Buildings represent 38.9% of U.S. primary energy use (includes fuel input for production).
-Environmental Information Administration (2008). EIA Annual Energy Outlook.
-Environmental Information Administration (2008). EIA Annual Energy Outlook.
Glossary of Esoteric Architecture Terms
Q IS FOR:
ARCHITECTURAL ANATOMY:
BUILDING ZOO:
Cyril M. Harris, Editor, Dictionary of Architecture and Construction. McGraw-Hill, Inc., 1975.
- Quoin:
- Stone or brick masonry used at building corners to reinforce, or visually emphasize the corner.
- Quirk:
- A groove visually separating one building element from another; something which looks like a joint, but isn't.
- Quarrel:
- Square or diamond shaped tile set diagonally.
- Quincunx:
- A symmetrical layout of decorative elements like tiles, in which a central piece is flanked by four others, all identical.
ARCHITECTURAL ANATOMY:
- Ear:
- Structural or decorative projection.
- Nose:
- Same as nosing, that is, the projection beyond an adjacent vertical piece of a horizontal member, like a stair nosing past the riser.
- Throat:
- A horizontal groove along the underside of a projection which prevents water from seeping past.
- Head:
- Top cross member of a door or window frame.
- Cheek:
- The side of something, either an opening or an architectural member
- Neck:
- The top part of a classical column (between the astragal and the echinus!).
- Shoulder:
- The place where a piece of material gets wider.
- Hand:
- As in left handed or right handed swing.
- Knee:
- The place where the material bends.
- Crotch:
- The place on a tree where the branch meets the trunk, and from which unusual wood veneer can be obtained.
BUILDING ZOO:
- Bug hole:
- Small air hole in concrete.
- Monkey Tail:
- The scroll you sometimes see at the bottom of a traditional stairway handrail.
- Dogtooth:
- Ornamentation with repeated pointed motif.
- Catseye:
- A tiny knot in wood.
- Cat walk:
- Narrow walkway, like a bridge.
- Rabbet:
- (Note: not "rabbit") A groove or long channel in building material.
- Mouse:
- A weight on a string, like the one in a double hung window.
- Duck Board:
- Walkway made from a plank to get across mud, dampness.
- Chicken ladder:
- Workers platform.
- Bull nose:
- Same as nose, above.
- Buffalo box:
- The box buried next to the sidewalk that has the water shut off valve inside.
Cyril M. Harris, Editor, Dictionary of Architecture and Construction. McGraw-Hill, Inc., 1975.