Midterm Vocab Architecture Flashcards
(152 cards)
0
Q
Aisle
A
The portion of a basilica flanking the nave and separated from it by a row of columns or piers
1
Q
Abacus
A
The uppermost portion of the capital of a column, usually a thin slan
2
Q
Altar frontal
A
A decorative panel on the front if a church altar
3
Q
Altarpiece
A
A panel, painted or sculpted, situated above and behind an altar
4
Q
Ambulatory
A
A covered walkway, outdoors (as in a church cloister) or indoors; especially the passageway around the apse and choir of a church
5
Q
Amphiprostyle
A
A classical temple plan in which the columns are placed across both the front and back but not along the sides
6
Q
Amphitheater
A
Greek, “double theater.” A Roman building type resembling two Greek theaters put together. The Roman amphitheater features a continuous elliptical cavea around a central arena
7
Q
Antae
A
The molded projecting ends of the walls forming the pronaos or opisthodomos of an ancient Greek temple
8
Q
Apse
A
A recess, usually semicircular, in the wall of a building, commonly found at the east end of a church.
9
Q
Arcade
A
A series of arches supported by piers or columns
10
Q
Arch
A
A curved structural member that spans an opening and is generally composed of wedge-shaped blocks (voussoirs) that transmit the downward pressure laterally.
11
Q
Architrave
A
The lintel or lowest division of the entablature; also called the epistyle
12
Q
Archivolt
A
The continuous molding framing an arch. In Romanesque and Gothic architecture, one of the series of concentric bands framing the tympanum
13
Q
Armature
A
The crossed, or diagonal, arches that form the skeletal framework of a Gothic rib vault.
14
Q
Ashlar masonry
A
Carefully cut and regularly shaped blocks of stone used in construction, fitted together without mortar
15
Q
Atrium
A
The central reception room in a Roman house that is partly open to the sky. Also the open, colonnaded court in front of and attached to a Christian basilica
16
Q
Baldacchino
A
A canopy on columns, frequently build over an altar
17
Q
Baptistery
A
In Christian architecture, the building used for baptism, usually situated next to a church
18
Q
Base
A
In ancient Greek architecture, the molded projecting lowest part of Iconic and Corinthian columns
19
Q
Basilica
A
In Roman architecture, a public building for legal and other civic proceedings, rectangular in plan with an entrance usually on a long side. In Christian architecture, a church somewhat resembling the Roman basilica, usually entered from one end and with an apse at the other
20
Q
Bay
A
The space between two columns, or one unit in the nave arcade of a church; also, the passageway in an arcuated gate
21
Q
Beam
A
A horizontal structural member that carries the load of the superstructure of a building; a timber lintel
22
Q
Blind arcade
A
An arcade having no true openings, applied as decoration to a wall surface
23
Q
Buttress
A
An exterior masonry structure that opposes the lateral thrust of an arch or a vault.
24
Buttress (pier)
Is a solid mass of masonry
25
Buttress (flying)
Consists typically of an inclined member carried on an arch or a series of arches and a solid buttress to which it transmits lateral thrust
26
Came
A lead strip in a stained-glass window that joins separate pieces of colored class
27
Campanile
A bell tower of a church, usually, but not always, freestanding
28
Capital
Uppermost member of a column, serving as a transition from the shaft to the lintel. The form varies with the order
29
Cathedral
A bishop's church
30
Cella
The chamber at the center of an ancient temple; in a classical temple, the room in which the cult statue usually stood
31
Chancel arch
The arch separating the apse or choir or the transept from the nave of a basilica or church
32
Chantry
An endowed chapel for the chanting of the mass for the founder of the chapel
33
Choir
The space reserved for the clergy and singers in the church, usually east of the transept but, in some instances, extending into the nave
34
Clerestory
The fenestrated part of a building that rises above the roofs to the other parts. Windows that form the nave's uppermost level below the timber ceiling or the vaults
35
Cloister
A monastery courtyard, usually with covers walks or ambulatories along its sides
36
Coffer
A sunken panel, often ornamental, in a vault or a ceiling
37
Colonnade
A series or row of columns usually spanned by lintels
38
Colonnette
Thin column
39
Colossal order
An architectural design in which the columns or pilasters are two or more stories tall. Giant order
40
Column
A vertical, weight-carrying architectural member, circular in cross-section and consisting of a base, a shaft and a capital
41
Compound pier
A pier with a group, or cluster, of attached shafts, or responds, especially characteristic of Gothic architecture
42
Corbel
A projecting wall member used as a support for some element in the superstructure. Also, courses of stone or brick in which each course projects beyond the one beneath it. Two such walls create an x arch or x vault
43
Course
In masonry construction, a horizontal row of stone blocks
44
Crenellation
Alternating solid merlons and open crenels in the notched tops of walls, as in battlements
45
Crossing square
The area in a church forms by the intersection of a nave and a transept of equal width, often used as a standard module of interior proportion
46
Crossing
The space in a cruciform church formed by the intersection of the nave and the transept
47
Crossing tower
The tower over the crossing of a church
48
Cubiculim
A small cubicle or bedroom that opened onto the atrium of a Roman house.
49
Cupola
An exterior architectural feature composed of a drum with a shallow cap; a dome
50
Cutaway
An architectural drawing that combines an exterior view with an interior view of part of a building
51
Diaphragm arch
A transverse, wall-bearing arch that divides a vault or a ceiling into compartments, providing a kind of firebreak
52
Dome
A hemispherical vault; theoretically, an arch rotated on its vertical axis
53
Donor portrait
A portrait of the individuals who commissioned a religious work, for example, and altarpiece, as evidence of devotion
54
Doric
One of the two systems invented in ancient Greece for articulating the three units of the elevation of a classical building- the platform, the colonnade, and the superstructure. Characterized by: capitals with funnel-shaped echinuses, columns without bases, and a frieze of triglyphs and metopes
55
Dressed masonry
Stone blocks shaped to the exact dimensions required, with smooth faces for a perfect fit
56
Eaves
The lower part of a roof that overhangs the wall
57
Elevation
In architecture, a head-on view of an external or internal wall, showing its features and often other elements that would be visible beyond or before the wall
58
Engaged column
Half-round column attached to a wall
59
Entablature
The part of a building above the columns and below the roof. Has three parts: architrave, frieze, and pediment
60
Entasis
The convex profile (an apparent swelling) in the shaft of a column
61
Facade
Usually, the front of a building; also, the other sides when they are emphasized architecturally
62
Flamboyant
A Late French Gothic style of architecture superseding the Rayonnant style and named for the flamelike appearance of its point bar tracery
63
Flute/fluting
Vertical channeling, roughly semicircular in cross-section and used principally on columns and pilasters
64
Frieze
The part of the entablature between the architrave and the cornice; also, any sculptured or painted band in a building
65
Groin
The edge formed by the intersection of two barrel vaults
66
Hallenkirche
German, "hall church". A church design favored in Germany, but also used elsewhere, in which the aisles rise to the same height as the nave
67
Herm
A bust on a quadrangular pillar
68
Hypaethral
A building having no pediment or roof open to the sky
69
Hypostyle hall
A hall with a roof supported by columns
70
Insula
In Roman architecture, a multistory apartment house, usually made of brick-faced concrete; an entire city block
71
Interaxial or Intercolumniation
The distance between the center of the lowest drum of a column and the center of the next
72
Ionic
One of the two systems invented in ancient Greece for articulating the three units of the elevation of a classical building: the platform, the colonnade, and the superstructure. Characterized by: volutes, capitals, columns with bases, and an uninterrupted frieze
73
Iwan
In Islamic architecture, the side posts of a doorway
74
Lancet
In Gothic architecture, a tall narrow window ending in a pointed arch
75
Leading
In the manufacture of stained glass windows, the joining of colored glass pieces using lead cames
76
Lintel
A horizontal beam used to span an opening
77
Loggia
A gallery with an open arcade or a colonnade on one or both sides
78
Lunette
A semicircular area in a wall over a door, niche, or window; also a painting or relief with a semicircular frame
79
Lux nova
New light. Abbot Suger's term for the light that enters a Gothic church through stained-glass windows
80
Maqsura
In some mosques, a screened area in front of the mihrab reserved for a ruler
81
Mihrad
A semicircular niche set into the qibla wall of a mosque
82
Minaret
Mosque, tower in which the faithful are called to worship
83
Minbar
In a mosque, the pulpit on which the imam stands
84
Molding
A continuous narrow surface (projecting or recessed, plain or ornamented) designed to break up a surface, to accent, or to decorate
85
Monolith
A stone column shaft that is all in one piece; a large, single block or piece or stone used in megalithic structures
86
Mosque
The Islamic building for collective worship
87
Mullion
A vertical member that divides a window or that separates one window from another
88
Narthex
A porch or vestibule of a church, generally colonnaded or arcaded and preceding the nave
89
Nave
The central area of an ancient Roman basilica or of a church, demarcated from aisles by piers or columns
90
Nave acade
In basilica architecture, the series of arches supported by piers or columns separating the nave from the aisles
91
Oculus
The round central opening of a dome. Small round window in a Gothic cathedral
92
Ogee arch
An arch composed of two double curving lines meeting at a point
93
Ogive
The diagonal rib of a gothic vault; a pointed or gothic arch
94
Opus francigenum
Architecture style of Gothic France; in the French manner
95
Order
In classical architecture, a style represented by a characteristic design of the columns and entablature
96
Pala
A panel placed behind and over the altar in a church
97
Pediment
In classical architecture, the triangular space at the end of a building, formed by the ends of the sloping roof above the colonnade
98
Pendant
The large hanging terminal element of a Gothic fan vault
99
Pendentive
A concave, triangular section of a hemisphere, four of which provide the transition from a square area to the circular base of a covering dome
100
Peristyle
In classical architecture, a colonnade all around the cella and its porches.
101
Pier
A vertical freestanding masonry support
102
Pilaster
A flat, rectangular, vertical member projecting from a wall of which it forms a part. It usually has a base and a capital and is often fluted
103
Pillar
Usually a weight-carrying member, such as a pier or a column; sometimes an isolated, freestanding structure used for commemorative purposes
104
Pinnacle
In Gothic churches, a sharply pointed ornament capping the piers or flying buttresses; also used on church facades
105
Pointed arch
A narrow arch of pointed profile, in contrast to a semicircular arch
106
Portico
A roofed colonnade; also an entrance porch
107
Pronaos
The space, or porch, in front of the cell or naos, of an ancient Greek temple
108
Pulpit
A raised platform in a church or mosque on which a priest or imam stands while leading the religious service
109
Purlins
Horizontal beams in a roof structure, parallel to the ridgepoles resting on the main rafters and giving support to the secondary rafters
110
Quadrant arch
An arch whose curve extends for one quarter of a circle's circumference
111
Quadrifrons
Latin, "four-fronted" An arch with four equal facades and four arcuated bays
112
Rafters
The sloping supporting timber planks that run from the ridgepole of a roof to its edge
113
Rayonnant
The "radiant" style of Gothic architecture, dominant in the second half of the 13th century and associated with the French royal court of Louis IX at Paris
114
Register
One of a series of superimposed bands or friezes in a pictorial narrative, or the particular levels on which motifs are placed
115
Relieving triangle
In Mycenaean architecture, the triangle opening above the lintel that serves to lighten the weight to be carried by the lintel itself
116
Respond
An engaged column, pilaster, or similar element that either projected from a compound pier or some other supporting device or is bonded to a wall and carries one end of an arch
117
Rib
A relatively slender, molds masonry arch that projects from a surface. In Gothic architecture, the ribs form the framework of the vaulting. A diagonal rib is one of the ribs that form the X of a groin vault. A transverse rib crosses the nave or aisle at a 90-degree angle
118
Ridgepole
The beam running the length of a building below the peak of the gabled roof
119
Rose window
A circular stained-glass window
120
Rotunda
The circular area under a dome, a domes round building
121
Screen facade
A facade that does not correspond to the structure of the building behind it
122
Shaft
The tall, cylindrical part of a column between the capital and the base
123
Spandrel
The roughly triangular space enclosed by the curves of adjacent arches and a horizontal member connecting their vertexes; the space enclosed by the curve of an arch and an enclosing right angle. The area between the arch proper and the framing columns and entablature
124
Springing
The lowest stone of an arch, resting on the impost block. In Gothic vaulting, the lowest stone of a diagonal or transverse rib
125
Squinch
An architectural device used as a transition from a square to a polygonal or circular base for a dome. It may be composed of lintels, corbels, or arches
126
Templon
The columnar screen separating the sanctuary from the main body of a Byzantine church
127
Thrust
The outward force exerted by an arch or a vault that must be counterbalanced by a buttress
128
Tracery
Ornamental stonework for holding stained glass in place, characteristic of Gothic cathedrals.
129
Plate tracery
The glass fills only the punched holes in the heavy ornamental stonework
130
Bar tracery
Stained glass windows fill almost the entire opening and the stonework is unobtrusive
131
Tranezzo
A screen placed across the nave of a church separate the clergy from the lay audience
132
Transept
The part of a church with an axis that crosses the nave at a right angle
133
Transept
The part of a church with an axis that crosses the nave at a right angle
134
Transverse arch
An arch separating one vaulted bay from the next
135
Transverse barrel vault
In medieval architecture, a semicylindrical vault oriented at a 90-degree angle to the nave of a church
136
Tribune
In church architecture, a gallery over the inner aisle flanking the nave
137
Triforium
In a Gothic cathedral, the blind arcaded gallery below the clerestory; occasionally, the arcades are filled with stained glass
138
Triumphal arch
In Roman architecture, a free standing arch commemorating an important event, such as a military victory or the opening of a new road
139
Trumeau
In church architecture, the pillar or center post supporting the lintel in the middle of the doorway
140
Tympanum
The space enclosed by a lintel and an arch over a doorway
141
Vault
A masonry roof or ceiling constructed on the arch principle, or a concrete roof of the same shape
142
Barrel/Tunnel vault
Semicylindrical in cross-section, in in effect a deep arch or an uninterrupted series of arches, one behind the other, over an oblong space
143
Quadrant vault
Half-barrel vault
144
Groin vault
Formed at the point at which two barrel vault intersect at right angles
145
Ribbed vault
There is a framework of arches under the intersections of the vaulting sections
146
Sexpartite vault
A vault whose ribs divide the vault into six compartments
147
Fan vault
A vault characteristic of English Perpendicular Gothic architecture in which radiating ribs form a fan like pattern
148
Volute
A spiral scroll-like form characteristic of the ancient Greek Iconic and the Roman Composite capital
149
Voussoir
A wedge-shaped stone block used in the construction of a true arch.
150
Keystone
Central voussoir
151
Web
The masonry blocks that fill the area between the ribs of a groin vault
