ARE 5.0 Programming & Analysis
Sections
A Township is divided into 36 of these, 1sq mile each. (PLSS)
Accessory Building
A building whose function is secondary to that of the main structure.
Downzoning
A change in zoning resulting in a decrease of allowable density
Beltway
A circular road system that connects satellite areas by making it possible to travel between them without going through the city in the center
Tax-Increment Financing
A city can use this to pay for improvements that will encourage private development in an area and generate increased taxes due to increased property values.
Mechanic's and Materialman's Lien (Lien)
A claim placed against a property's deed by someone who has provided work or materials to improve the property but has not been paid for the work.
Infiltration Basin
A closed depression in the earth from which water can escape only into the soil.
Standard Penetration Test (SPT)
A common borehole test that is a measure of the density of granular soils and the consistency of some clays.
Beam-and-Girder System
A common steel structural system in which large members span between vertical supports, and smaller beams are framed into them. Typically span 25 to 40ft with beams spaced 8 to 10ft OC.
Open-Web Steel Joist System
A common steel structural system in which open-web steel joists span between beams or bearing walls. Typical spans range from 60 to 144 ft depending on depth of Joist. Depths range from 8in to 72in and are spaced 2 to 6ft OC.
Triangulated Space Frame
A common type of space frame where the bottom chord is offset from the top chord by half a bay, and each is connected with inclined web members.
Plank-and-Beam Framing
A common use of solid wood beams in which members of a 4in or 6in nominal width span between girders or bearing walls at spacings of 4, 6 or 8ft.
Superblock
A concept that minimizes the impact of the car on housing and allows the development of pedestrian circulation and park space within the block.
Flat Plate
A concrete two-way system in which the slab is designed and reinforced to span in both directions directly into columns.
Means of Egress
A continuous and unobstructed path of vertical and horizontal egress travel from any point in a building or structure to a public way.
Cul-de-sac
A dead-end street that has only one way in and often features a large circular turnaround space at the end.
Condominium
A development in which residents own their own living units but share common areas.
Modified Uniform Present Worth Factor
A discount factor that is used to convert an annual amount that is changing from year to year at a given escalation rate to a time-equivalent present value.
Lien Waiver
A document that gives up a person's right to claim a lien against property.
Plat
A document that legally describes the layout of a subdivided piece of property.
Occupancy Permit
A document, issued by a city's building department, giving permission for a building to be occupied. (Aka Certificate of Occupancy)
Node
A focal point or center of interest that people can enter. Could be an intersection of paths, a place where the mode of transportation changes, a plaza or public square, or a center of a district.
Megalopolis
A form of urban development where two or more major urban centers near each other grow together as the space between is developed.
Land Sale Leaseback
A legal arrangement in which the owner of a property sells the property to someone else but then immediately leases it from the purchaser.
Edge
A linear element that forms a boundary between two districts or that breaks continuity. Could be a shoreline, a line of buildings against a park, a wall, or a similar feature.
Mezzanine Loan
A loan secured by collateral in the stock of the development company rather than in the developed property. Often used by developers for large projects.
Construction Loan
A loan used to finance the building of a project and is in effect only for the duration of construction.
Mortgage Loan
A loan used to purchase property. The borrower grants the lender a lien on the property until the loan is repaid.
Ground Lease
A long-term lease of a property that allows the tenant to use and improve the land, but that reverts to the owner at the end of the lease.
Anchor Tenant
A major tenant in a shopping mall, such as a department store, that in theory serves to attract shoppers to the mall to the benefit of other, smaller stores.
Trussed Wood Joist (truss)
A manufactured product made up of standard sized wood members connected with metal plates. Typically spans 24 to 40 ft with 12in to 36in depths.
Solar Reflectance Index (SRI)
A measure of a roof's ability to reject solar heat, defined so that a standard black surface has an SRI of 0, and a standard white surface has an SRI of 100.
Smoke-Developed Index (SDI)
A measure of the concentration of smoke emitted by a material as it burns.
Project Comparison Method
A method in which the cost of the project is estimated using the costs of past projects of similar scope and function.
Uniform Capital Recovery
A method of converting the future value of money to a present worth using the discount rate.
Laser Scanning
A method of field measuring and recording that uses medium-range pulsing laser beams that systematically sweep over an object or space to obtain 3D coordinates of points on the surface being scanned.
Satellite Tenant
A minor or smaller tenant in a shopping center.
New Urbanism
A more recent planning philosophy that attempts to counter the many undesirable aspects of city development, including suburban sprawl, reliance on the automobile, environmental deterioration, housing segregation, loss of farmland, and single-use development.
Radiative Cooling
A natural cooling method that uses thermal mass to store heat during the day and release heat to the outside at night.
Passive Solar Cooling
A natural cooling method that utilizes the concepts of shading, natural ventilation, radiative cooling, evaporative cooling, and ground coupling.
Aquifer
A natural, underground reservoir from which wells draw water.
Cluster Housing
A particular type of housing development in which the houses or apartments are placed close to each other and have access to nearby open spaces.
Field Pattern
A pattern of urban development that has no central focus or apparent overall organization scheme.
Satellite Pattern
A pattern of urban development where a large dense urban core is surrounded by other major urban areas. The areas are linked to the city in the center by major highways.
Expanding Grid
A pattern of urban development where the city begins at the junction of two major roads and is methodically laid out in a grid.
Star Pattern
A pattern of urban development where the city grows out of a dense urban core, with development following the radiating spokes of main highways and mass transit routes out of the center.
Conditional Use Permit (CUP)
A permit given by a city or other zoning jurisdiction for a proposed use that would otherwise not be allowed in a particular zoning district. Gives the zoning jurisdiction a means of imposing special conditions on the proposed development, to ensure that it will not adversely affect the surrounding neighborhood or the public safety and welfare.
Buffer Zone
A piece of land used to separate two incompatible uses.
Behavior Setting
A place with defined boundaries in which a standing pattern of behavior occurs at a particular time; the place may also contain objects that support the behavior.
Ward
A plot of land about 600ft square.
Glue Laminated Consruction (glulam)
A popular method of wood construction where structural members are made up of individual pieces of lumber 3/4in or 1 1/2in thick that are glued together in the factory.
Common Area
A portion of a building or development that is available for the use of all tenants or unit owners.
Expansibility
A programmatic concept to consider when working with a client whose needs may change significantly in the near future.
Abatement
A reduction in the price of a property due to the discovery of some problem that tends to decrease the property's value.
Bedroom Community
A region or small town that contains mainly housing and offers few employment opportunities.
Hard Money Loan
A relatively short-term loan used when there is a distressed financial situation such as foreclosure, bankruptcy or nonpayment of a previous loan.
Neighborhood
A relatively small area in which a number of people live and share similar needs and desires in housing, social activities, and other aspects of day-to-day living.
Inverse Condemnation
A remedy by a court for a private land owner whose land has been taken away by a governmental body.
Gabled Frame
A rigid frame whose shape decreases the bending stresses in the two inclined members and increases the compression, making the configuration a more efficient structure.
Pad Site
A separate location for development of retail space near (but not in) a shopping center.
Parallels
A set of East-West lines that follow the lines of latitude of the earth. (PLSS)
Meridians
A set of North-South lines (PLSS)
Party Wall
A shared wall between two leased spaces or between two residential units. (Aka Demising Wall)
Bridge Loan
A short-term loan used to purchase property or finance a project quickly, before long-term financing can be arranged.
Thermal Emittance
A similar measure of thermal radiation to Emissivity.
Township
A six mile by six mile piece of land.
Boilerplate
A standard portion of a written document, such as a contract or architectural specification, that appears in all similar documents.
One-Way Structural System
A standard structural system where the load is transmitted through structural members in one direction at a time. Wood is used primarily.
Tangent
A straight section of a road.
Space Frame
A structural system consisting of trusses in two directions rigidly connected at their intersections.
Rigid Frame
A structural system that is constructed so that the vertical and horizontal members work as a single unit due to the members being rigidly attached.
Inflatable Structure
A structure held in place with constant air pressure that is greater than the outside air pressure
Folded Plate Structure
A structure in which the loads are carried in two different directions: First in the transverse direction through plates supported by adjacent plates, and second in the longitudinal direction with each plate acting as a girder spanning between vertical supports.
Thin-Shell Structure
A structure with a curved surface that resists loads through tension, compression, and shear in the plane of the shell only.
Ad Valorem Tax
A tax based on the value of the property being taxed.
Silt Fence
A temporary fence designed to allow water to pass through while filtering out sediment and allowing the sediment to settle.
District
A two-dimensional area perceived as having some identifying character that distinguishes it from the surrounding city. Can be perceived from the inside, or can be identified as an element of the city from the outside.
Waffle Slab
A two-way concrete system where waffle slabs are formed of prefabricated, reusable metal or fiberglass forms that allow construction to proceed faster than with custom wood forms. They can provide support for heavier loads at slightly longer spans than the flat slab system.
Bond
A type of debt security issued by a government entity to raise money for a construction project. Typically sold to individual investors and investment companies.
Cooperative (co-op)
A type of land ownership where the residents of individual units own an interest in the corporation that owns the entire property. The residents do not own their own units directly.
Convergent Photogrammetry
A type of photogrammetry that uses multiple photographic images of an object taken at different angles. Measurements and 3D models are derived with the use of software that traces the overlapping photographs.
Flat Slab
A variation of the flat-plate in which the flat plates require drop panels to provide greater resistance against punching shear failures from heavier loads.
Market Approach
A way land value is calculated in which the surrounding neighborhood or region is investigated to find similar properties that have recently sold or are on the market
Path
A way of circulation along which people customarily, occasionally or potentially move. May be a street, pedestrian walkway, railroad, transit line, or river.
Mill Levy
A way property tax is often expressed in which the number of mills, or thousandths of a dollar, that are charged per $1000 of assessed value.
Manufactured Framing Member
A wood member manufactured with individual layers of thin veneer glued together.
Box Beam
A wood structural member fabricated with plywood panels glued and nailed to solid wood members, usually 2x4 framing.
Metes and Bounds Description
A written description of the boundaries of a parcel of land. It defines the perimeter of the site by using a starting point and describing each boundary line by angle of bearing and length.
Utility Easement
Allows a utility company to enter the property to install and maintain utility lines above or below the ground within the boundaries of the easement.
Reconstruction
Allows the opportunity to re-create a non-surviving site, landscape, building, structure, or object in new materials
Joint Use Easement
Allows two or more property owners to share a common feature such as a driveway.
Capital Expenditures
An amount of money used to make physical improvements to a property to enhance the property's value over an extended period of time.
Blighted Area
An area of a city in which many buildings are in a state of decay and in need of improvement.
Catch Basin
An area that temporarily contains excessive runoff until it can flow at a controlled rate into the storm sewer system.
Wetland
An area whose soil is inundated or saturated by surface water or groundwater frequently enough that it can support plants that are adapted to living in saturated soil.
Appraisal
An estimation of a property's value made by a qualified appraiser.
Special Use Permit
An exemption from zoning regulations given to a jurisdiction.
Encroachment
An intrusion onto one property by the improvement of an adjoining property.
Fixture
An item that is attached to a building and is typically included in the sale of the building.
Hardpan
An unbroken mixture of clay, sand and gravel. Good base for building foundations.
Public Way
Any street, alley, or similar parcel of land essentially unobstructed from the ground to the sky that is permanently appropriated to the public for public use and has a clear width of not less than 10ft.
Composite Construction
Any structural system consisting of two or more materials designed to act together to resist loads. (Ie. Reinforced Concrete construction, concrete slab and steel beam systems, open-web steel joists with wood chords, etc.)
General Tax
Any tax imposed for general governmental purposes.
Special Sales Tax
Any tax that is imposed for a specific purpose or by a single-purpose authority.
Professional Services
Architectural and Engineering fees as well as costs for services such as topographic surveys, soil tests, special consultants, appraisals, and legal consultation.
Preservation
Attempts to retain all historic fabric through conservation, maintenance, and repair.
Public Enterprise Revenue Bonds
Bonds issued by cities or counties to finance facilities for revenue producing public enterprises. (Ie. Airports, parking garages and hospitals)
Revenue Bonds
Bonds issued by local government to pay for a facility or improvement and are backed by the revenue that will come from the customers who use the services that the bonds funded. (Ie. City water and sewer facilities)
General Obligation Bonds
Bonds typically used to finance the acquisition or construction of specific public capital facilities, such as schools, museums, and libraries, and to purchase real property.
Turbine Square
Civic spaces organized around a pinwheel arrangement of streets.
Precast Construction
Concrete components are usually formed in a plant under strictly controlled conditions. Quality control is usually better than Cast-in-Place and erection proceeds quickly.
Post-Tensioned Concrete
Concrete structural system that uses post-tensioning steel (tendons made of high strength wire, seven wire strands or solid bars) that is stressed after the concrete has been poured and cured.
Cast-in-Place Construction
Concrete structure that require framework. Though time consuming, they can conform to an almost unlimited variety of shapes, sizes, design intentions, and structural requirements.
Collector Street
Connect local streets with large arterial streets. Intersections with local streets may be controlled with stop signs, while intersections with arterial streets will be controlled with stop lights.
Lightweight I-Shaped Joist
Consists of a top and bottom chord of solid or laminated construction separated by a plywood or oriented strand board web.
Transit-Oriented Development
Construction that takes place in areas surrounding transit stops; it usually includes a relatively high density of living units, commercial development, and other support services.
Site Development Costs
Cost of parking, drives, fences, landscaping, exterior lighting, and irrigation systems and are usually separate from the building cost.
Furniture, Fixtures and Equipment (FF&E)
Costs that include movable equipment; furnishings such as furniture, accessories, and window coverings.
Proxemics
Deals with issues of spacing between people, territoriality, organization of space, and positioning of people in the space, as related to the culture of which they are apart.
Restrictive Covenant
Deeds to properties can contain provisions that restrict the use of the property by the buyer.
Boulders
Describe rocks that have broken off of bedrock.
Topography
Describes the surface features of land.
Landlocked
Descriptive of a parcel of land that does not border any public road.
Amenities
Desirable features of a building or near a building that have the effect of increasing the property's value.
Assembly Method
During schematic design, when more is known about the space requirements and general configuration of the building and site, budgeting can be based on major subsystems. (Aka system method)
Townships
Each check is divided into 16 of these with 6 miles on each side. (PLSS)
Planned Unit Development (PUD)
Each large parcel of land is designed to have a mix of uses - residential, commercial, recreational, and open space - and is designed with a variety of lot sizes and densities.
Garden City Concept
Ebenezer Howard's attempt to combine the best of city and country living in his town-country idea. First put forth in 1898.
Rehabilitation
Emphasizes the retention and repair of historic materials, but gives more latitude to replacement, typically because the property is more deteriorated before work begins.
Development Impact Fees
Fees imposed on developers in order to pay for the improvements to off-site infrastructure (such as roads, utilities, etc) that the new development make necessary.
Special District Assessments
Fees used to fund public space improvements, such as parks and streetscapes, in order to enhance an area's appeal and increase its property values. (Aka business improvement districts (BID's) or benefit assessments)
Silt
Fine-grained sedimentary soil composed of material smaller than sand but larger than clay. Behave as granular materials, but sometimes slightly plastic in their behavior.
Restoration
Focuses on the retention of materials from the most significant time in a property's history, while permitting the removal of materials from other periods.
Quantity, Quality, Funds, Time
Four basic variables that must be considered when developing any construction budget. One cannot be changed without changing one or more of the others.
Programmatic Concepts
General abstract solutions to the client's problems.
Access Easement
Gives the landowner and the public the right to cross an adjacent property if the parcel of land is not served by a public road.
Reflectivity
In the LEED rating system, used to measure the solar heat rejection of non-roof materials such as vegetation, shading devices, and other less reflective components.
Public Facilities
Include such places as schools, shops, fire stations, places of worship, post offices, and recreational centers.
Cool Region
Includes all of Canada, the northern part of the middle United States, and the mountainous regions of Wyoming and Colorado.
Temperate Region
Includes most of the middle latitudes of the United States, including the northwest and northeast areas of the country.
Hot-Humid Region
Includes the southeastern parts of the country.
Topographic Survey
Information on the contours of a site, property boundaries, easements, existing buildings, utility poles, roads and other manufactured features, trees and other natural features such as rock outcroppings and heavy vegetation.
Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design (CPTED)
Inspired by the concepts of defensible space.
Soil Load Test
Involve building a platform on the site, placing incremental loads on it, and observing the amount of settlement during given time periods until settlement becomes regular after repeated loading.
Karst
Landscape in which soluble rocks such as limestone, dolomite, and gypsum have dissolved, forming caves and other voids below the surface.
Joists
Light, closely spaced members that span between beams or bearing walls and support floors or ceilings.
Expressway
Limited access roads designed to move large volumes of traffic between, through, and around population centers.
Conservation Easement
Limits land use in large areas
Contour Lines
Lines on a map that show the elevations of the land in a plan view and are used to make a slope analysis to determine suitability of the land for various uses.
Wash Borings
Made with a 2in to 4in diameter pipe through which a water jet is maintained to force up the soil material. Can extend down about 100 ft or more but samples are so thoroughly mixed that analysis is difficult.
Arterial Street
Major, continuous circulation routes that carry large amounts of traffic on two or three lanes.
Dry Sample Boring
Material is extracted by driving a pipe with a split sampling pipe on the leading edge about 5in into the soil.
Organics
Materials of vegetable or other organic matter and make poor bases for foundations.
Room Corner Test
Measures the contribution of interior textile wall coverings to room fire growth.
Electromagnetic Distance Measurement (EDM)
Method of field measuring and recording that uses a laser-based instrument with an on board computer to measure the distance, horizontal angle, and vertical angle of a laser beam to a reflective prism target.
Rectified Photography
Method of field measuring and recording that uses digital cameras to photograph facades.
Orthophotography
Method of field measuring and recording that uses digital photography and computer software to correct for optical distortion. Sim to rectified photography.
Minimum Property Standards
Minimum standards for residential building required by the Federal Housing Administration for construction or for underwriting a mortgage.
Economy
One of four major considerations during programming that concerns money: the initial costs, operating costs, and life-cycle costs.
Time
One of four major considerations during programming that concerns the past, present, and future as they effect the other three considerations.
Function
One of four major considerations during programming that relates to the people and activities within the space or building and their relationships.
Form
One of four major considerations during programming that relates to the site, the physical and psychological environment of the building, and the quality of construction.
American National Standards Institute (ANSI)
Organization that approves standards developed by other organizations and works to avoid duplications between different standards.
Zero Lot Line
Part of a zoning regulation's setback requirements that allows a building to be constructed up to the property line with no setback.
Sand
Particles up to 1/4in and are low in plasticity. Very good for building foundations and provide good drainage.
Variance
Permission granted by a local jurisdiction to deviate from the literal provisions of a zoning ordinance where strict adherence would cause undue hardship because of conditions or circumstances unique to an individual property.
Conditional Covenant
Permits the title to the property to revert to the original owner if the restrictions prescribed in the deed are not followed.
Riparian
Pertaining to land adjacent to a river or other body of water.
Building Analysis/Architectural Programming
Processes for analyzing, defining and solving an architectural problem in a way that meets both the client's needs and any applicable code requirements.
Underimproved Land
Property that is not producing the maximum income it is capable of producing given its site, zoning and so on.
Brownfield
Property whose redevelopment or reuse may be complicated by the presence or potential presence of a hazardous substance, pollutant or contaminate.
Cite Industrielle
Proposed by Tony Garnier in 1917. A city plan that included separate zones for residential, public, industrial, and agricultural uses, linked by separated circulation paths for vehicles and pedestrians. One of the first plans to emphasize the idea of zoning.
Scenic Easement
Protects the views and development in scenic areas.
Auger Borings
Raise samples of the soil by using a standard auger bit and is best used in sand or clay for shallow or intermediate depths because the auger cannot penetrate hard obstructions such as bedrock.
Steiner Tunnel Test
Rates the surface burning characteristics of interior finishes and other building materials.
Efficiency Ratio
Ratio of the net area to the the gross area. (Aka net-to-gross ratio)
Territoriality
Refers to the need to lay claim to the spaces we occupy and the things we own.
Gridiron Street System
Regularly planned public open spaces and uniform spacing and setback of buildings. The city of Philadelphia (established in 1682), along with many other early towns, used this planning system.
Slope
Represented as a percentage with each 1% being 1ft of vertical rise for every 100ft of horizontal distance.
Subdivision Exactions
Requirement that subdivision developers either dedicate some land for public use or contribute cash for the purchase of land and facilities by local governments.
Affirmative Covenant
Requires a buyer to perform a specific duty in the future
Height Zoning
Restrictions on the heights of buildings and structures established by local laws.
Value Engineering
Reviewing individual systems and materials to see if the same function can be accomplished in a less expensive way.
Local Street
Roads that have the lowest capacity and provide direct access to building sites.
Gravel
Rock particles up to 3 1/2in and are low in plasticity. Very good for building foundations and provide good drainage.
Reflectorless Electromagnetic Distance Measurement (REDM)
Same as an EDM, except it relies on the return signal bounced from the object being measured.
Topographic Map
Shows the slope and contour of the land as well as other natural and artificial features.
Landmark
Similar to a node in that it is a reference point, but it is viewed from the exterior and may or may not be entered. Could be a tower, monument, building, or natural feature.
Stressed Skin Panels
Similar to box beams in that they are constructed of plywood glued and nailed to solid 2in nominal thickness lumber, but used for floor, roof, or wall construction.
50%
Slopes over this percent should be terraced to prevent erosion.
Up to 25%
Slopes up to this percent should be landscaped to prevent erosion.
Clay
Smaller particles than silts with some cohesion, or tensile strength, and are plastic in their behavior when wet. Very unpredictable and usually make poor foundations unless they can be kept dry.
Satellite Towns
Smaller towns dependent on larger towns nearby for business.
Shale and Slate
Soft rocks with fine texture. Make up the group with the second highest bearing capacity.
New Town Concept
Started in Great Britain in the 1940's, it is an extension of the idea that entirely new communities can be built away from the crowding and ugliness of existing cities.
Pro Forma
Statement listing the expected income that the project will generate and the expected costs to build the project.
Hot-Arid Region
Stretches from Southern California across the desert southwest to portions of southern Texas.
Stressed-Skin Structure
Structure comprised of panels made of a sheathing material attached on one or both sides of intermediate web members in such a way that the panel acts as a series of I-beams, with the sheathing being the flange and the intermediate members being the webs
Trusses
Structures comprised of straight members forming a number of triangles with the connections arranged so that the stresses in the member are either in tension or compression.
Sustainable Building Design
Takes into account the environmental impact of a building, the wise use of materials, energy conservation, use of alternative energy sources, adaptive reuse of existing buildings and facilities, indoor air quality, recycling, reuse of building materials, and other strategies to achieve a balance between the consumption of environmental resources and the renewal of those resources.
Emissivity
The ability of a surface to emit stored energy.
Conveyance
The act of transferring an interest in a property to another person, or the document written to formalize such a transfer.
Occupant Load Factor
The amount of floor area presumed to be occupied by one person.
Equity
The amount of money an owner of a property keeps after selling the property and paying off any mortgages; that is, the difference between the fair market value of a property and the amount of debt on the property.
Uniform Sinking Fund
The amount of money that has to be invested at today's value at a given interest rate (the discount rate) to become a specified amount of money in the future.
Cash Flow
The amount of money that is net income from a property after expenses are paid.
Azimuth
The angle North or South from an East-West line.
Solar Altitude
The angle above the horizon.
Spot Zoning
The application of specific zoning regulations to specific properties when nearby land is under different zoning.
Net Leasable Area
The area of a building that is available for rent, which does not include common areas, structure, stairs and the like.
Net Area
The area of a facility not including the space for general circulation between rooms, mechanical rooms, stairways, elevator and mechanical shafts, electrical and telephone equipment rooms, wall and structural thicknesses, and other spaces that do not directly house the primary activities of the building.
Occupant Area
The area used exclusively by the tenant's own business or function.
Problem Statement
The bridge between programming and the design process. They serve as the basis for design as well as the criteria by which the solution can be evaluated.
Debt Service
The cost to pay off the construction loan for a project and is generally considered an ongoing cost over many years, not part of the original cost of the project.
Contour Interval
The difference in elevation between adjacent contour lines
Uniform Present Worth Factor
The discount factor that is used to convert a uniform annual value (often an annual cost) to a time-equivalent present value.
Exit Access Travel Distance
The distance that an occupant would have to travel to get from the most remote point in the occupied portion of the exit access area, along the natural and unobstructed path of horizontal and vertical travel, to the entrance to the nearest exit.
Zoning
The division of a city or other area into districts in order to regulate the use of land and the location and size of buildings within those districts.
Dedication
The donation of a parcel of land by a developer for public use, such as for a park or school.
Benchmarking
The establishment of common standards for rooms, spaces, and activities based on the measurement of similar facilities.
Albedo
The fraction of the radiant energy received on a surface that is reflected and is expressed as a number from zero to 1.0. Aka. Solar Reflectance (SR)
Runoff Coefficient
The fraction of total precipitation that is not absorbed into the ground.
Catchment Area
The geographical region of land development that is dependent on or affected by some surrounding base of population.
Usury
The illegal practice of charging exorbitant interest rates on a loan.
Development Rights
The legal right of a developer to develop a parcel of land.
Right-Of-Way
The legal right of one party or the public to traverse land belonging to another. An access easement creates a private or public one of these.
Financing
The long term interest paid on permanent financing as well as the immediate costs of loan organization fees, construction loan interest, and other administrative costs.
Base Building Circulation
The minimum path on a multi-occupant floor necessary for access to and egress from occupant areas, elevators, stairs, restrooms, janitorial closets, and similar areas.
Building Cost
The money needed to construct the building, including structure, exterior cladding, finishes, electrical and mechanical systems, and the contractors overhead and profit.
Gross Building Area
The net area + the nonassignable area
Occupant Load
The number of people that a building code assumes will occupy a given building or portion of a building.
Macroclimate
The overall climate of a region and is reflected in the weather data available from the National Weather Service.
Common Path of Egress Travel
The path that must be traversed before two separate and distinct paths of travel to two different exits are available.
Amortization
The payment of a loan using equal payments at equal intervals over the life of the loan.
Exit Discharge
The portion of the means of egress system between the termination of an exit and a public way.
Exit
The portion of the means of egress system that provides a protected path of egress between the exit access and the exit discharge.
Exit Access
The portion of the means of egress that leads to an exit.
Soil
The pulverized upper layer of the earth, formed by the erosion of rocks and plant remains and modified by living plants and organisms.
Imageability
The quality of a physical environment that evokes a strong image in the mind of a given observer. Can be a natural feature or a prominent building or structure.
Escalation Rate
The rate of change in the price for a particular good or service.
Discount Rate
The rate of interest that reflects the time value of money and that is used to discount future values to present values.
Slenderness Ratio
The ratio of a masonry wall's unsupported height to its thickness and is an indication of the ability of the wall to resist buckling when a compressive load is applied from above.
Improvement Ratio
The ratio of the value of improvements on a property to the value of the property alone.
Eminent Domain
The right of a government jurisdiction to take ownership of private property for the public good while paying fair market value compensation to the owner.
Easement
The right to use another's land for a specific purpose, or to prevent the land's owner from using it for a particular purpose.
Riparian Rights
The rights of a landowner to use or control all or a portion of the water in a body of water bordering his/her property.
Township
The row of townships running East and West (PLSS)
Range
The row of townships running North to South (PLSS)
CC&R'S (Covenants, Conditions and Restrictions)
The rules that apply to a property owner in a subdivision, condominium, or cooperative housing facility.
Nonassignable Area
The secondary space for general circulation between rooms, mechanical rooms, stairways, elevator and mechanical shafts, electrical and telephone equipment rooms, wall and structural thicknesses, and other spaces that do not directly house the primary activities of the building.
Zoning Bylaw
The set of zoning regulations established by a local jurisdiction that regulates certain building practices within the jurisdiction.
Funicular Shape
The shape of an arch to resist the loads only in compression.
Microclimate
The site-specific modification of the macroclimate by such features as land slope, trees and other vegetation, bodies of water, and buildings.
Bedrock
The solid rock that forms the earth's crust. Has the highest bearing capacity of all soil types.
Checks
The squares formed with the Parallels and Meridians placed 24 miles apart. (PLSS)
Programming
The stage of defining the problem and establishing all the guidelines and needs on which the design process can be based.
Flexural Strength
The strength of a masonry wall in regard to its ability to resist lateral forces such as wind.
Ecology
The study of the relation of living organisms to their environments.
Rentable Area
The sum of the occupant area and a prorated share of the areas of a building used by all tenants.
Photogrammetry
The surveying of objects or spaces through the use of photography and associated software.
Water Table
The underground level below which the soil is saturated with water.
Heat Island Effect
The unnatural buildup of heat around buildings, especially in urban areas.
Assessed Value
The value given to a piece of property by a local jurisdiction, to be used in assessing taxes on the property. The value is a percentage of the actual value, which is the value that the property would command on the open market.
Fair Market Value
The value of a piece of property that a buyer would pay a seller in a free transaction for the property.
Income Approach
The value of the land is calculated based on the potential the property has to yield a profit.
Cost Approach
The value of the land is estimated at its highest and best use. Then, the cost to replace the bldg or add improvements is calculated. The estimated depreciation is subtracted from the replacement/improvement cost. The adjusted amount is then added to the land value to give the total value of the property.
Area Method
This type of estimate is usually prepared when preliminary design is completed and the architect has a fairly good idea of the size of the project, it's functional components and the general level of quality or complexity. (Aka volume method or square-foot method)
Despoil
To remove items of value (from a site)
Section
Townships are divided into 36 1-mile square pieces of land.
Test Pits
Trenches dug at the job site that allow visual inspection of the soil strata and direct collection of undisturbed samples.
Stereophotogrammetry
Type of photogrammetry that uses two overlapping photographs in a computer program to produce a digital stereo image.
Borings
Undisturbed samples of soil are removed at regular intervals and the type of material is recorded in a boring log.
Support Easement
Used for the construction of common party walls between properties.
Blanket Loan
Used to fund the purchase of a large piece of real estate that the borrower intends to subdivide and resell as smaller parcels.
Ground Coupling
Uses the stable coolness of the earth to cool a building, typically by using a ground-source heat pump.
Over 10%
What percent do slopes become difficult to walk on?
1.5% - 5%
What percent slope is needed for parking areas?
8.33%
What percent slope is the ideal max for buildings and walks?
Authority Having Jurisdiction (AHJ)
Who builders must submit plans and specifications to for checking and approval before a building permit is issued.
