Midterm Terms

Question 1

Elevation

Answer 1

a drawing to scale of the external face of a building or structure

Question 2

Plan

Answer 2

In the field of architecture an architectural plan is a design and planning for a building, and can contain architectural drawings, specifications of the design, calculations, time planning of the building process, and other documentation.

Question 3

Post and Lintel

Answer 3

In architecture, post and lintel (also called prop and lintel or a trabeated system) is system with a lintel, header, or architrave as the horizontal member over a building void supported at its ends by two vertical columns, pillars, or posts.

Question 4

Column

Answer 4

Column or pillar in architecture and structural engineering is a structural element that transmits, through compression, the weight of the structure above to other structural elements below. In other words, a column is a compression member.

Question 5

Capital

Answer 5

In architecture the capital (from the Latin caput, or “head”, Greek kapita) forms the topmost member of a column (or a pilaster). It mediates between the column and the load thrusting down upon it, broadening the area of the column’s supporting surface.

Question 6

Base

Answer 6

(1) : the lower part of a wall, pier, or column considered as a separate architectural feature (2) : the lower part of a complete architectural design. b : the bottom of something considered as its support : foundation.

Question 7

Frieze

Answer 7

In architecture the frieze /ˈfriːz/ is the wide central section part of an entablature and may be plain in the Ionic or Doric order, or decorated with bas-reliefs.

Question 8

Metope

Answer 8

In classical architecture, a metope (μετόπη) is a rectangular architectural element that fills the space between two triglyphs in a Doric frieze, which is a decorative band of alternating triglyphs and metopes above the architrave of a building of the Doric order.

Question 9

Triglyph

Answer 9

Triglyph is an architectural term for the vertically channeled tablets of the Doric frieze, so called because of the angular channels in them, two perfect and one divided, the two chamfered angles or hemiglyphs being reckoned as one.

Question 10

Pediment

Answer 10

A pediment is an element in classical, neoclassical and baroque architecture, and derivatives therefrom, consisting of a gable, originally of a triangular shape, placed above the horizontal structure of the entablature, typically supported by columns.

Question 11

Cornice

Answer 11

A cornice (from the Italian cornice meaning “ledge”) is generally any horizontal decorative molding that crowns a building or furniture element— the cornice over a door or window, for instance, or the cornice around the top edge of a pedestal or along the top of an interior wall.

Question 12

Entablature

Answer 12

The structure of the entablature varies with the three classical orders: Doric, Ionic, and Corinthian. In each, the proportions of the subdivisions (architrave, frieze, cornice) are defined by the proportions of the column in the order.

Question 13

Canon

Answer 13

The canon can be seen as a body of work, which has been established as representative of the best examples of a particular genre. Polykleitos: his treatise set a “canon” of proportions, that is mathematical bases for artistic perfection.

Question 14

Stylobate

Answer 14

In classical Greek architecture, a stylobate (Greek: στυλοβάτης) is the top step of the crepidoma, the stepped platform on which colonnades of temple columns are placed (it is the floor of the temple). The platform was built on a leveling course that flattened out the ground immediately beneath the temple.

Question 15

Optical refinements

Answer 15

In Greek architecture and derivatives, a set of adjustments of normal shaping and spacing made supposedly to counteract the somatic peculiarities of human vision. Also known as entasis. Vitruvius: “refinements” correct optical illusions which would make a truly regular temple look irregular.

Question 16

Sculpture: high relief

Answer 16

High relief (or altorilievo, from Italian) is where in general more than half the mass of the sculpted figure projects from the background, indeed the most prominent elements of the composition, especially heads and limbs, are often completely undercut, detaching them from the field.

Question 17

Sculpture: In the round

Answer 17

A basic distinction is between sculpture in the round, free-standing sculpture, such as statues, not attached (except possibly at the base) to any other surface, and the various types of relief, which are at least partly attached to a background surface.

Question 18

Sculpture: low relief

Answer 18

Low relief means they barely stand out from the background, almost like it’s carved just around the edges.

Question 19

Masterpiece

Answer 19

A work of art that contribute to a sense of belonging to a common culture.

Question 20

Castillon

Answer 20

A defensive military post which will be used by the counts of Amiens.

Question 21

Flying buttress

Answer 21

The defining characteristic of a flying buttress is that the buttress is not in contact with the wall like a traditional buttress; lateral forces are transmitted across an intervening space between the wall and the buttress. Flying buttress systems have two key components - a massive vertical masonry block (the buttress) on the outside of the building and a segmental or quadrant arch bridging the gap between that buttress and the wall (the “flyer”)

Question 22

Buttress

Answer 22

a structure built against a wall in order to support or strengthen it

Question 23

Culee

Answer 23

DEFINITION NEEDED

Question 24

Clerestory

Answer 24

In architecture, clerestory (/ˈklɪərstɔri/; lit. clear storey, also clearstory, clearstorey, or overstorey) are any high windows above eye level. The purpose is admit light, fresh air, or both.

Question 25

Triforium

Answer 25

A triforium is a shallow arched gallery within the thickness of inner wall, which stands above the nave of a church or cathedral. It may occur at the level of the clerestory windows, or it may be located as a separate level below the clerestory.

Question 26

Arcade

Answer 26

a succession of arches, each counter-thrusting the next, supported by columns, piers, or a covered walkway enclosed by a line of such arches on one or both sides.

Question 27

Apse

Answer 27

In architecture, the apse (from Latin absis: “arch, vault” from Greek ἀψίς apsis “arch”; sometimes written apsis; plural apsides) is a semicircular recess covered with a hemispherical vault or semi-dome, also known as an Exedra.

Question 28

Rose window

Answer 28

A rose window (or Catherine window) is often used as a generic term applied to a circular window, but is especially used for those found in churches of the Gothic architectural style and being divided into segments by stone mullions and tracery.

Question 29

Ribbed Vaults

Answer 29

The intersection of two or three barrel vaults produces a rib vault or ribbed vault when they are edged with an armature of piped masonry often carved in decorative patterns; compare groin vault, an older form of vault construction.

Question 30

Barrel Vault

Answer 30

A barrel vault, also known as a tunnel vault or a wagon vault, is an architectural element formed by the extrusion of a single curve (or pair of curves, in the case of a pointed barrel vault) along a given distance. The curves are typically circular in shape, lending a semi-cylindrical appearance to the total design.

Question 31

Groin Vault

Answer 31

A groin vault or groined vault (also sometimes known as a double barrel vault or cross vault) is produced by the intersection at right angles of two barrel vaults. The word “groin” refers to the edge between the intersecting vaults.

Question 32

Round arch

Answer 32

(architecture) a masonry construction (usually curved) for spanning an opening and supporting the weight above it

Question 33

Golden ratio

Answer 33

The golden ratio, also known as the divine proportion, golden mean, or golden section, is a number often encountered when taking the ratios of distances in simple geometric figures such as the pentagon, pentagram, decagon and dodecahedron. It is 1.618.

Question 34

Iconography

Answer 34

Iconography, as a branch of art history, studies the identification, description, and the interpretation of the content of images: the subjects depicted, the particular compositions and details used to do so, and other elements that are distinct from artistic style.

Question 35

Quatrefoil Reliefs

Answer 35

In art, architecture, and traditional Christian symbolism, the quatrefoil is a type of decorative framework consisting of a symmetrical shape which forms the overall outline of four partially overlapping circles of the same diameter.

Question 36

Tympanum

Answer 36

tympanum : (plural, tympana): The basically semicircular area enclosed by the arch above the lintel of an arched entranceway. This area is often decorated with sculpture in the Romanesque and Gothic periods.

Question 37

Trumeau

Answer 37

Vertical architectural member between the leaves of a doorway.

Question 38

Altarpiece

Answer 38

An altarpiece is a piece of art such as a painting, sculpture or relief representing a religious subject and suspended in a frame behind the altar of a Christian church.

Question 39

Reliquaries

Answer 39

A reliquary (also referred to as a shrine or by the French term châsse) is a container for relics. These may be the purported physical remains of saints, such as bones, pieces of clothing, or some object associated with saints or other religious figures.

Question 40

Relics

Answer 40

In religion, a relic usually consists of the physical remains of a saint or the personal effects of the saint or venerated person preserved for purposes of veneration as a tangible memorial.

Question 41

Support

Answer 41

The actual material or surface on which a painting is create, most usually paper, canvas, or a wooden panel.

Question 42

Medium

Answer 42

For starters, it’s used for the substance that binds the pigment in paint.

Question 43

Composition

Answer 43

In the visual arts—in particular painting, graphic design, photography, and sculpture—composition is the placement or arrangement of visual elements or ingredients in a work of art, as distinct from the subject of a work.

Question 44

Viewing point

Answer 44

A focal point is the element in a painting that pulls in the viewer’s eye, that is the center of attention or the main subject. You can emphasize a focal point through the painting’s composition, through color, and through the range of tones you use.

Question 45

Vanishing point

Answer 45

the point to which parallel lines appear to converge in the rendering of perspective, usually on the horizon.

Question 46

Horizon line

Answer 46

In painting perspective, it’s the level your eyes are at, an imaginary line to which things recede.

Question 47

Orthogonal

Answer 47

orthogonals are the diagonal lines that can be drawn along receding parallel lines (or rows of objects) to the vanishing point.

Question 48

foreshortening

Answer 48

to reduce or distort (parts of a represented object that are not parallel to the picture plane) in order to convey the illusion of three-dimensional space as perceived by the human eye: often done according to the rules of perspective.

Question 49

picture plane

Answer 49

In painting, photography, graphical perspective and descriptive geometry, a picture plane is an imaginary plane which is located between the “eye point” or oculus and the object being viewed and is usually coextensive to the material surface of the work.

Question 50

foreground

Answer 50

the ground or parts situated, or represented as situated, in the front

Question 51

middle ground

Answer 51

Middle ground is the middle of a painting or the area between the foreground and the background. This is often where the main action takes place. Objects in this area look smaller than, and are often placed partially behind, foreground objects.

Question 52

background

Answer 52

the part of a painted or carved surface against which represented objects and forms are perceived or depicted: a portrait against a purple background.

Question 53

Fresco

Answer 53

A painting on wet plaster. When the plaster dries, the painting is bonded to the wall. Fresco was a popular method for painting large murals during the Renaissance.

Question 54

Tempura

Answer 54

Tempera, also known as egg tempera, is a permanent, fast-drying painting medium consisting of colored pigment mixed with a water-soluble binder medium (usually a glutinous material such as egg yolk or some other size).

Question 55

Oil

Answer 55

Oil painting is the process of painting with pigments that are bound with a medium of drying oil. Commonly used drying oils include linseed oil, poppy seed oil, walnut oil, and safflower oil.

Question 56

Perspective

Answer 56

In drawing or painting, a way of portraying three dimensions on a flat, two-dimensional surface by suggesting depth or distance. Uses mathematical concepts to construct a scene.