Words Architects Avoid

WORDS ARCHITECTS AVOID Or, more to the point, words that you should never utter in the presence of an architect. Avoiding these terms will lower the blood pressure of your poor over-educated architect and may even conceal the fact that you do not know anything about architecture.

Façade Say elevation unless referring to a decorative veneer applied to the front of a building. Many architects believe that the front elevation should be an integral part of the building and not merely applied ornament.

Post Most free standing vertical members in a building are columns. Large columns may be called piers. Larger, rectangular, asymmetrical members are often called piloti. The vertical members in a fence are posts.

Cross Section Section alone is de rigeur unless used vis-à-vis longitudinal section.

Lay Out Lay out is a term used in gymnastics and diving referring to a fully extended body. Architects use the term plan to refer to the drawing showing the relationships of the spaces as seen from above.

Cinder Block CMU (Concrete Masonry Unit) will suffice.

Drywall Usually referred to generically as Gypsum Board or by the proprietary name Sheet Rock. The joint compound used to cover