Architecture Dictionary

The 1909 Plan of Chicago, also commonly referred to as the “Burnham Plan,” was a visionary Progressive…

How did the 1933-1934 Century of Progress Exposition impact Chicago and its architecture?

Architects working in the late 19th Century were not approaching the design of tall commercial office…

Accessible architecture refers to the design and construction of buildings and spaces that can be easily…

Acoustic Design is the deliberate and thoughtful consideration of sound in architectural and interior…

Acroteria are the pedestal and sculpture at the top and lower sides of a triangular pediment; originally…

the half-rounded end of a church, behind the nave

a curved structure that spans across an open space and is made from individual pieces called voussoirs

Art Deco emerged as a popular style of American architecture the 1920s and 1930s. The style originated…

The Arts and Crafts movement originated in England in the mid-19th century as an antidote to the dehumanizing…

sculpture that projects only a short distance from the wall on which it is attached

the bottom portion of a Classical column

a horizontal structural member that supports a load

Almost every corner you turn, you can find Beaux-Arts style architecture in Chicago. Influenced by classical…

Bundled tube construction is an architectural and structural engineering technique used in the design…

In the decades after the Great Chicago Fire of 1871, Daniel Burnham and John Wellborn Root changed the…

a large vertical, concrete pier, cast in place and used in a foundation where the soil is unstable

a beam that projects out and is supported only at one end

the upper portion of a Classical column

The Chicago flag, an image close to the hearts of many Chicagoans, is now 100 years old. The City Council…

The Chicago window design emerged in the late 19th and early 20th centuries as a response to the need…

long thin wooden boards thicker on one edge than the other, laid horizontally on the exterior of a building

a structural system that does not use any columns between the exterior walls

a vertical structural member that supports a load

a hardened mixture made from four ingredients: cement, water, sand, and gravel

a structural system for a tall building that uses a central core of concrete, with massive horizontal…

a decorative band across the top of a building that projects beyond the wall

a small structure built on top of a roof to let light in to the room below

a structure that looks like half of a sphere

a small structure with a window that projects out from a sloping roof