Architecture Glossary: Design, Zoning and Rendering Terms

A

Ablution fountain (şadırvan): The ablution fountain in a mosque courtyard: a usually polygonal basin with taps around it, often sheltered by a roof or dome on columns.
Accent lighting: Accent lighting picks out an artwork, a textured surface or an architectural detail by lighting it noticeably brighter than its surroundings.
Accessibility: The quality of buildings and public spaces that lets everyone, including disabled and older people, use them independently and safely.
Acoustics: Acoustics is the design of how sound travels, reflects and fades within a space, aimed at clear hearing and protection from unwanted noise.
Adaptive reuse: Giving a historic or existing building that has lost its function a new, compatible use while retaining its original values.
Aerial view: An aerial view shows a building or development from high above, usually at an oblique angle, explaining how it sits within its surroundings.
AI rendering: Producing images with generative AI models from a text prompt or from a starting image such as a sketch, a model screenshot or a clay render.
Albedo: The pure colour of a surface with no shading or reflection; in physics, the share of incoming light that a surface reflects back.
Alem (finial): An alem is the finial set on the very top of a dome, minaret or conical roof, usually metal, with stacked spheres and often a crescent.
Algorithmic design: An approach in which a design is generated by step-by-step rules, code or visual programming, so the form emerges from a process.
Alternating masonry: A masonry wall in which courses of stone and courses of brick alternate in a regular pattern, giving both structure and rhythm to the facade.
Aluminium composite panel: A light, flat cladding sheet made of two thin aluminium skins bonded to a core, widely used on modern facades and signage.
Ambient lighting: Ambient lighting is the base layer of light that spreads evenly through a room, giving enough light to move around safely and see comfortably.
Ambient occlusion: A shading technique that mimics the soft darkening in corners, crevices and contact points where nearby surfaces block ambient light.
Anastylosis: A repair method that identifies the surviving original pieces of a collapsed structure and returns them to their original positions.
Apse: The semicircular or polygonal space projecting at the end of the nave in a church or basilica, usually covered by a semi-dome.
Arasta (market arcade): A row of shops lined along a street or passage, usually housing one trade and often built to earn income for a mosque complex.
Arch: An arch is a curved structural element that spans an opening and carries the load above it in compression down to the supports on either side.
Architectural animation: Architectural animation presents a project as a video built from sequential rendered frames, with a moving camera guiding the viewer.
Architectural brief (space programme): A pre-design document that sets out which spaces a building needs, how large they are and how they should relate to each other.
Architectural competition: A way of choosing a design in which several designers submit proposals for a building or site and an independent jury judges them.
Architectural plan: An architectural plan is a drawing made by cutting a building horizontally and looking down, showing walls, openings and room layout.
Architectural project: An architectural project is the full set of drawings and documents that defines a building's form, layout, materials and construction.
Architectural visualization: Communicating an unbuilt or renovated building through realistic images such as renders, animations and virtual tours.
Area light: An area light emits light from a surface, such as a rectangle or disc, rather than a single point, producing soft, natural shadows.
Ashlar: Building stone cut to regular dimensions with flat faces and square edges, laid in thin joints, and the masonry built from it.
Atrium: An atrium is a multi-storey open space inside a building, usually lit from above, that connects the floors visually around a shared void.
Attic: An attic is the space between a pitched roof and the ceiling of the top floor, used for storage, services or, with enough height, as a living room.
Augmented reality (AR): Augmented reality (AR) places digital models over a live view of the real world on a phone, tablet or headset screen.
AutoCAD: A 2D and 3D computer-aided design program widely used for technical drawing in architecture and engineering, closely tied to the DWG format.

B

Bağdadi (lath and plaster): A light, unfilled wall technique in which thin laths are nailed to both faces of a timber frame and covered with lime or gypsum plaster.
Balcony: A balcony is an open platform on an upper floor, projecting from or set into the facade, enclosed by a railing and reached from inside.
Barrel vault: A barrel vault is a half-cylinder covering that runs along a straight line and carries its load continuously into two long side walls.
Base map: A surveyed map showing an area as it currently exists, with buildings, roads, levels and plot boundaries drawn to scale.
Basement: A basement is a storey below the ground floor, wholly or partly below ground level, typically used for storage, parking, plant rooms or living space.
Basilica: A Roman-origin rectangular building type with a tall central nave, lower side aisles and an apse at one end, later the basic church plan.
Bay window (oriel): A bay window, or oriel, is an enclosed projection on an upper floor, glazed on several sides, that adds light, views and floor space to a room.
Beam: A beam is a mostly horizontal structural member that carries loads from slabs and walls and transfers them to columns or load-bearing walls.
Bedesten: A secure, multi-domed masonry market hall where valuable goods were traded and stored, with thick walls, small high windows and strong doors.
BIM (Building Information Modeling): A way of working where a building is designed as one shared model of information-rich objects, from which drawings, quantities and coordination come.
Biophilic design: Biophilic design brings people's need for contact with nature into buildings through daylight, plants, water, views and natural materials.
Blender: A free, open-source 3D application that combines modeling, sculpting, animation and rendering tools in a single package.
Block and plot: In Turkish land registry, the ada is the block bounded by roads and the parsel is the registered plot within it.
Bloom and glare: Bloom and glare are lens-like effects that recreate the soft halo and the streaks of light seen around very bright light sources.
Brise-soleil (sun shading): A brise-soleil is an external shading device of horizontal or vertical fins on a facade that blocks direct sunlight and prevents overheating.
Building coverage ratio: In Turkish zoning, TAKS is the ratio limiting a building's ground footprint relative to the area of its plot.
Building inspection: In Turkish construction, the system that checks a building against its permit, approved drawings and standards from design to handover.
Building permit: In Turkish practice, the official permit issued by the local authority, based on approved drawings, before construction can start.
Built-in appliance: Built-in appliances, such as ovens, hobs, dishwashers and fridges, are fitted into the kitchen cabinetry so that they become part of the units.
Built-in wardrobe: A built-in wardrobe is a fixed cabinet fitted into a wall recess or from wall to wall, often up to the ceiling, so it reads as part of the room.
Bump map: A greyscale height texture that changes how a surface catches light, faking roughness and relief without adding any geometry.
Buttress: A thick masonry mass set against the outer face of a wall to resist the lateral thrust of an arch, vault or dome and carry it to the ground.

C

Camera angle: Camera angle is the framing decision about where the scene is viewed from, at what height and in which direction.
Camera matching: Camera matching sets a virtual camera's position, direction and lens to exactly match the real camera that took a photograph.
Canopy and awning: Fixed canopies and retractable fabric awnings that give outdoor and semi-outdoor spaces protection from sun and light rain.
Cantilever: A structural member supported at only one end, with the other end free, used for balconies, canopies and projecting floors.
Capital: A capital is the crowning element of a column that gathers the load of the arch or beam above and passes it into the shaft, usually decorated.
Caravanserai: A fortified roadside inn on trade routes, built with thick walls and a courtyard to shelter travellers, animals and goods overnight.
Caustics: Bright patterns of light formed when glass, water or shiny metal focuses light onto a surface by bending or reflecting it.
Ceiling medallion: The central ornament of a traditional timber ceiling, carved, built up from slats or painted, that pulls the whole ceiling design together.
Ceramic and porcelain tile: Ceramic and porcelain tiles are durable wall and floor finishes made by shaping and firing clay-based raw materials at high temperature.
Çini (glazed tile): Decorated glazed ceramic tile, painted with designs and fired under a glaze, used to clad walls, mihrabs, domes and other surfaces.
Circulation: The way people move horizontally and vertically through a building, shaped by its corridors, halls, stairs, ramps and lifts.
Clay render: A clay render replaces every material in the scene with a single matte, usually white or grey, surface to show form and light on their own.
Color palette: A set of coordinated main, secondary and accent colours chosen to be used together in a room or across a whole project.
Color psychology: The study of how colours affect people's mood, perception and behaviour, used to guide deliberate colour choices in design.
Color rendering index (CRI): A 0–100 score showing how faithfully a light source reveals the colours of objects compared with daylight or a reference source.
Color temperature: Color temperature describes how warm (yellow-orange) or cool (bluish) a light source looks, measured in kelvin.
Column: A column is the vertical structural member of a frame that collects loads from beams and slabs and carries them down to the foundations.
Component: An object defined once and used as many copies in a model; editing one copy updates every other copy linked to the same definition.
Concept design: The early design stage that first sets out a project's main idea: its massing, spatial organisation and character.
Condominium ownership: In Turkish property law, ownership of individual units such as flats or shops in a completed building, together with a land share.
Conservation area: An area protected together with its setting because of cultural or natural value, where new building is subject to special rules.
Conservation plan: A special zoning plan for protected sites that balances conservation and use and sets building, repair and land-use rules.
Consolidation: Intervention that makes a historic building's structure or its decayed materials sound and stable again while retaining original fabric.
Construction detail: A construction detail is a large-scale drawing showing the layers, dimensions and assembly of a building element or junction.
Construction documents: Construction documents are the detailed drawing set that gives contractors every dimension, material and detail needed to build.
Construction servitude (floor easement): In Turkish property law, a right registered on the land for each future unit of a building not yet completed, tied to a land share.
Construction site: The working area where a building is constructed, holding materials, machinery and crews, and secured by safety measures.
Cornice moulding: A cornice moulding runs along the junction of wall and ceiling, covering the joint and adding ornament or a place to hide indirect lighting.
Corona Renderer: A CPU-based render engine known for producing realistic results with few settings, widely used for architectural interior renders.
Cost estimate: An estimate of what a building or job will cost, found by multiplying take-off quantities by their unit prices.
Countertop: A countertop is the durable work surface that tops the base cabinets in kitchens and bathrooms, used for preparing, washing and cooking.
Courtyard: A courtyard is an open-air space enclosed by buildings or walls, giving the surrounding rooms light, air and a shared centre for daily life.
CPU rendering: Rendering that runs its calculations on the computer's main processor, using system memory so that very large scenes stay stable.
Curtain wall: A curtain wall is a non-structural facade hung from the floors that wraps a building in a continuous skin, usually of aluminium framing and glass.

D

D5 Render: Architectural visualization software that runs in real time using GPU ray tracing and connects live to design programs.
Damage assessment: The study that documents and evaluates the type, location, extent and causes of structural and material decay in a historic building.
Daylighting: Daylighting is the deliberate use of windows, rooflights and reflective surfaces to bring controlled natural light into a building.
Deconstructivism: Deconstructivism is a contemporary architectural movement that challenges order and unity through fragmented forms, tilted planes and broken geometry.
Decoration: Decoration is the work of shaping the mood of a space with mostly movable elements such as color, furniture, textiles, accessories and plants.
Denoiser: A denoiser is a filter that cleans up the grain left by too few samples in a render, giving a clean image in far less rendering time.
Density: In planning, the amount of population or building per unit of land; one of the core decisions of a zoning plan.
Depressed arch: A depressed arch rises less than half its span, giving a low, flat profile; for the same opening it pushes outward harder than a round arch.
Depth of field: Depth of field is the range of distance that appears sharp in an image; the blur outside it adds depth and guides the viewer's eye.
Digital twin: A digital twin is a digital copy of a real building or facility, kept up to date with sensor and operational data to monitor and predict its behavior.
Dimensioning: Adding sizes, distances and levels to an architectural drawing with dimension lines, extension lines and text so it can be built.
Displacement: A rendering technique that actually moves surface geometry according to a height map, creating real relief with silhouette and shadows.
Dome: A curved roof formed by rotating an arch around its vertical axis, spanning a space from above without internal columns.
Dome drum: A dome drum is the cylindrical or polygonal wall below a dome that lifts it above the transition zone and is often pierced by windows.
Double-shell dome: A double-shell dome has two separate shells: an inner dome that forms the ceiling and an outer covering that shapes the silhouette.
Double-skin facade: A double-skin facade is a facade made of two glazed layers with a ventilated cavity between them, used to manage heat, noise and solar gain.
Drainage: Collecting surface water and excess groundwater and carrying it away from buildings and sites through falls, channels, pipes and filters.
Drawing sheet: The standard sheet on which architectural and technical drawings are laid out at a set size and then printed or submitted.
DWG: AutoCAD's native file format, storing 2D and 3D drawing data, layers, blocks and sheet layouts; the most widely shared CAD file in architecture.

E

Eaves: The part of a roof that projects beyond the outer wall, keeping rain off the facade and shading windows from high summer sun.
Electrical project: An electrical project designs a building's lighting, power outlets, distribution, earthing and low-voltage systems.
Elephant foot pier: An elephant foot pier is a massive masonry pier that carries the main dome and its great arches in large domed buildings.
Elevation: An elevation is a drawing of one face of a building in orthographic projection, without perspective, showing it at true proportion.
Eli böğründe (angled bracket): An eli böğründe is an angled timber or stone bracket that props up a projecting element such as an oriel, eave or balcony from below.
Energy performance certificate: A certificate rating a building's energy use and carbon emissions on a letter scale; in Turkey it is called the Enerji kimlik belgesi.
Enscape: A real-time rendering plugin that runs inside programs such as Revit, SketchUp, Rhino and Archicad and turns the model into a scene you can explore instantly.
Entourage: Entourage is the set of supporting elements, such as people, trees, cars and props, used in architectural images to give scale and life.
Entrance hall: An entrance hall is the space just inside the front door of a home or unit, where people arrive and from which the other rooms are reached.
Ergonomics: Ergonomics is the design of spaces, furniture and fittings around the dimensions and movements of the human body, for comfortable and safe use.
Expansion joint: An expansion joint is a structural gap that splits a large building into independent blocks, letting them move with heat, shrinkage, settlement and earthquakes.
Exposed concrete (béton brut): Exposed concrete is concrete left as it comes out of the formwork, without plaster or cladding, so its texture and form marks become the finish.
Exposure: Exposure is the setting that controls how much light reaches the camera or render, setting the image's overall brightness and tonal balance.
Eye level: Eye level places the camera at the height of a standing person's eyes, showing a space the way people actually experience it.

F

Facade: A facade is any outward-facing side of a building; it shapes the building's character, how it handles climate and how it reads in the street.
FBX: FBX is a widely used 3D exchange format that can carry geometry, materials, cameras and animation between programs in a single file.
Feasibility study: A study that checks, before an investment decision, whether a project is technically, legally and financially viable.
Fire regulations: Turkey's building fire code: design and construction rules that limit fire spread and make sure people can leave a building safely.
Firefly (render artifact): Fireflies are isolated, overly bright pixels in a render, caused when rare but very energetic light paths are sampled by chance.
Flat roof (roof terrace): A roof that looks flat but has a slight fall to carry water to drains, built up in insulated layers and often usable on top.
Floor area ratio (FAR): In Turkish zoning, the ratio of total buildable floor area to plot area; known as emsal or KAKS, the floor area coefficient.
Floor plan: A floor plan is the plan drawing for one storey of a building, showing its walls, openings, rooms and dimensions.
Floor slab: A floor slab is the horizontal structural element that separates storeys and carries loads to the beams, columns or walls supporting it.
Floor-to-floor height: Floor-to-floor height is the vertical distance from the top of one floor slab to the top of the next; it is not the same as clear ceiling height.
Focal length: Focal length is the millimeter value that sets a lens's field of view: short lengths give a wide view, long ones a narrow, magnified view.
Foundation: The lowest part of a building’s structure, which safely transfers all of its loads into the ground beneath it.
Frame structure: A frame structure carries loads through a framework of columns, beams and slabs, freeing walls from load-bearing so plans can be laid out freely.
Functionalism: Functionalism is the architectural approach holding that a building's form should arise first from its function and the needs of its users.
Furniture layout: Furniture layout is the arrangement of furniture in a room with use, circulation and visual balance in mind, worked out on the plan before anything is bought.
Furniture layout plan: A scaled plan showing where furniture, fittings and equipment sit in each room, with their real sizes and the space needed to use them.

G

Geotechnical survey: An engineering investigation of the ground at a building site, using boreholes, sampling and tests to inform foundation design.
Global illumination (GI): Lighting calculation that includes light bouncing off surfaces, not only light arriving directly from the source, just as in the real world.
GPU rendering: Rendering that runs its light calculations on the many parallel cores of a graphics card, which makes interactive previews especially fast.
Grasshopper: A visual programming environment inside Rhino that lets designers build parametric and algorithmic designs by wiring components together.
Green building: A building designed and run with care for energy, water, materials and indoor quality, often documented through certification.
Green roof: A roof built up with root barrier, drainage and growing medium layers so that plants can grow across its surface.
Grid line (axis): A grid line is a named reference line, lettered in one direction and numbered in the other, that fixes where columns and walls sit on a drawing.
Groin vault: A groin vault is formed by two barrel vaults crossing at right angles, gathering its load onto four corner supports along sharp diagonal edges.
Gross floor area: The total area of a building or unit measured to the outer faces of its walls, including the space the walls themselves occupy.
Ground floor: The ground floor is the storey that sits closest to natural or finished grade, usually holding the main entrance of the building.
Group: A container that gathers a set of faces and edges into one object, so that geometry does not merge with the rest of the model.
Grout joint: A grout joint is the gap deliberately left between tiles, stone or panels and filled with a special grout or sealant so the finish lasts and stays aligned.

H

Hammam: A historic bath of cool, warm and hot rooms under domes and vaults, heated from beneath the floor by hot gases from a furnace.
Hardscape: The non-living, built elements of a landscape: paths, paving, walls, steps, pergolas and street furniture, as opposed to planting.
Hayat (open gallery): A covered, semi-open gallery running in front of the rooms in a traditional house, facing a courtyard or garden and used for living.
HDRI: A high dynamic range image that stores a very wide range of light, often wrapped around a 3D scene to light it and fill the background.
Hımış (timber frame with infill): A traditional wall system in which the bays of a timber frame of posts, rails and braces are filled with brick, stone or mud brick.
Horasan mortar: A traditional water-resistant, pinkish mortar and render made of lime mixed with crushed or ground brick and roof tile.
Horseshoe arch: A horseshoe arch continues past a semicircle so that its curve turns inward below the springing line, narrowing the opening like a horseshoe.
Human scale: How the dimensions of spaces and building elements relate to the human body, making a place feel comfortable and legible.

I

IES light profile: An IES light profile is a file of measured data describing how a real light fitting spreads light in each direction, used in renders.
IFC: IFC is an open, vendor-neutral exchange format that carries BIM models between software together with their objects and data.
Implementation zoning plan: In Turkish planning, the detailed plan that turns master plan decisions into blocks, building layouts and conditions plot by plot.
Industrial style: An interior style inspired by old factories and warehouses, defined by bare brick, exposed concrete, visible services and metal details.
Instancing: Instancing stores one 3D object's geometry once in memory and repeats it using only position, rotation and scale data for each copy.
Integrated design: Integrated design is a process in which architects, engineers and other specialists work together from day one and make key decisions jointly.
Interior architecture: Interior architecture is the discipline that plans and designs the inside of a building for function, comfort, materials and light, then details it for build.
Irrigation system: Landscape infrastructure that delivers water to plants in a regular, measured way through pipes, drippers, sprinklers and a controller.
Iwan: An iwan is a large vaulted hall walled on three sides and fully open on the fourth, usually facing a courtyard or a central space.

J

Japandi: An interior style blending Japanese restraint with Scandinavian warmth, built on natural materials, calm colours and few possessions.

K

Kalem işi (painted decoration): Painted decoration applied by brush to plaster, timber or stone surfaces, combining floral, geometric and calligraphic motifs.
Keystone: A keystone is the wedge-shaped stone at the crown of an arch or vault that locks the voussoirs rising from either side into place.
Kitchen island: A kitchen island is a freestanding block of cabinets and countertop placed in the middle of the kitchen, reachable from all sides.
Kitchen work triangle: The kitchen work triangle is a classic planning rule that keeps the links between sink, hob and fridge short, practical and free of obstacles.
Külliye (building complex): A complex of buildings grouped around a mosque, combining education, health, lodging and trade, and sustained by a charitable foundation.
Kümbet (tomb tower): A tower-like tomb typical of the Seljuk period, with a burial crypt below, a prayer room above and a conical or pyramidal roof.
Kündekari: A woodworking technique in which small geometric pieces are fitted into grooved strips without nails or glue to form interlocking patterns.

L

Lacquered cabinet door: A lacquered cabinet door is usually MDF finished with multiple coats of paint and lacquer, giving a smooth matte or gloss surface in almost any color.
Laminate flooring: Laminate flooring is a floor covering made by pressing a printed decor layer and a hard-wearing overlay onto a high-density fibreboard core.
Landscape architecture: The profession and discipline of planning and designing gardens, parks and urban open spaces using both natural and built elements.
Landscape lighting: Lighting gardens, parks and outdoor spaces for safety, wayfinding and atmosphere by lighting paths, plants, facades and water features.
Landscape project: A landscape project defines the hard and soft surfaces, planting, irrigation, lighting and levels of the open spaces around a building.
Laser scanning: Laser scanning is a survey method that measures distances with a laser beam and records a building or site as a highly accurate point cloud.
Latecomers’ portico: The covered or semi-open portico in front of a mosque's prayer hall, usually an arcade, where latecomers can pray when the hall is full.
Lattice screen (kafes): A screen of interwoven timber or metal slats fitted in front of a window or gallery, letting people see out while blocking views in.
Lawn: A landscape surface covered with grasses and mown regularly, giving space for play, rest and an open, calm view.
Layer / tag: An organizing tool that sorts objects in a drawing or model into classes so their visibility and properties can be managed together.
Legend: The key on a drawing or map that explains the symbols, colours, hatches and line types used on it.
Level (elevation datum): A height value showing how far a point or surface sits above or below the project datum, usually marked as ±0.00.
Level of detail (LOD): A measure of how detailed a model is: in BIM it describes model maturity, in visualization it means simpler versions of objects for distant views.
Light gauge steel: Light gauge steel framing uses cold-formed galvanized steel C and U sections, screwed together, as a lightweight structural system.
Light portal: A light portal is an invisible helper placed over windows in interior renders, telling the engine where sky light enters the room.
Lighting design: Lighting design is the planning of the amount, direction, color and control of light in a space to suit how it is used and the mood it should have.
Lime mortar: A traditional masonry mortar using lime as binder and sand or similar aggregate as filler, hardening slowly by absorbing carbon dioxide.
Linear lighting: Lighting made with long, slim fittings or LED profiles that emit light along a continuous line rather than from single points.
Lintel: A horizontal member placed over a door or window opening that carries the wall above and passes its load to each side.
Listed building: A building officially registered as a protected cultural asset for its historic, architectural or cultural value, so changes need approval.
Lumen: The lumen is the unit of luminous flux: the total amount of visible light a source gives off in all directions, weighted by the sensitivity of the eye.
Lumion: Real-time visualization software that turns a model from a design program into images, animations and panoramas, helped by a large object library.
Lux: Lux is the unit of illuminance, the amount of light falling on a surface; one lux equals one lumen of light spread evenly over one square metre.

M

Madrasa: A historic college building organised around a courtyard, with student cells, iwans, arcades and a main lecture hall for higher learning.
Mahfil (raised gallery): A raised platform or gallery inside a mosque, set on columns or brackets and reserved for a specific group such as muezzins or the ruler.
Main dome: The main dome is the largest and highest dome of a domed building, covering the principal space and setting the order of the whole structure.
Masonry construction: Masonry construction relies on load-bearing walls built from stone, brick or block units to carry a building's loads to the ground.
Master development plan: In Turkish planning, the master plan that sets land use, density and main transport decisions and guides the detailed zoning plan.
Material palette: The selection of finishes so their colour, texture, sheen and character work together as one coherent set within a space.
Maximum building height: In Turkish zoning, Hmax is the maximum building height allowed on a plot; how it is measured is set by regulation and plan notes.
MDF: MDF is a medium-density fibreboard made by pressing wood fibres with resin under heat and pressure, giving a smooth, uniform board that is easy to machine.
Measured survey: A measured survey records the current state of an existing building or site by measuring it and drawing it as plans, sections and elevations.
Mechanical (HVAC and plumbing) project: A mechanical project designs a building's heating, cooling, ventilation, water supply, drainage and fire suppression systems.
Mesh: A network of vertices, edges and faces connected into a surface that defines the shape of a 3D object.
Mezzanine: A mezzanine is an intermediate floor built over part of a tall space, staying partly open to the room below instead of dividing it fully.
Microcement: Microcement is a thin, cement-based coating applied in layers to floors, walls and countertops, giving a seamless surface with a concrete look.
Mihrab: The niche set in the centre of a mosque's qibla wall that marks the direction of prayer and in front of which the imam stands.
Minbar: The stepped pulpit to the right of a mosque's mihrab, from which the Friday sermon is given, ending in a small kiosk under a conical cap.
Minimalism: A design approach that reduces a space to its essentials, relying on plain surfaces, few materials and generous emptiness.
Mirror vault: A mirror vault rises in curved surfaces from all four walls of a room and is closed at the top by a flat, horizontal central panel, the mirror.
Modernism: A 20th-century architectural movement that rejected historical ornament in favour of function, new technology and plain geometry.
Modular coordination: A system that sizes a building and its components as multiples of a common basic module so that parts fit without cutting.
Monumental portal: The monumental entrance of a historic building: a framed, recessed and richly carved portal that projects from or rises above the facade.
Moodboard: A design tool that gathers images, colours, material samples and textures on one board to show the intended feel of a project.
Motion blur: Motion blur is the streaking that appears when the camera or an object moves during exposure; in animation it gives smoothness and a sense of speed.
Muqarnas: A three-dimensional composition of small niche-like cells stacked in projecting tiers, used both as decoration and as a transition between surfaces.

N

Narthex: The transverse entrance hall across the front of a church or basilica, forming a threshold between the outside and the main worship space.
Nave: The nave is the central space of a basilican or multi-aisled building, running toward the apse or mihrab, wider and taller than the side aisles.
Net floor area: The actual usable area of a space, measured to the inner faces of its walls, leaving out walls, columns and similar elements.
Normal map: A texture that stores surface normal directions as RGB colours, faking fine bumps and grooves without adding any geometry.
North arrow: The symbol on plans and maps that shows which way is north, so a building's position relative to sun, wind and context can be read.
NURBS: A modeling method that defines curves and surfaces mathematically through control points and weights, giving perfectly smooth curves at any scale.

O

OBJ: OBJ is a simple model format that stores polygon geometry, UV coordinates and normals as plain text, and almost every 3D program can open it.
Occupancy permit: In Turkish practice, the document confirming a finished building matches its permit and approved drawings, so it can be used.
Office layout: The arrangement of desks, meeting rooms, shared areas and support spaces in an office to suit how the organisation and its people work.
Open plan: An open plan combines functions such as cooking, dining and living in one continuous space instead of separating them with walls and doors.
Organic architecture: An approach that treats a building as part of its site and nature, deriving form from landscape, materials and the way it is used.
Orientation: Orientation is the direction a building and its rooms face on the site, relative to sun, wind, views and access.
Ornamental pool: A decorative water feature built for looks, sound and cooling rather than swimming, such as a reflecting pool, fountain or garden pond.

P

Parametric design: An approach where form is defined by linked parameters and rules instead of fixed lines, so changing one value updates the whole design.
Parapet: A low wall rising above the edge of a roof, terrace or balcony; in Turkey the term also covers the wall below a window.
Parcellation: In Turkish zoning, reshaping cadastral plots according to the implementation plan into plots that can be built on.
Parking regulations: Turkey's parking regulation: how many parking spaces a building must provide for its use, and how those spaces should be laid out.
Particleboard: Particleboard is made by pressing wood chips with glue into panels; in Turkey it is widely called sunta and is used heavily for cabinet carcasses.
Passive house: A building standard that cuts heating demand to a minimum through heavy insulation, airtightness and heat-recovery ventilation.
Path tracing: A rendering method that follows light bouncing many times between surfaces using random samples, giving physically accurate images.
PBR material: A material that describes how a surface reacts to light through physical values such as colour, roughness and metalness.
Pendentive: A pendentive is a curved triangular piece of masonry in the corner of a square bay that turns the square into a circle to carry a dome.
Penthouse floor: A penthouse floor is the top storey of a building, set under the roof or stepped back on a flat roof, often with terraces and the best views.
Pergola: A light, open structure of posts and spaced beams that shades gardens and terraces, often covered with climbing plants.
Permit drawings: Permit drawings are the architectural and engineering set submitted to the municipality to obtain a building permit and show code compliance.
Photogrammetry: Photogrammetry is the method of building a measurable 3D model of an object or space from overlapping photographs taken from different angles.
Photomontage: A photomontage places a rendered building into a real photograph of its site, with perspective and lighting matched to the photo.
Photorealism: The quality of a computer-generated image so convincing in light, material and camera behaviour that it could pass for a photograph.
Pier: A pier is a heavy masonry support, thicker than a column and usually square, rectangular or polygonal, that carries arches, vaults or domes.
Plan notes: In Turkish zoning, the written rules that accompany a zoning plan, covering what its drawings cannot show, and are equally binding.
Planting design: The part of landscape design that sets which plants go where, in what numbers and sizes, recorded on a planting plan and schedule.
Plasterboard (drywall): Plasterboard is a lightweight building board of gypsum pressed between two paper faces, used for partitions, suspended ceilings and wall linings.
Plot amalgamation: In Turkish zoning, tevhit is merging two or more adjoining plots into a single plot in line with the zoning plan.
Plot subdivision: In Turkish zoning, ifraz is dividing one plot into two or more new plots in line with the zoning plan and regulations.
Plugin (extension): An add-on program installed into a piece of software to give it new tools, objects or abilities such as a built-in render engine.
Point cloud: A point cloud is a dataset from laser scanning or photogrammetry that represents a surface with millions of individual 3D coordinate points.
Pointed arch: A pointed arch is made of two arcs drawn from separate centres that meet at a point at the crown, producing less outward thrust than a round arch.
Polygon: A flat face bounded by vertices and edges; every surface in a 3D model, curved ones included, is built from many polygons.
Post-production: Post-production is the stage after rendering where color, light, atmosphere and detail are refined to finish the image.
Postmodernism: A movement that reacted against modernist austerity by bringing historical references, colour, irony and symbolism back to architecture.
Prayer hall (harim): The main covered prayer space of a mosque, oriented toward the qibla wall, where the mihrab and minbar stand and the congregation forms rows.
Prefabricated building: A prefabricated building is made from components or modules produced in a factory and then transported and assembled on site.
Preliminary design: Preliminary design is the stage after sketching where the scheme is fixed at scale in plans, sections and elevations, before detailed drawings.
Progress payment: In Turkish contracting, the document that measures work done in a period and prices it under the contract so the contractor is paid.
Proportion: The relationship of a building’s parts to each other and to the whole; a core source of harmony and balance in architecture.
Protected site (sit area): An area officially protected for its historic, archaeological or urban values, with formally defined boundaries and protection conditions.
Proxy model: A proxy model shows a heavy 3D object as a light placeholder in the scene and loads its full geometry from disk only at render time.

Q

Quantity take-off: Measuring the quantity of every work item from the drawings and listing it with its unit; the basis of any cost estimate.

R

Railing (balustrade): A protective barrier along stairs, balconies, terraces and galleries that prevents falls and often provides a handhold.
Rain garden: A shallow planted depression that collects rainwater from roofs and paving and lets it soak slowly into the ground.
Ramp: An inclined surface that connects two levels without steps, used by wheelchairs, pushchairs, trolleys and vehicles.
Rasterization: The fast rendering method behind games and real-time engines, which projects 3D triangles onto screen pixels to build the image.
Ray tracing: A rendering technique that traces rays from the camera into the scene to compute reflections, refractions and shadows physically.
Real-time rendering: Rendering that computes many frames per second, so the image updates instantly while you move the camera freely through the scene.
Reconstruction: Reconstruction is the rebuilding of a structure that has been wholly or largely lost, based on reliable documentary evidence.
Reflection: Light bouncing back off a surface; in rendering, the effect that lets glass, metal, polished stone and water mirror their surroundings.
Refraction: The bending of light as it enters a transparent medium such as glass or water, set in rendering by the index of refraction (IOR).
Reinforced concrete: Reinforced concrete combines concrete, strong in compression, with steel bars that carry tension, making the most widely used structural material.
Reintegration: Completing lost parts of a historic building or element on documentary evidence, in a way that remains recognisable as new work.
Render: Generating a 2D image from a 3D model by computing light, materials and camera; the word also means the finished image itself.
Render engine: The software, or the calculation core inside it, that turns 3D scene data into an image by computing light, materials and camera.
Render farm: A network of computers that shares out rendering work, finishing animation frames or large stills far faster than a single machine could.
Render Fun: A free render plugin that runs inside SketchUp and turns the model into a realistic image with GPU-based path tracing.
Render noise: The grainy, speckled look in sampling-based renders such as path tracing, caused by too few samples per pixel.
Render pass (render elements): Render passes are separate image layers, such as reflections, lighting, depth or material masks, exported alongside the final render.
Renovation project: A renovation project defines changes to an existing building, such as layout, facade, structural or use changes, and is submitted for approval where needed.
Resolution: The number of pixels across the width and height of a rendered image, which sets how much detail it can carry and how long it takes.
Restitution: Restitution is the reconstruction on paper of a historic building's original or earlier state, based on physical traces and documents.
Restoration: Restoration is the repair of a building of historic or cultural value in a way that preserves its authentic qualities and extends its life.
Retaining wall: A structural wall that holds back soil where ground levels change, resisting earth pressure so a slope does not slide or collapse.
Retro style: An interior style that brings the colours, forms and patterns of past decades, especially the mid twentieth century, into rooms today.
Revit: BIM software that models a building with information-rich objects and produces plans, sections, elevations and schedules from one shared model.
Revzen (stucco window): A decorative window made of a pierced plaster lattice with small pieces of coloured or clear glass set into its openings to filter light.
Rhino: A 3D modeling program that uses NURBS to model free-form surfaces precisely, used in architecture, industrial design and fabrication.
Riwaq (arcaded portico): A riwaq is a covered, open-fronted gallery carried on a row of columns or piers linked by arches, lining a courtyard or a building front.
Roof plan: A roof plan shows a building's roof from above, defining slopes, ridges and valleys, and the positions of gutters, downpipes and flues.
Room (space): In Turkish project language, any room or defined space in a building, identified on drawings by its name, number and area.
Roughness: A PBR parameter describing a surface's microscopic texture, which decides how sharp or blurred its reflections appear.
Rubble masonry: A thick load-bearing wall built from irregular, undressed or roughly dressed stones bedded in plenty of mortar.

S

Sampling: Sampling is the render setting that controls how many light paths are traced per pixel, directly trading image cleanliness against render time.
Scale: Scale is the ratio between lengths on a drawing and lengths in reality; at 1:100, one centimetre on paper equals one metre on site.
Scandinavian style: An interior style known for pale colours, light-toned timber, simple forms and plenty of daylight, aiming to feel functional yet warm.
Scatter (object scattering): Scatter is a modeling and rendering technique that spreads large numbers of objects such as trees, grass or stones over a surface by set rules.
Section: A section is a drawing made by slicing a building vertically, showing floor heights, slabs and how spaces relate in height.
Semi-dome: A semi-dome is half a dome cut by a vertical plane; it buttresses a main dome, extends the space beneath it or covers an apse or niche.
Setback: In Turkish zoning, the distance a building must keep from plot boundaries and the street, set by the plan and regulations.
Setting out: Setting out is the process of transferring a design to the ground by marking plot corners, building grid lines and levels on site.
Shear wall: A long, slender reinforced concrete wall that resists horizontal forces such as earthquakes and wind in a building’s structure.
Shower tray and linear drain: The two main ways to collect shower water: a ready-made tray, or a linear drain set into the floor with a slim grate along its length.
Side aisle: A side aisle is the narrower, usually lower strip of space running alongside the nave, separated from it by a row of columns or piers.
Site plan: A site plan shows a building's position on its plot in relation to roads, neighbouring plots, setbacks, levels and landscaping.
Sketch: A sketch is a quick freehand drawing that captures a design idea on paper or screen, conveying intention rather than precise detail.
SketchUp: A 3D modeling program known for fast, intuitive massing, widely used in architecture, interiors and landscape and extended through plugins.
Skirting board: A skirting board is the profile that runs along the base of a wall, covering the wall-floor joint and protecting the lower wall from knocks and dirt.
Smart home: A home where lighting, heating and cooling, security and appliances can be controlled remotely or automatically through connected systems.
Sofa (central hall): The main hall of the traditional Turkish house onto which the rooms open, used for circulation and shared living and shaping the plan.
Softscape: The living elements of a landscape, such as trees, shrubs, lawn, ground cover, flowers and the soil they grow in; the partner of hardscape.
Solid wood flooring: Solid wood flooring is made of single pieces of natural timber through its full thickness and can be sanded and refinished several times in its life.
Spolia: Architectural pieces such as columns, capitals, stone blocks or inscriptions taken from an older building and reused in a new one.
Springer: A springer is the lowest stone of an arch, sitting on the pier, column or capital where the curve of the arch begins.
Squinch: A squinch is an arch, niche or half-cone built across the upper corner of a square room, turning the square into an octagon to carry a dome.
Stair landing: A flat platform at the top, bottom or between flights of a stair, used for resting, turning and safe access to doors.
Stair riser: The vertical face between two treads of a stair; its height largely decides how comfortable and safe the stair is.
Stair tread: The horizontal surface of a step that the foot rests on; its depth, nosing and finish decide comfort and slip resistance.
Staircase: A vertical circulation element made of a series of steps that connects floors or areas set at different levels.
Standing seam roof: A standing seam roof is a metal roof whose panel edges are raised and folded together into seams, leaving no exposed fixings.
Steel structure: A steel structure is a building frame whose columns, beams and connections are made of steel sections; it is light, quick to erect and spans far.
STL: STL is a model format that describes surfaces using triangles only, carries no color or material, and is the standard for 3D printing.
Street furniture: Fixtures placed in public open spaces for people to use, such as benches, bins, lamp posts, bike racks, bus shelters and bollards.
Structural project: A structural project sizes a building's load-bearing system by calculation and defines it in formwork and reinforcement drawings.
Sun and sky system: A render engine lighting setup that calculates direct sunlight and diffuse skylight together, both driven by the position of the sun in the sky.
Surface cleaning (conservation): The controlled removal of dirt, soot, salts, biological growth and harmful layers from historic surfaces without damaging the original material.
Suspended ceiling: A suspended ceiling is a secondary ceiling hung below the structural slab, hiding services and making room for lighting and acoustic treatment.
Sustainable architecture: An approach that designs buildings to reduce their impact on energy, water, materials and the environment across their whole life.

T

Task lighting: Task lighting is a focused layer of light aimed at surfaces where work happens, such as reading, food preparation or desk work, so the eye can work in comfort.
Taşlık (paved entrance hall): The stone-paved entrance and service hall on the ground floor of a traditional Turkish house, linking stores, stable and stair.
Terrace: A wide, open, level outdoor area at ground level or over a lower floor, set aside for sitting and living outdoors.
Terraced garden: A garden layout that turns sloping ground into usable space by dividing it into level platforms held by retaining walls or banks.
Texture: A 2D image wrapped onto the surface of a 3D model to give it the colour and pattern of materials such as wood, stone or fabric.
Thermal insulation: Thermal insulation is the set of materials and measures applied to walls, roofs and floors to reduce heat loss and heat gain through a building's envelope.
Tie rod: An iron or timber rod set across an arch at springing level, holding its two supports together in tension so the arch cannot spread apart.
Timber frame: Timber frame construction carries loads on a light skeleton of timber studs and joists, braced by sheet sheathing.
Timber lacing (hatıl): A horizontal timber band or tie beam built into a masonry wall at set heights to bind the wall together and spread loads.
Title block: The information box on a drawing sheet listing the project name, designers, scale, date and sheet number.
Tone mapping: Tone mapping compresses the very wide brightness range of a render into the limited range a screen can show, giving a natural-looking image.
Topography: The shape of the land, its heights, slopes and surface features, and also the work of measuring and mapping them.
Türbe (mausoleum): A monumental tomb built over the grave of an important person, usually square or polygonal in plan and covered by a dome.
Turkish triangle: The Turkish triangle is a dome transition zone made of faceted, prism-like triangles set in the corners of a square bay instead of a pendentive.
Twinmotion: Real-time visualization software built on Unreal Engine that links directly to design programs and quickly produces images, videos and VR presentations.
Two-point perspective: Two-point perspective keeps vertical lines upright while horizontal lines run towards two vanishing points on the horizon.

U

Universal design: Universal design aims for spaces and products that everyone can use, regardless of age, size or ability, without needing special adaptation.
Unreal Engine: A real-time 3D engine built for games and used in architecture for interactive presentations, virtual reality and configurator applications.
Urban design: The design of the public realm between buildings: streets, squares, parks and the way buildings meet the city around them.
Urban regeneration: In Turkey, the renewal of disaster-prone or run-down buildings and districts through demolition and rebuilding or upgrading.
UV mapping: Unfolding a 3D model's surface onto a flat 2D layout and assigning coordinates so that textures sit on it correctly.

V

V-Ray: A photorealistic render engine that plugs into many 3D and CAD programs and can render on both the CPU and the GPU.
Vault: A curved roof or ceiling formed by extending an arch along a line, spanning the space between two walls.
Ventilated facade: A ventilated facade leaves an air cavity between the insulation and the outer cladding, letting moisture escape and shielding the wall from weather.
Virtual reality (VR): Virtual reality (VR) places users inside a fully digital environment through a headset, so they can experience a space at real scale.
Virtual tour: A virtual tour lets viewers move through a building or space point by point on a screen or headset, exploring it interactively.

W

Wall panelling: Wall panelling covers all of a wall, or its lower part up to a set height, with panels of wood, MDF or similar materials for protection and character.
Waterproofing: The layers that protect a building from rain, groundwater and water in use, applied to foundations, basements, roofs and wet rooms.
Wet area: Rooms in direct contact with water, such as bathrooms, WCs, showers, kitchens and laundries, needing special waterproofing and plumbing care.
White balance: White balance compensates for the color of the light source so that white surfaces stay white and other colors look natural in the image.
Window and door frames (joinery): Window and door joinery is the system of frames, sashes, glazing and hardware fitted into wall openings, made from uPVC, aluminium or timber.
Wireframe: Wireframe is a way of displaying a 3D model by its edges and lines only, as a see-through cage with no filled surfaces.
Wood veneer: Wood veneer is a thin slice of real timber glued onto MDF or particleboard, giving the surface of solid wood with far greater stability and lower cost.

X

Xeriscaping: A landscape design approach that cuts water use through drought-tolerant plants, less lawn and efficient irrigation.

Y

Yüklük (bedding cupboard): A large built-in timber cupboard in the rooms of a Turkish house where bedding was stored by day, often with a small washing cubicle.

Z

Zoning certificate: In Turkish practice, the document from the local authority stating a plot's zoning use and the conditions for building on it.
Zoning plan: In Turkish planning, the approved, binding plan that sets land use, building conditions, roads and public facilities for an area.

0–9

360-degree panorama: A 360-degree panorama is a spherical image covering every direction from one point, which viewers explore by dragging or turning their head.
3D modeling: Building an accurate three-dimensional digital version of a building, space or object; the shared basis for rendering, analysis and fabrication.
3D printer: A 3D printer turns a digital model into a physical object by adding material layer by layer; architects use it for scale models and prototypes.
3ds Max: A 3D program for polygon modeling, animation and rendering, widely used in architectural visualization together with third-party render engines.

A

B

C

D

E

F

G

H

I

J

K

L

M

N

O

P

Q

R

S

T

U

V

W

X

Y

Z

0–9

Who is this glossary for?