Ionia, most popular during the Greek Archaic Period, 750-480 BCE, they are characterized by the volutes on their capitals. Ionic columns are smaller and more slender than Doric columns.

Architectural Order

An architectural order is a certain assemblage of parts subject to uniform established proportions, regulated by the position each part has to form. Architectural orders are the ancient styles of classical Greek and Roman architecture distinguished by their proportions, characteristic styles and details, most easily recognized by the type of column used. The five orders in classical Greek and Roman architecture are: Ionic, Doric, Corinthian, Composite and Tuscan

Ampitheater

An open-air venue used for entertainment, performances, and sports. Two Greek theaters put together, with seating on both sides for place for viewing. In Ancient Rome these structures were oval or circular in plan, with seating tiers that surrounded the central performance area, like a modern open-air stadium. In contrast both ancient Greek and ancient Roman theatres were built in a semicircle, with tiered seating rising on one side of the performance area.

Rotunda

Any building with a circular ground plan, which is sometimes covered by a dome. It can also refer to a round room within a building famous examples exist within theUnited States Capitol in Washington, D.C. and the Pantheon in Rome.

Arch

Arches are curved structures which spans a space and may or may not support the weight above it. Arches are often synonymous with vaults, but vaults may be distinguished as a continuous arch forming a room. Arches appeared as early as the 2nd millennium BCE in Mesopotamian brick architecture and the Romans started using them systemically, when they were the first to apply the technique to a wide range of structures.

Composite capitals

Capitals on columns which are an ornate combination of Ionic volutes and Corinthian acanthus leaves

Atrium

Central reception area in a Roman house, the focal point of the domus and contained a statue of an altar to the household gods

Tuscan Order

Columns from this order are Italian in origin, these are the most solid and least ornate out of all the architectural orders.

Cornice

Generally any horizontal decorative molding which crowns a building or element of furniture, he cornice over a door or window, for instance, or the cornice around the top edge of a pedestal or along the top of an interior wall. The function of the projecting cornice of a building is to throw rainwater free of the building's walls.

Peripteral

Having a single row of columns on all sides

raking cornice

In a Greek Temple, what is the TOP of the SLOPING roof called?

Colonnade

In a classical architecture, this refers to a long sequence of columns joined by their entablature, they are often free standing or part of a building. When they are in the front of the building, screening the door, this is called a portico. When they are enclosing an open court, they are a peristyle.

Stoa

In ancient Greek architecture, a covered walkway or portico, commonly for public use. Early stoas were open at the entrance usually with Doric order columns, lining the side of the building, creating a self, protective atmosphere. Later Stoas were built as two story public buildings, with a roof supporting the the inner colonnades where shops or offices were located, surrounding the marketplaces of large cities.

Abacus

In architectural contexts it is a flat slab forming the uppermost member or division of the capital of a column, above the bell. Its chief function is to provide a large supporting surface, tending to be wider than the capital, to receive the weight of the arch or the architrave above

Domus

Private house in Roman times

Basilica

Roman basilicas were large public buildings where business transactions and legal matters could be resolved. During the reign of the first Roman emperor Augustus, basilicas were part of settled areas which were considered cities.

Plinth

The base or platform upon which a column, pedestal, statue, monument, or structure rests. They usually rest directly on the ground or stylobate, and they exist to negotiate between a structure and the ground.

Column Shaft

The column shaft is sometimes articulated with vertical hollow grooves known as fluting.

Vestibulum

The entrance hall for a Roman house which led into a large central hall

Classical Architectural Orders

The five classical architectural orders in Ancient Greece and Rome are the Tuscan, Ionic, Doric, Corinthian and Composite Orders

Nave

The main body of a church of the church, which provides the central approach to the high altar, in Romanesque and Gothic abbey, cathedral, basilica and church architecture.

Volute

The spiral, scroll-like ornamental element, which forms the basis of the Ionic order, found in the capital of the Ionic column. It was later incorporated into Corinthian order and Composite column capitals. Four are normally to be found on an Ionic capital, eight on Composite capitals and smaller versions (sometimes called helix) on the Corinthian capital.

Triglyph

The vertically channeled tablets of the Doric frieze, so called because of the angular channels in them, two perfect and one divided, the two chamfered angles or hemiglyphs being reckoned as one. The rectangular recessed spaces between the triglyphs on a Doric frieze are called metopes.

Frieze

The wide central section part of the entablature, they may be plain or decorated with bas reliefs in Ionic and Doric columns.

Aqueduct

These arched structures moved water through gravity alone, being constructed along a slight downward gradient within conduits of stone, brick or concrete. Most were buried beneath the ground, and followed its contours; obstructing peaks were circumvented or, less often, tunnelled through. Where valleys or lowlands intervened, the conduit was carried on bridgework, or its contents fed into high-pressure lead, ceramic or stone pipes and siphoned across. This water transportation systems included sedimentation tanks, sluices and distribution tanks to regulate the supply at need.

Doric Order

This is one of the three principal architectural orders popular during the Greek Archaic period 750-480 BCE. I n ancient Greece, these columns were stouter than those of the Ionic or Corinthian orders. Their smooth, round capitals are simple and plain compared to the other two Greek orders. A square abacus connects the capital to the entablature. In Greece, the Doric column was placed directly on the pavement or floor without benefit of a base.

Crepidoma

This is related to ancient Greek buildings, it is the platform on which the superstructure on a building is erected. It usually has three levels, which typically incrementally decrease in size, forming a series of steps along some or all sides of the building. It rests on the euthynteria (foundation).

limestone

What Material was NOT used in Egyptian architecture?

Renaissance

What architectural era does this building come from?

aesthetics

What is another word for "how appealing an object is to the human eye?"

ribbed vaults

What is pictured here?

Acropolis

What is the HILL in Athens, Greece called that holds this structure?

shaft

What is the long, tall middle of a column called?

Neolithic

What period is this from?

The stained glass window

What was an important invention that appeared the in the GOTHIC era?

Pier

When used in an architectural context, they serve as an upright support for a structure or superstructure such as an arch or bridge, Sections of the structural walls between openings (bays) can serve as piers.

Spandrel

curved or arched opening for columns