| Arcades | Series of arches on the same plane and carried on piers, columns, or pilasters; either free-standing or attached to a wall (a "blind arcade"). The term is also used to denote a covered avenue with shops on one or both sides, which originally was set within an architectural arcade. |
| Awnings | Roof-like coverings, usually of canvas or metal and often adjustable, placed over windows, doors, or decks to provide protection from sun and rain. |
| Balusters | Short vertical members used to support a stair handrail or coping, often circular in section with a vase-shaped outline. |
| Balustrades | Parapets or low screens composed of balusters and carrying a rail or other horizontal member that is usually heavy in proportion to the balusters themselves. |
| Bay Windows | Windows, either single or in a series, forming a bay or recess in a room and projecting outward from the wall in a rectangular, curved, or polygonal form. |
| Bays (building divisions) | Refers to repeated, similar vertical divisions or compartments of a building or part of a building, as defined by recurring architectural features, such as arches, vaults, doors/windows, or pilasters. |
| Brackets | Refers to the elements, usually of generally triangular shape, that project from a wall, pier, or other structure. They support vertical loads or strengthen an angle by transferring the load against the face of the structure from which they project; sometimes more decorative than functional. |
| Broken Pediments | Pediments whose lines are interrupted either at the apex or the base, or in both locations; found especially on Late Antique, Baroque, and Mannerist architecture. |
| Buttresses | Pierlike masonry elements built to strengthen or support walls or resist the lateral thrust of vaults. |
| Capitals (column components) | The uppermost members of columns, piers, or pilasters. |
| Cast Shadows | The shadow of a figure or an object portrayed as it falls or is "cast" on another surface. |
| Ceilings | Overhead surfaces of interior spaces, sometimes constructed to mask building systems or structural elements. |
| Chapels | Rooms or small buildings that serve as sanctuaries or places of worship. A chapel may be used for private worship in or attached to a church, palace, house, prison, monastery, or school. It may alternatively be used for public worship of the established Church, subordinate to or dependent upon the parish church, the accommodation supplied by which it in some way supplements. The concept includes both freestanding chapels and rooms or recesses serving as chapels in churches or other buildings. |
| Chimneys | Vertical noncombustible structures containing flues for drawing off into the outside air products of combustion from, for example, stoves, fireplaces, and furnaces. |
| Churches | Buildings for public Christian worship that are distinguished historically from chapels and oratories, which are buildings that are in some respect private, or not public in the widest sense. Church architecture generally somewhat follows standard models, which vary depending upon the date, location, and characteristics of the congregation. |
| Cities | Generally, cities designate large or important communities with population, status, and internal complexity greater than most towns in the region. |
| Clerestories | Upper zones of walls rising above adjacent roofs and pierced by windows so as to admit light to a high central room or space flanked by lower rooms or spaces. |
| Cloisters | Enclosed spaces composed of a garth and surrounding walkways, which are generally arcaded on the courtyard side and walled on the other; usually found in Christian religious building complexes. Use for such features in secular buildings only when closely resembling the prototype. |
| Coffers | Recessed panels, usually square or octagonal, set into ceilings, vaults, or soffits. |
| Colonnades | Rows of columns supporting an entablature and often one side of a roof. Includes spaces behind such a feature when they are long and used for circulation. |
| Colossal Orders | Refers to architectural orders where columns, pilasters, or piers extend over two or more stories. |
| Columns | Refers to cylindrical or slightly tapering, vertical members made to either give support or to appear to give support. They usually comprise three sections: base, capital, and shaft. The term also refers to all uprights in steel frame or concrete frame structures. Columns may occasionally stand alone as a monument. Square or rectangular members can be called piers, pilasters or posts. |
| Composite Order | Refers to an architectural order characterized by capitals composed of foliate echini derived from the Corinthian order superposed by volutes derived from the Ionic order. |
| Construction | The process of creating something by combining parts or elements, and also for the manner in which the thing has been put together. |
| Corbels | Cantilevered masonry blocks used singly or in ranges to support architectural or ornamental features or used in successive courses to form arches, domes, or vaults; when referring generally to the projecting courses of masonry, prefer "oversailing courses." |
| Corinthian Order | Refers to the architectural order characterized by a capital having a bell-shaped echinus decorated with a combination of spiral and plant, usually acanthus, motifs. |
| Cornices | The projecting, uppermost features of classical entablatures; use also for similar features crowning a window or wall. |
| Coupled Columns | Groups of two columns set closer together than others in a line, or otherwise forming a visual unit. |
| Courtyards | Uncovered areas, surrounded or partially surrounded by the walls of a building. |
| Cupolas | Generally refers to small domes, placed on a circular, polygonal, or square base or on small pillars or a glassed-in lantern or skylight. A cupola is typically used to crown a turret, roof, or larger dome. The term may also refer specifically to the inner vault of a dome. When these structures are intended to be used as lookouts, prefer |
| Domes | Rounded vaults comprising spheres or portions of spheres sitting on circular, elliptical, or polygonal bases, forming the roof of any building or part of a building. |
| Doors | Barriers that swing, slide, tilt, or fold to close a doorway, usually of solid and finished construction and usually leading to or separating interior spaces. |
| Dormers | Structures projecting from a sloping roof usually housing a window or ventilating louver. Used to provide light, ventilation or more livable space. |
| Eaves | Refers to the horizontal portions of a sloping roof that project beyond the walls. |
| Elevations | A 2D representation of the vertical arrangements of the elements of a building, either exterior or interior. |
| Facades | Exterior surfaces or faces of a building that are substantially in one plane, particularly those perceived to be the principal or most architecturally ambitious ones, designed with special regard to their conspicuousness or association with an entrance and looks onto a street or open space. |
| Flat Arches | Arches in which neither intrados nor extrados has any curvature, yet is composed of voussoirs arranged so that lateral thrusts are generated from vertical loads. |
| Floor Plans | Drawings or works in another two-dimensional medium that represent a horizontal section through a building taken above a floor to diagrammatically illustrate the enclosing walls, interior spaces, doors, and windows of a building. |
| Fluting | Closely spaced parallel grooves used to ornament columns and pilasters and in the decorative arts in woodwork, metalwork, glass, and ceramics. |
| Flying Buttresses | Exterior arched supports transmitting the thrust of a vault or roof from the upper part of a wall outward to a pier or buttress. |
| Friezes | Middle horizontal members of a classical entablature, above the architrave and below the cornice. Can also be: Extended horizontal bands decorating architecture, furniture, or other objects and containing figures, scenes, inscriptions, or ornamental motifs. |
| Gable dormers | Dormers with a roof terminating in a gable |
| Gable roofs | Roofs with two sloping sides meeting at a ridge, and gables at one or both ends. |
| Gables | Vertical triangular portions of the ends of buildings having double-sloping roofs. Includes similar ends which are not triangular in shape, as of a gambrel roof. |
| Galleries | Spaces set aside, as in museums, for the display of objects in a collection. |
| Gambrel roofs | Curb roofs with only the two opposite sides sloping. |
| Gardens | Area of ground or open space where flowers, shrubs, trees, vegetables, or fruits are grown and cultivated. |
| Groined Vaults | Compound vaults in which barrel vaults intersect forming ridges called groins. |
| Hip roofs | Roofs which rise to a peak or ridge by inclined planes on all, usually four, sides, therefore requiring hip rafters. |
| Hipped dormers | Dormers with hip roofs. |
| Hôtels | French town houses, especially of the 18th century, generally more elegant, ornate, and larger than other houses. |
| Houses | Individual dwellings designed to be occupied by a single tenant or family. |
| Ionic Order | Refers to the architectural order characterized by capitals with volutes, richly carved moldings, and columns with bases. |
| Keystones | Central wedge-shaped voussoirs in arches or vaults; also, similar elements used as ornaments on the heads of doors or windows. |
| Landscaping | Arranging and modifying the effects of the natural environment for aesthetic effect. |
| Lighting Fixtures | Lighting devices fixed in place, such as those attached to a ceiling or wall. |
| Loggias | Covered, roomlike spaces, open to the outdoors usually through arcades or colonnades; may be contained within or adjacent to buildings. |
| Mansard roofs | Curb roofs with all four sides sloping, usually enclosing habitable spaces, and therefore having dormers. |
| Maps | Refers to graphic or photogrammetric representations of the Earth's surface or a part of it, including physical features and political boundaries, where each point corresponds to a geographical or celestial position according to a definite scale or projection. |
| Masonry | Construction composed of cut, carved, shaped, or molded units composed of stone, ceramic brick or tile, concrete, glass, adobe, or other similar material. |
| Metalwork | Visual works that are the products of working any kind of metal, particularly metal objects of artistic merit. |
| Moldings | Long projections used for finishing and decorative purposes. |
| Monuments | Structures or edifices of importance or historical interest, typically erected in memory of the dead or of an important event. |
| Naves | Refers to the main central part of an interior divided into a high center with lower side portions divided by columns or piers, usually but not always in a church. Use also for the main part of a church without aisles but with a distinct chancel. |
| Neckings (capital components) | The part of a column between the bottom of the capital and the top of the shaft, or the molding or moldings located here. |
| Niches | Small recesses in walls. |
| Ornaments | Decorative forms or embellishments that are an integral part of a building or object but are not essential to its structure. |
| Overhangs | Projections of roofs or upper stories beyond a story immediately below. |
| Paneling | Wall coverings consisting of panels of wood or other material joined in a continuous surface. |
| Parapets | Low walls, projecting from the edge of platforms, terraces, or roofs, or surmounting the cornices of a building; also, walls forming the uppermost part of defensive walls or ramparts. |
| Paths | Narrow walks or ways, typically not constructed like a road, and intended to be traveled by foot. |
| Pavilions | Light, sometimes ornamental, structures in gardens, parks, or places of recreation that are used for entertainment or shelter. |
| Paving | Laying or covering with stone, brick, asphalt, concrete, or other material, making a firm, level, or convenient surface for travel. |
| Pedestals | Solid, fixed supports found under architectural elements such as columns or balustrades, or built in to hold sculpture. |
| Pediments | Triangular gable walls above the horizontal cornice of a classically treated building; also, triangular or roughly triangular elements, sometimes curved, or broken at the center, surmounting porticoes or openings. |
| Pergolas | Garden structures with open wood-framed roofs, often latticed, supported by regularly spaced posts or columns; often covered by climbing plants such as vines or roses, shading a walk or passageway. |
| Piazzas (squares) | In Italian cities and towns, open public spaces usually surrounded by buildings. |
| Piers | Refers to solid supports of masonry or another material designed to sustain vertical pressure, including a square or rectangular pillar or pilaster, the solid masonry between doors and windows, the pillars from which an arch springs, or the pillars or posts of a gate or door. It is sometimes distinguished from columns or posts by being more massive in size and often square or rectangular in cross section. |
| Pilasters | Shallow piers or rectangular columns projecting only slightly from a wall and, in classical architecture, conforming with one of the orders. |
| Pillars | Detached vertical members made of stone, brick, wood, metal, or another solid material. They are characterized by being slender or narrow in proportion to their height, and of any shape in section. A pillar is typically used as a vertical support of some superstructure, as a stable point of attachment for something heavy and oscillatory, or standing alone as a conspicuous monument or ornament. The usage of "pillar" is broader than "columns," "posts," or "piers," which are basically pillars of particular shapes, proportions, and functions; a "pillar" may be, but is not necessarily, any of these three more specific members. |
| Plans | Refers to drawings, sketches, prints, computer graphics, or works in other media depicting a building or any object viewed from above, geometrically represented as projected on a horizontal plane. |
| Plasterwork | Visual works made of plaster, which is a soft, plastic material, in this context usually a mixture of water, lime, and sand, often combined with other materials, such as animal hair. Plasterworks are either applied smoothly to a surface or as a combination of high-relief, sculptural, and surface decoration. |
| Plinths | Rectangular or square supporting elements or lower blocks, as for columns, pilasters, or door framing; also solid monumental bases, often ornamented, used to support statues or memorials. |
| Pointed Arches | Arches composed of two intersecting arcs of a circle, struck so that the apex of the arch is a point. |
| Porches | Used to designate roofed spaces, open along two or more sides and adjunct to a building, commonly serving either to shelter an entrance or used as living space. |
| Porticos | Roofed porchlike spaces, open along at least one side and usually associated with an entrance, supported by columns and often surmounted by a pediment; porticoes may project from the main building mass or be recessed in it. |
| Proportion | Relation between respective parts or between parts and the whole, in a building or any work of art, whether considered purely visually or numerically. |
| Public Spaces | Open spaces designed for public use or are accessible to the public, often designed to foster a sense of community. |
| Quadrangles | Rectangular grassy or paved areas surrounded by buildings, generally of an academic or civic nature. |
| Quoins | Stones helping to form the corner of a wall of masonry, especially when accentuated by a difference in the surface treatment from that of the rest of the wall mass. |
| Rafters | Parallel sloping members that support the roof covering. |
| Relief | Use to describe a surface that has been carved, molded, or stamped so that an image or design projects from or is sunk into a continuous surface. |
| Relieving Arches | Arches which deflect the weight off of another arch, opening, or other structural member located beneath. |
| Roofs | Outside, overhead enclosures of buildings or other structures, including the roofing and its structural framing. |
| Ruins | The remains of buildings or groups of buildings that have been destroyed or are in a state of great disrepair or decay. |
| Rustication | Surface pattern originally for stone but frequently simulated in other materials, giving the effect of large blocks with deep, wide joints. |
| Sections | Orthographic drawings or works in another media depicting a building, object, or site as if cut through. |
| Segmental Arches | Arches in the shape of a segment of a circle that is less than a semicircle. |
| Semicircular Arches | Arches with intradoses that are full semicircles. |
| Shadows | Regions that are blocked by an object so that light is unable to reach the region directly. |
| Shafts | The portions of columns, colonettes, or pilasters between the base and the capital. |
| Shed dormers | Dormers whose eaves lines are parallel to the eaves lines of the main roof instead of being gabled; provide more attic space than gabled dormers. |
| Shed roofs | Pitched roofs with only one slope |
| Shingles | Material such as wood, slate, tile, concrete, or asbestos cement, cut to stock dimensions; used chiefly for roofing. |
| Shutters | Movable screens, covers, or similar contrivances to close an opening, especially a window |
| Siding | Nonstructural, outer, exterior wall covering of buildings. |
| Site Plans | Drawings laying out the precise arrangement of a structure on a plot of land. It may also refer to plans for gardens, groups of buildings, or developments, where the layout of buildings, roadways, utilities, landscape elements, topography, water features, and vegetation may be depicted. |
| Soffits | The underside of a part or member of a building (as of an overhang, ceiling, staircase, cornice, or entablature). |
| Stairs | Ascending series or flights of steps, sometimes connected by landings, leading from one level to another; typically used for passing from one floor to another in a house or other building. |
| Stringcourses | Horizontal bands of masonry, generally narrower than other courses, extending across the face of a wall and in some instances continuing across piers or engaged columns; may be flush or projecting and may be flat surfaced, molded, or otherwise shaped. |
| Surrounds | The visible bordering elements around a door, window, or other opening. |
| Temples | Buildings housing places devoted to the worship of a deity or deities. |
| Terraces | Level paved or planted areas, usually elevated above surrounding terrain and adjacent to buildings or parts of garden complexes |
| Towers | Detached or isolated buildings or other structures high in proportion to their lateral dimensions Can also be: Parts of buildings with walls rising considerably above the rest, usually with vertical proportions, and to some extent architecturally distinct. |
| Town/Row Houses | Attached or very close urban dwellings, in a series of three or more, each having its own private entrance. Usually very narrow and long. |
| Triglyphs | The characteristic ornaments of the Doric frieze, consisting of a slightly raised block of three vertical bands separated by V-shaped grooves. |
| Trusses | Structural members such as beams, bars, or rods, usually fabricated from straight pieces of metal or timber, that form a series of triangles lying in a single plane; based on the principle that a triangle cannot be easily distorted by stress. |
| Turrets | Small towers, especially when corbelled out from a corner. |
| Tuscan Order | Refers to the architectural order characterized by unfluted columns, torus bases, unadorned cushion capitals, and plain friezes. |
| Urns | Large or decorative vessels, especially ones with an ornamental foot or pedestal, that usually have a mouth that is smaller than the body, and which often have two side handles. |
| Vaults | Arched structures, usually of masonry and forming a ceiling or roof. |
| Villas | Used since the Roman period to designate country houses, generally of some pretension, and often including their outbuildings and gardens. |
| Volutes | The spiral forms in capitals of the Ionic, Corinthian, and Composite orders; sometimes used also for other three-dimensional scrolling elements in architecture and the decorative arts. |
| Voussoirs | Masonry units that form an arch or vault. |
| Windows | Openings in the wall of a building, serving to admit light, to see outside, and often to admit air. |
