The molded frame of a door or a window.
An elevated view of a place, building or object drawn from above, with perspective, as though the observer were a bird. See also worm’s eye view.
Derives from the French béton brut, meaning “raw concrete.”An architectural movement that flourished from the 1950s to 1970s, when systems comprising massive precast concrete panels were favored for the construction of large institutional buildings. The diagram here captures a view from the ground looking up at a courtyard and external circular staircase typical of the style.
A structure, usually stone or brick, built against a wall to support it and bear the load of the roof. Also called a pier. A flying buttress is an arch that supports a vaulted ceiling by transferring the load from the walls to an external pier or buttress, as in many gothic cathedrals.
There are five orders in Classical architecture—three Greek (Doric (B), Ionic (C), Corinthian (D)) and two Roman (Tuscan (A) and Composite (E))—which define the distinctive characteristics of a column’s constituent parts: (from ground to top) base (1), shaft (2), capital (3) and entablature (4).
The capital (pictured) is the crown on top, which spreads the load from whatever the column supports (the entablature) to the column itself.
Faint marks—often pencil—to map out building forms and massing before working into them in more detail. Also good for establishing eye level and vanishing point when setting a drawing up in perspective.
Dating from the fifth century bc. Fancier than earlier doric or ionic columns. Corinthian capitals are intricately carved with acanthus leaves and flowers. They are mostly associated with Italy, especially Rome, and most particularly the Pantheon and Colosseum pictured left below.
A narrow, flat-topped projecting ledge with a molded, shaped underside that runs along the top of a classical building, below the roofline. The top layer of the Classical entablature. Also, the decorative molding in the angle between ceiling and wall (above).
The earliest, plainest and stumpiest of the Classical columns, placed on the ground without a base or pedestal. Wider at the bottom, with a shaft featuring parallel grooves, and a round, plain capital (pictured left above).
A term referring to the face, or side, of a building or room (pictured le).
The top of a classical building; everything that sits on top of the capitals of the columns, pictured opposite (4).
Elements drawn in the foreground —usually people—to help establish a sense of scale.
The face of a building, usually the front.
Originating in twelfth-century France, and most identified with the great medieval cathedrals, such as Chartres and Cologne. The style is characterized by the pointed arch, ribbed vault and flying buttress. It was revived in the late eighteenth and nineteenth century.
Your personal eye level, which will change according to whether you’re standing or sitting.
More slender than a doric column, with a more ornate capital (although less elaborate than a corinthian column). The Ionic capital is identified by a volute, which looks like a partly rolled-out scroll. The shaft has twenty-four hollowed-out vertical flutes pictured opposite.
A horizontal beam that bridges an opening in a wall, such as a door or window. It can be timber, stone, iron or steel.
The triangular bit above the entablature, at the top of a Classical or neo-Classical gable wall or portico. Often elaborately decorated with motifs or classically derived relief.
Simply put, theory to help you represent three dimensions in two dimensions.
In buildings, a large masonry or brick support or pillar, often for an arch.
An arch in the gothic style, meeting in a point.
A porch leading to an entrance, with a roof and frequently a pediment, supported by columns or a colonnaded walkway.
Any circular window, but most often applied to large stained-glass windows in gothic churches, such as at Notre Dame or Strasbourg Cathedral in France. Rose windows are divided into segments by stone mullions and openwork tracery.
A notional point that marks the point to which whatever you’re drawing in perspective recedes to.
The opposite of a bird’s eye view. A drawing is created looking from the ground up, as though the observer were a worm. This view offers a third perspective, with one vanishing point on top, one on the left and one on the right.