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Building
shapes have some major elements
to consider: outline, scale and proportion
, and openings .
- The outline
shape of a building is most frequently defined
by the shape of the roof; is it flat, hipped, gabled,
or gambrel?
- The scale
is the height, width, length and general
feeling of mass of the building as it relates to people.
- The proportions
of a building are the ratio of width to
height creating horizontal, vertical or non-directional,
or square-like buildings, and how the different elements
relate to each other.
- Openings
are windows and doors. Their placement may
be symmetrical or asymmetrical and their outline shape
and proportions contribute to the appearance of the
building.
When
we discuss the outline of a house
or building the biggest part of the shape
is the roof . Typically roofs
fall in to three categories: pitched ,
flat , and domed .
Stand in front of your house and draw the line that
forms the shape of your house.
When you drew the top of the line was it pointed or
flat? Let’s look at some of the different types of roofs
and the elements that add to it.
 Gabled
Roof
Hipped Roof
Turret Roof
Dome
Some
of the structural elements that add to the roof can
be purely to hold up the roof or can be decorative as
well. Some examples are:
Does
anything stick up from the roof? Do you have chimneys
or pipes? Is there maybe a weathervane? Don’t forget
to include these items in your outline.
Look
at the following two buildings and describe their roofs
and any additional roof elements:
An
example of scale would be if you went
to see the Statue Of Liberty. Before your visit it was
hard to tell how big it was in the pictures but now,
standing next to it, you see how large it really is.
You can see it’s true size because your eyes can compare
its scale to the other objects around
it such as buildings, boats and even you.
When
houses and other buildings are designed, scale affects
many parts of the building. Doorways have to be large
enough so that people can comfortably pass through them
and ceilings have to be high enough so people don’t
bump their heads. But can a doorway be too large? Can
a ceiling be too high?
Proportions
have been an important part of art and architecture
for thousands of years. The Classical Greeks developed
a mathematical philosophy they called the Golden Mean.
The Golden Mean used math as a way to express how small
parts related to larger parts as the larger parts related
to the whole. Remember how we looked at the scale
of the Statue of Liberty? We can also look
at it with proportion in mind. Compare
the size of her hand to her head or compare her foot
to her arm. Do the same thing with your own body. How
many hand lengths long are your legs?
The
same Golden Mean of proportions can
be applied to architecture as well. Look at your own
house and thinks about the different shapes in your
house and how they are put together. Is your house two
squares stacked on top of each other? Or, maybe a rectangle
set on its side?
The
last set of shapes that we can
find on buildings would be the openings .
These include windows and doors. Grab a pencil and paper
and head outside again. Count all the windows. Now count
all the doors. Can you what it would be like if your
house had no windows? What if it was all windows?
Let’s
look at a few different kinds of windows
and their parts:
Bay Window
Casement Window
Chicago Window
Lattice Window
Oriel
Window Palladian
Window
Roundel Window
Sash Window
A
door and it’s surrounding frame make
up a doorway. There are two main types of doors, paneled
and match-boarded, both of which were used as long ago
as ancient Egyptian times. Paneled doors consist of
a frame of horizontal rails and vertical muntins, with
inside panels of wood or glass. Match-boarded doors
consist of long vertical boards held together by horizontal
rails and diagonal braces. Doorways that are particularly
grand or imposing are known as portals and can be found
on castles and cathedrals. Doors that lead to the outside
are always stronger than doors between interior rooms.
Let’s
look at materials!
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