Reference

Glossary

The terms that come up across the atlas. Each is linked from the features list of any building that uses it.

Cantilever
A rigid structural element extending horizontally from a vertical support without an opposing brace. Frequently used to project terraces, balconies and roofs beyond the building footprint.
Pilotis
Slender columns that lift a building off the ground, freeing the ground floor for circulation, parking or garden. Le Corbusier's first of his Five Points of architecture.
Brise-soleil
A sun-shading device (literally "sun-breaker") of fixed or movable louvres in front of a facade. Reduces solar gain while preserving views.
Hyperboloid
A doubly-ruled surface generated by rotating a hyperbola around its axis. Vladimir Shukhov pioneered its use in lightweight steel towers; Antoni Gaudí used hyperboloids in stone vaults.
Béton brut
Raw concrete, deliberately left with the texture of its formwork visible. Gave Brutalism (from the French) its name and its honest material vocabulary.
Curtain wall
A non-structural outer skin — usually glass and metal — hung off the building's structural frame. Lets the load-bearing system sit invisibly inside.
Flying buttress
An exterior arched support that transfers thrust from a high vault to a stand-alone pier outside the wall. Made the soaring stained-glass walls of Gothic cathedrals possible.
Parametric design
A design method in which form is generated by adjustable parameters in software, allowing continuous curvature and per-element variation impractical to draw by hand.