1.1 Key Terms

Aesthetics
The quality of an object that deals with art, beauty, and taste.

Arch
A curved structure for spanning an opening, designed to support a vertical load primarily by axial compression.

Architect


Balance
The pleasing or harmonious arrangement or proportion of parts or elements in a design or composition.

Bearing Walls
Solid walls that provide support for each other and for the roof of a structure.

Civil Engineering

Color
The aspect of the appearance of objects and light sources that may be described in terms of hue, lightness, and saturation for objects and hue, brightness, and saturation for light sources.

Contrast
A visual principle associated with change made in size, shape, color, or tone of graphic elements.

Design Principles
The rules that describe how designers might put together various design elements to create an aesthetic finished product.

Dome
An arrangement of several arches whose bases form a circle and whose tops meet in the center.

Element of Design
A basic visual component or building block of designed objects.

Emphasis
Stress or prominence given to an element of a composition by means of contrast, anomaly, or counterpoint.

Façade
The exterior face of a building.

Form
The shape and structure of something as distinguished from its substance or material.

Keystone
A wedge-shaped stone placed in the crown of an arch.

Line
The edge or contour of a shape.

Lintel
A beam supporting the weight above a door or window opening.

Movement
The effect or illusion of motion conveyed by the relationship of structural elements in a design or composition.

Pattern
An artistic or decorative design, especially one having a characteristic arrangement and considered as a unit.

Post-and-Lintel Construction
Wall construction utilizing a framework of vertical posts and horizontal beams to carry floor and roof loads.

Repetition
A principle where some graphic elements are repeated throughout the entire design.

Rhythm
Movement characterized by a patterned repetition or alteration of formal elements or motifs in the same or a modified form.


Shape
The two-dimensional contour that characterizes an object or area.

Space
The dimensions of height, depth, and width within which all things exist and move.

Texture
The feel, appearance, or consistency of a surface, substance, or fabric.

Unity
The state or quality of being combined into one, as the ordering of elements in an artistic work that constitutes a harmonious whole or promotes a singleness of effect.

Value
The relative lightness or darkness of a color.

Vernacular Architecture
Culturally and climatically relevant architecture using locally available materials and traditional building techniques.

Voussoir
Any of the wedge-shaped units in a masonry arch or vault, having side cuts converging at one of the arch centers.