7 Unit 7 Architecture. Glossary

7.1 Mind the meaning of the following architectural terms:

Aisle is the side subdivision in a church; all the subdivisions including the nave.

Altar is the most sacvet part in Christian churches.

Ambulatory is a continuous aisle in a circular building. In church, the ambulatory serves as a semicircular aisle that encloses the apse.

Apse is a semicircular or polygonal termination to or projection from a church or other public building. In most churches the apse is at one end of the building and contains the main altar.

Arcade refers to a series of arches supported by columns or piers. A passageway formed by the arches is also called an arcade.

Arch is a curved structure used to support the weight of the material above it. A stone at the top of an arch, called the keystone, holds the other parts in place.

Architrave is (1) the stone which in classic architecture is thrown from one column or pilaster to the next; (2) the moulding which in the same styles is used to ornament the margin of a door or window, opening or arch.

Band is a flat moulding or projecting strip of stone.

Basilica is an oblong rectangular hall with double colonnade and apse used in ancient Rome for judicial assembles; a church built on such a plan.

Bay window is a window projecting out word from the wall. It may be rectangular or polygonal. It must be built up from the ground.

Bow window is similar to bay window but circular or segmental.

Buttress is a support built against an outside wall of a building. A flying buttress is an arched support that extends from a column or pier to the wall.

Cantilever is a horizontal projection, such as a balcony beam, which is supported only at one end.

Capital in an order, forms the upper part of a column. It separates the shaft from the entablature.

Chapel is a small part or division of a large church having an altar. Clerestory is the upper story or row of windows lighting the nave of a church.

Column is (1) a vertical support or decoration of a building; in an order it consists of a shaft and a capital, and often rests on a base; (2) if standing alone it is a monument, usually made of stone.

Corbel is a projecting stone (or timber) supporting or seeming to support a weight.

Cornice is the uppermost part of an entablature.

Crypt is the basement under a church or other building.

Diptych is a painting , especially an altar-piece of two leaves, closing like a book.

Entablature is the superstructure above the column where an order is employed. It is divided into the Architrave, which rests on the column, the frieze and the cornice (the projecting and crowning portion of an order or of a building).

Façade is the front of a building.

Flute is a shallow vertical groove.

Fresco is this term, a corruption of the Italian word “affresco” or “freshly painted”, is used to describe the application of water-mixed paint to a wall freshly coated with a mixture of moist sand and slated lime.

Frieze is (1) a middle part of an entablature, often sculptured and carved; (2) any band of sculptured ornament.

Gable is the triangular-shaped wall carrying the end of the roof.

Gargoyle is a waterspout carved from stone, usually in the form of a grotesque human being or animal, to carry of rainwater from the roof of a cathedral.

Modeling is the art of fashioning objects in clay, wax, etc.

Mullion is the upright bars of stone frequently employed to subdivide one window into two or more lights.

Nave is (1) the central avenue of a church or cathedral; (2) the western part of a church;

(3) occasionally, any avenue in the interior of a building which is divided by one or more rows of columns running lengthways.

Order is (1) in classical architecture a single column or pilaster and its appropriate entablature; (2) a series of columns or pilasters with their entablature; (3) an entire decorative system. In classical architecture there are five orders. The Doric Order is the simplest one; it has baseless columns, the spreading capitals and triglyph-metope frieze above the column. The Corinthian Order is the slenderest and most ornate one. It has Ionic capitals elaborated with acanthus leaves. The Composite Order has the

capital that combines the Corinthian acanthus leaf decoration with volutes from the Ionic order. The Ionic Order is characterized by a moulded base, tall column shaft; its capitals have volutes. The Tuscan Order is a simplified version of the Roman Doric with plain frieze and no mutules in the cornice.

Oriel is a window projecting like a bay or bow window not resting on the ground but thrown out above the ground level and resting on a corbel.

Pediment is a triangular segment between the horizontal entablature and the sloping roof at the front of a classical-style building; a gable; an ornamental gable sometimes placed over windows, doors and other features of a building.

Pendentive is a curved support shaped like an inverted triangle. Pendentives hold a dome.

Pier refers to a large pillar used to support a roof.

Pilaster is a rectangular column, especially one projecting from a wall which it supports; frequently used in classic architecture in combination with columns.

Pinnacle is a small slender tower or turret built to ornament a roof, buttress, etc.

Portico is a range of columns with their entablature (and usually covered by a pediment), marking the entrance to a building.

Post and lintel is a method of construction in which vertical beams posts support a horizontal beam lintel.

Rose window is a round ornamental window, usually of stained glass.

Shaft is the main part of a column below the capital. Many shafts have shallow vertical grooves.

Sculpture is (1) the art of fashioning objects out of clay, bone, wood, stone, etc.; (2) a piece of sculpture.

Steeple is a high tower, especially one with a spire, usually on a cathedral.

Transept is the area of a church or cathedral which cross the line of the nave; it forms the arms in a T- or cross-shaped church.

Transom is a horizontal bar (usually of stone) across a window or panel.

Triptych is a painting or carving on three panels side by side.

Turret is small tower usually at the corner of a building.

Vault is an arched brick or stone ceiling or root. A barrel vault, the smallest form of a vault, is a single continuous arch. A groined vault is formed by joining to barrel vaults at right angles. A ribbed vault has diagonal arches that project from the surface.

Volute is a spiral scroll of the Ionic and Corinthian capitals.