A building, or edifice, is an enclosed
structure
A structure is an arrangement and organization of interrelated elements in a material object or system, or the object or system so organized. Material structures include man-made objects such as buildings and machines and natural objects such as ...
with a
roof
A roof ( : roofs or rooves) is the top covering of a building, including all materials and constructions necessary to support it on the walls of the building or on uprights, providing protection against rain, snow, sunlight, extremes of temper ...
and
wall
A wall is a structure and a surface that defines an area; carries a load; provides security, shelter, or soundproofing; or, is decorative. There are many kinds of walls, including:
* Walls in buildings that form a fundamental part of the supe ...
s standing more or less permanently in one place, such as a
house
A house is a single-unit residential building. It may range in complexity from a rudimentary hut to a complex structure of wood, masonry, concrete or other material, outfitted with plumbing, electrical, and heating, ventilation, and air condi ...
or
factory
A factory, manufacturing plant or a production plant is an industrial facility, often a complex consisting of several buildings filled with machinery, where workers manufacture items or operate machines which process each item into another. T ...
(although there's also portable buildings).
Buildings come in a variety of sizes, shapes, and functions, and have been adapted throughout history for a wide number of factors, from
building material
Building material is material used for construction. Many naturally occurring substances, such as clay, rock (geology), rocks, sand, wood, and even twigs and leaves, have been used to construct buildings. Apart from naturally occurring materia ...
s available, to weather conditions, land prices, ground conditions, specific uses,
prestige
Prestige refers to a good reputation or high esteem; in earlier usage, ''prestige'' meant "showiness". (19th c.)
Prestige may also refer to:
Arts, entertainment and media Films
* ''Prestige'' (film), a 1932 American film directed by Tay Garnett ...
, and aesthetic reasons. To better understand the term ''building'' compare the list of
nonbuilding structure
A nonbuilding structure, also referred to simply as a structure, refers to any body or system of connected parts used to support a load that was not designed for continuous human occupancy. The term is used by architects, structural engi ...
s.
Buildings serve several societal needs – primarily as shelter from weather, security, living space, privacy, to store belongings, and to comfortably live and work. A building as a shelter represents a physical division of the
human habitat
Humans (''Homo sapiens'') are the most abundant and widespread species of primate, characterized by bipedalism and exceptional cognitive skills due to a large and complex brain. This has enabled the development of advanced tools, culture, an ...
(a place of comfort and safety) and the ''outside'' (a place that at times may be harsh and harmful).
Ever since the first
cave painting
In archaeology, Cave paintings are a type of parietal art (which category also includes petroglyphs, or engravings), found on the wall or ceilings of caves. The term usually implies prehistoric origin, and the oldest known are more than 40,000 ye ...
s, buildings have also become objects or canvasses of much artistic expression. In recent years, interest in
sustainable
Specific definitions of sustainability are difficult to agree on and have varied in the literature and over time. The concept of sustainability can be used to guide decisions at the global, national, and individual levels (e.g. sustainable livin ...
planning and building practices has also become an intentional part of the design process of many new buildings and other structures.
Definitions
The word ''building'' is both a noun and a verb: the structure itself and the act of making it. As a noun, a building is 'a structure that has a roof and walls and stands more or less permanently in one place';
"there was a three-storey building on the corner"; "it was an imposing edifice". In the broadest interpretation a
fence
A fence is a structure that encloses an area, typically outdoors, and is usually constructed from posts that are connected by boards, wire, rails or netting. A fence differs from a wall in not having a solid foundation along its whole length.
...
or wall is a building. However, the word ''structure'' is used more broadly than ''building'' including natural and man-made formations and does not necessarily have walls. Structure is more likely to be used for a fence.
Sturgis' Dictionary included that "
uildingdiffers from
architecture
Architecture is the art and technique of designing and building, as distinguished from the skills associated with construction. It is both the process and the product of sketching, conceiving, planning, designing, and constructing building ...
in excluding all idea of artistic treatment; and it differs from
construction
Construction is a general term meaning the art and science to form objects, systems, or organizations,"Construction" def. 1.a. 1.b. and 1.c. ''Oxford English Dictionary'' Second Edition on CD-ROM (v. 4.0) Oxford University Press 2009 and com ...
in the idea of excluding scientific or highly skilful treatment." As a verb, building is the act of construction.
''Structural height'' in technical usage is the height to the highest architectural detail on building from street-level. Depending on how they are classified, spires and masts may or may not be included in this height. Spires and masts used as antennas are not generally included. The definition of a ''low-rise vs. a high-rise'' building is a matter of debate, but generally three stories or less is considered low-rise.
History
There is clear, evidence of homebuilding from around 18,000 BC. Buildings became common during the Neolithic (see
Neolithic architecture
The Neolithic period, or New Stone Age, is an Old World archaeological period and the final division of the Stone Age. It saw the Neolithic Revolution, a wide-ranging set of developments that appear to have arisen independently in several parts ...
).
Types
Residential
Single-family residential buildings are most often called
house
A house is a single-unit residential building. It may range in complexity from a rudimentary hut to a complex structure of wood, masonry, concrete or other material, outfitted with plumbing, electrical, and heating, ventilation, and air condi ...
s or
home
A home, or domicile, is a space used as a permanent or semi-permanent residence for one or many humans, and sometimes various companion animals. It is a fully or semi sheltered space and can have both interior and exterior aspects to it. H ...
s. Multi-family residential buildings containing more than one dwelling unit are called a
duplex or an
apartment
An apartment (American English), or flat (British English, Indian English, South African English), is a self-contained housing unit (a type of residential real estate) that occupies part of a building, generally on a single story. There are ma ...
building. A
condominium
A condominium (or condo for short) is an ownership structure whereby a building is divided into several units that are each separately owned, surrounded by common areas that are jointly owned. The term can be applied to the building or complex ...
is an apartment that the occupant owns rather than rents. Houses may also be built in pairs (
semi-detached
A semi-detached house (often abbreviated to semi) is a single family duplex dwelling house that shares one common wall with the next house. The name distinguishes this style of house from detached houses, with no shared walls, and terraced house ...
), in terraces where all but two of the houses have others either side; apartments may be built round courtyards or as rectangular blocks surrounded by a piece of ground of varying sizes. Houses which were built as a single dwelling may later be divided into apartments or
bedsitter
A bedsit, bedsitter, or bed-sitting room is a form of accommodation common in some parts of the United Kingdom which consists of a single room occupancy, single room per occupant with all occupants typically sharing a bathroom. Bedsits are includ ...
s; they may also be converted to another use e.g. an office or a shop.
hotel
A hotel is an establishment that provides paid lodging on a short-term basis. Facilities provided inside a hotel room may range from a modest-quality mattress in a small room to large suites with bigger, higher-quality beds, a dresser, a ref ...
s, especially of the extended stay variety (like
apartel
An apartment hotel or aparthotel (also residential hotel, or extended-stay hotel) is a serviced apartment complex that uses a hotel-style booking system. It is similar to renting an apartment, but with no fixed contracts and occupants can "check ...
s) can also be classed as residential.
Building types may range from
hut
A hut is a small dwelling, which may be constructed of various local materials. Huts are a type of vernacular architecture because they are built of readily available materials such as wood, snow, ice, stone, grass, palm leaves, branches, hid ...
s to multimillion-dollar high-rise
apartment block
A tower block, high-rise, apartment tower, residential tower, apartment block, block of flats, or office tower is a tall building, as opposed to a low-rise building and is defined differently in terms of height depending on the jurisdictio ...
s able to house thousands of people. Increasing settlement density in buildings (and smaller distances between buildings) is usually a response to high ground prices resulting from many people wanting to live close to work or similar attractors. Other common
building material
Building material is material used for construction. Many naturally occurring substances, such as clay, rock (geology), rocks, sand, wood, and even twigs and leaves, have been used to construct buildings. Apart from naturally occurring materia ...
s are brick, concrete or combinations of either of these with stone.
Residential buildings have different names for their use depending if they are seasonal include
holiday cottage (vacation home) or
timeshare; size such as a
cottage
A cottage, during Feudalism in England, England's feudal period, was the holding by a cottager (known as a Cotter (farmer), cotter or ''bordar'') of a small house with enough garden to feed a family and in return for the cottage, the cottager ...
or
great house; value such as a
shack
A shack (or, in some areas, shanty) is a type of small shelter or dwelling, often primitive or rudimentary in design and construction.
Unlike huts, shacks are constructed by hand using available materials; however, whereas huts are usually ru ...
or
mansion
A mansion is a large dwelling house. The word itself derives through Old French from the Latin word ''mansio'' "dwelling", an abstract noun derived from the verb ''manere'' "to dwell". The English word '' manse'' originally defined a property l ...
; manner of construction such as a
log home or
mobile home
A mobile home (also known as a house trailer, park home, trailer, or trailer home) is a prefabricated structure, built in a factory on a permanently attached chassis before being transported to site (either by being towed or on a trailer). Us ...
;, architectural style such as a mock
castle
A castle is a type of fortified structure built during the Middle Ages predominantly by the nobility or royalty and by military orders. Scholars debate the scope of the word ''castle'', but usually consider it to be the private fortified r ...
or
Victorian house, proximity to the ground or water such as
Earth sheltering the earth sheltered
Earth is the third planet from the Sun and the only astronomical object known to harbor life. While large volumes of water can be found throughout the Solar System, only Earth sustains liquid surface water. About 71% of Earth's surface ...
house,
stilt house
Stilt houses (also called pile dwellings or lake dwellings) are houses raised on stilts (or piles) over the surface of the soil or a body of water. Stilt houses are built primarily as a protection against flooding; they also keep out vermin. The ...
, or
houseboat
A houseboat is a boat that has been designed or modified to be used primarily as a home. Most houseboats are not motorized as they are usually moored or kept stationary at a fixed point, and often tethered to land to provide utilities. How ...
\ floating home. Also if the residents are in need of special care, or society considers them to dangerous to have
freedom
Freedom is understood as either having the ability to act or change without constraint or to possess the power and resources to fulfill one's purposes unhindered. Freedom is often associated with liberty and autonomy in the sense of "giving on ...
, there's residential
total institutions such as
nursing homes,
orphanages,
psychiatric hospitals or
prison; or in group housing like
barracks
Barracks are usually a group of long buildings built to house military personnel or laborers. The English word originates from the 17th century via French and Italian from an old Spanish word "barraca" ("soldier's tent"), but today barracks are u ...
or
dormitories.
Historically many people lived in communal buildings called
longhouses, smaller dwellings called
pit-house
A pit-house (or ''pit house'', ''pithouse'') is a house built in the ground and used for shelter. Besides providing shelter from the most extreme of weather conditions, these structures may also be used to store food (just like a pantry, a larder ...
s and houses combined with barns sometimes called
housebarns.
Buildings are defined to be substantial, permanent structures so other dwelling forms such as
yurts, and
motorhomes are
dwelling
In law, a dwelling (also known as a residence or an abode) is a self-contained unit of accommodation used by one or more households as a home - such as a house, apartment, mobile home, houseboat, vehicle, or other "substantial" structure. The ...
s but not buildings.
Commercial
A commercial building is one in which at least one
business
Business is the practice of making one's living or making money by producing or Trade, buying and selling Product (business), products (such as goods and Service (economics), services). It is also "any activity or enterprise entered into for pr ...
is based, but where people don't live. Examples include
stores,
restaurant
A restaurant is a business that prepares and serves food and drinks to customers. Meals are generally served and eaten on the premises, but many restaurants also offer take-out and food delivery services. Restaurants vary greatly in appearan ...
s, and
hotel
A hotel is an establishment that provides paid lodging on a short-term basis. Facilities provided inside a hotel room may range from a modest-quality mattress in a small room to large suites with bigger, higher-quality beds, a dresser, a ref ...
s.
Industrial
Industrial buildings are those in which
heavy industry is done, such as
manufacturing. These edifices include
warehouses and factories.
Agricultural
Agricultural buildings are the
outbuildings located on
farms, like
barns.
Mixed use
Some buildings incorporate several or multiple different uses, most commonly are those that combine commercial and residential uses.
Complex
Sometimes a group of inter-related (and possibly inter-connected) builds are referred to as a complex – for example a
housing complex, educational complex, hospital complex, etc.
Creation
The practice of designing, constructing, and operating buildings is most usually a collective effort of different groups of
professionals and
trades. Depending on the size, complexity, and purpose of a particular building project, the project team may include:
* A
real estate developer who secures
funding for the project;
* One or more financial institutions or other investors that provide the funding
* Local planning and code authorities
* A
surveyor
Surveying or land surveying is the technique, profession, art, and science of determining the terrestrial two-dimensional or three-dimensional positions of points and the distances and angles between them. A land surveying professional is ca ...
who performs an ALTA/ACSM and construction surveys throughout the project;
*
Construction managers who coordinate the effort of different groups of project participants;
* Licensed
architects and
engineers who provide
building design and prepare construction
documents;
* The principal design Engineering disciplines which would normally include the following professionals:
Civil
Civil may refer to:
*Civic virtue, or civility
*Civil action, or lawsuit
* Civil affairs
*Civil and political rights
*Civil disobedience
*Civil engineering
*Civil (journalism), a platform for independent journalism
*Civilian, someone not a membe ...
, Structural, Mechanical building services or HVAC (heating Ventilation and Air Conditioning) Electrical Building Services, Plumbing and drainage. Also other possible design Engineer specialists may be involved such as Fire (prevention), Acoustic, façade engineers, building physics, Telecoms, AV (Audio Visual), BMS (Building Management Systems) Automatic controls etc. These design Engineers also prepare construction documents which are issued to specialist contractors to obtain a price for the works and to follow for the installations.
*
Landscape architect
A landscape architect is a person who is educated in the field of landscape architecture. The practice of landscape architecture includes: site analysis, site inventory, site planning, land planning, planting design, grading, storm water manageme ...
s;
*
Interior designers;
* Other consultants;
*
Contractor
A contractor is a person or company that performs work on a contract basis. The term may refer to:
Business roles
* Defense contractor, arms industry which provides weapons or military goods to a government
* General contractor, an individual o ...
s who provide
construction
Construction is a general term meaning the art and science to form objects, systems, or organizations,"Construction" def. 1.a. 1.b. and 1.c. ''Oxford English Dictionary'' Second Edition on CD-ROM (v. 4.0) Oxford University Press 2009 and com ...
services and install building systems such as
climate control,
electrical,
plumbing,
decoration
Decoration may refer to:
* Decorative arts
* A house painter and decorator's craft
* An act or object intended to increase the beauty of a person, room, etc.
* An award that is a token of recognition to the recipient intended for wearing
Other ...
,
fire protection,
security
Security is protection from, or resilience against, potential harm (or other unwanted coercive change) caused by others, by restraining the freedom of others to act. Beneficiaries (technically referents) of security may be of persons and social ...
and
telecommunications;
* Marketing or
leasing
A lease is a contractual arrangement calling for the user (referred to as the ''lessee'') to pay the owner (referred to as the ''lessor'') for the use of an asset. Property, buildings and vehicles are common assets that are leased. Industrial ...
agents;
*
Facility managers who are responsible for operating the building.
Regardless of their size or intended use, all buildings in the US must comply with
zoning ordinance
Zoning is a method of urban planning in which a municipality or other tier of government divides land into areas called zones, each of which has a set of regulations for new development that differs from other zones. Zones may be defined for a si ...
s,
building codes and other regulations such as
fire codes,
life safety codes and related standards.
Vehicles—such as
trailers,
caravans,
ships and passenger
aircraft—are treated as "buildings" for life safety purposes.
Ownership and funding
*
Mortgage loan
*
Real estate developer
Building services
Physical plant
Any building requires a certain general amount of internal infrastructure to function, which includes such elements like heating / cooling, power and telecommunications, water and wastewater etc. Especially in
commercial building
Commercial may refer to:
* a dose of advertising conveyed through media (such as - for example - radio or television)
** Radio advertisement
** Television advertisement
* (adjective for:) commerce, a system of voluntary exchange of products and s ...
s (such as offices or factories), these can be extremely intricate systems taking up large amounts of space (sometimes located in separate areas or double floors / false ceilings) and constitute a big part of the regular maintenance required.
Conveying systems
Systems for
transport of people within buildings:
*
Elevator
*
Escalator
*
Moving sidewalk (horizontal and inclined)
Systems for transport of people between interconnected buildings:
*
Skyway
*
Underground city
Building damage
Buildings may be damaged during the construction of the building or during maintenance. There are several other reasons behind building damage like accidents such as storms, explosions, subsidence caused by mining, water withdrawal or poor foundations and landslides. Buildings also may suffer from
fire damage and flooding in special circumstances. They may also become dilapidated through lack of proper maintenance or alteration work improperly carried out.
Hypothetical future buildings
Advances in construction technology, ideologies, etc may allow (or necessitate) the construction of new kinds of buildings and complexes, like an
arcology.
See also
*
Autonomous building
*
Commercial modular construction
*
Earthquake engineering
Earthquake engineering is an interdisciplinary branch of engineering that designs and analyzes structures, such as buildings and bridges, with earthquakes in mind. Its overall goal is to make such structures more resistant to earthquakes. An earth ...
*
Float glass
Float glass is a sheet of glass made by floating molten glass on a bed of molten metal, typically tin, although lead and other various low- melting-point alloys were used in the past. This method gives the sheet uniform thickness and very flat sur ...
*
Green building
*
Hurricane-proof building
*
List of buildings and structures
*
List of largest buildings in the world
*
List of tallest buildings in the world
*
Natural building
A natural building involves a range of building systems and materials that place major emphasis on sustainability. Ways of achieving sustainability through natural building focus on durability and the use of minimally processed, plentiful or renew ...
*
Natural disaster
A natural disaster is "the negative impact following an actual occurrence of natural hazard in the event that it significantly harms a community". A natural disaster can cause loss of life or damage property, and typically leaves some econ ...
and
earthquake
*
Skyscraper
A skyscraper is a tall continuously habitable building having multiple floors. Modern sources currently define skyscrapers as being at least or in height, though there is no universally accepted definition. Skyscrapers are very tall high-ris ...
*
Steel building
A steel building is a metal structure fabricated with steel for the internal support and for exterior cladding, as opposed to steel framed buildings which generally use other materials for floors, walls, and external envelope. Steel buildings ...
*
Tent
A tent () is a shelter consisting of sheets of fabric or other material draped over, attached to a frame of poles or a supporting rope. While smaller tents may be free-standing or attached to the ground, large tents are usually anchored using gu ...
References
External links
*
*
*
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