As a creative field, Architecture has its own vocabulary to express. Usually, architects use some craziest words to communicate their ideas to make their clients understand clearly about their concepts. Sometimes it might create a complexity towards clients to understand the idea of an architect. So, these are the words most used by the architects that should be known to prevent perplexity.
Architecture-specific jargon:
- Pastiche
- Sustainability
- Ergonomy
- Genius loci
- Facade
- Charette
- Regionalism
- Threshold
- Massing
- Enfilade
- Materiality
- Poché
- Post-industrial
- Diagrammatic
- Vernacular
- Modular
- Deconstruction
- Typology
- Parametric
- Program
- Skin
- Building envelope
- Vault
- Arcade
- Fenestration
- Truncated
- Parti
- Flâneur
- Phenomenology
- Brutalism
- Cantilever
- Curvilinear
- Rectilinear
- Miesian
- Corbusian
- Permaculture
- Blobitecture
- Exurbia
- Walkability
- Pilotis
- Verticality
- Rebate
- Mullion
- Muntin
- Gentrification
- Stylobate
Simple words are given new meaning by architects:
- Concept
- Space
- Fabric (urban or building)
- Metaphor
- Legibility (of something other than writing)
- Dimension (meaning a characteristic of something)
- Moment
- Celebrate
- Negotiate
- Dynamic
- Language
- Context
- Gesture
- Proud (“the countertop is proud of the cabinet”)
- Taxonomy
- Hierarchy
- Scale
- Section
- Formal
- Nodes
- Pods
- Grain
- Extrapolate
- Device
- Elevation
Obscure words that architects overuse (or misuse):
- Iconic
- Organic
- Dichotomy
- Eclectic
- Kitsch
- Sequence
- Stasis
- Interstitial / Interstice
- Iteration
- Juxtapose/Juxtaposition
- Stereotomic
- Tectonics (and architectonics)
- Liminal
- Articulate
- Ephemeral
- Domesticity
- Anthropogenic
- Regenerate
- Hybrid
- Generative
- Ambiguity
- Catalyst
- Penetrate
- Appropriate
- Inspiration
- Contemporary
- Amalgamation
- Performative
- Hegemony
- Curate
- Bifurcate
- Superimpose
- Confluences
- Gestalt
- Zeitgeist
- Banal
- Blasé
- Motifs
- Procession
- Homogenous
- Palimpsest
- Paradigm
- Dissonance
- Adjacencies
- Parallax
- Assemblage
- Aesthetic
- Monolithic
- Uniformity
- Morphology
- Duality
- Nuance
- Transient
- Redundancy
- Robust
- Bespoke
- Holistic (sometimes even wholistic)
- Simultaneity
- Esoteric
- Concretization
- Schism
Unusual terms or phrases that architects love:
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- Play with (light, space, materials)
- Human scale
- Create/provide a gesture
- How the ____ is received by the ____
- Spatial composition
- Map out
- Explores the notion
- Programmatic adjacencies
- Activate the space
- Public Realm
- Outdoor room
Strange concepts within architecture:
- Solid/Void
- Interiority/Exteriority
- Push/Pull
- Bottom up/Top down
- Transparency/Opacity
- Served and Service
- Negative/Positive space