• block plan: One that is simplified to the bare essentials.
• butterfly plan: Popular during the Arts-and-Crafts period, it had wings projecting symmetrically at angles from a central core, resembling a butterfly, as in the work of Prior.
• center-hall plan: A plan in which rooms open up off of a central hall.
• central plan: A building plan focused on a central point and usually laid out on two axes crossed at right angles; square and octagonal plans are examples.
• closed plan: A floor plan consisting of fully enclosed spaces or distinct rooms linked by doorways.
• divisive plan: The design of a building in which the individual areas seem subdivided from a larger whole and are usually arranged symmetrically. Such a plan often underlies a classical or neoclassical structure.
• double-depth plan: A plan for a structure that is two rooms deep but lacking a central corridor.
• E plan: That especial plan, as for a large country house, whose general outline resembles the capital letter E. It is attained by arranging two larger pavilions at the two ends of the main building and a smaller one halfway between them; although in English country houses the end pavilions have rather the aspect of breaks in the main building which seems to be returned at right angles at either end, the lines of cornice, roof, etc., being continuous or nearly so. It has been though that this plan was sometimes used in compliment to Queen Elizabeth.
• floor plan: A line drawing showing rooms as if seen from above with walls, doorways, windows and sometimes placement of furniture drawn to scale.
• floor plans: A line drawing showing rooms as if seen from above with walls, doorways, windows and sometimes placement of furniture drawn to scale.
• free-flowing floor plan: A floor plan in which there are no (or few) hallways, and rooms open directly onto one another, often through wide doorways. Sliding doors are popular in such a plan, as are central living rooms. The free-flowing floor plans of the Shingle and Prairie Styles are precursors to the modern floor plans of the 1930s onward, which emphasize a great deal of open space.
• ground-plan: See plan.
• H-plan: Plan shaped like an H, as in Elizabethan houses such as Montacute House, Som. It was a variation on the E-plan in that it was like two Es placed back to back, with the wings extending symmetrically in both directions.
• insular: Standing alone; connected with no other structure, so as to be visible on every side; said of a building. The more usual word is detached.
• L plan: A plan, as of a country house or other building, in which the general form or outline upon the ground is that of an L.
• massed plan: A house design in which the room organization is two rooms deep.
• open plan: Building plan that is unencumbered by vertical support structures.
• side-hall plan: A plan with the hallway running along one side of a building.
• T-plan: A plan with a T shape with the projecting stem toward the street and the cross-piece behind. The T shape also provides an extra porch.
• Z plan: Also see Z-shaped plan.
• additive: A method of agglutinative or serial design involving asymmetrical plans and elevations, where the interior spaces and volumes are suggested by, and even dictate, the exterior treatment of projections, roofs, and other features. Derived from the theories of A.W.N. Pugin, additive design can also include accumulation (suggesting a sequence of building additions of different styles and periods). 2. Any substance other than cement, water, or aggregate, added to a concrete or mortar mix to alter its properties or those of the hardened product. 2. Characterized or produced by addition, accumulation, or uniting, often resulting in a new identity.
• additive composition: Designing parts of a building in such a manner that each appears added to the next, producing an overall effect that emphasizes accumulation more than a unified hierarchy.
• additive plan: Designing parts of a building in such a manner that each appears added to the next, producing an overall effect that emphasizes accumulation more than a unified hierarchy.
• agglutinative: See additive.
• serial: See additive.
• enfilade: The alignment of a series of doors axially through a sequence of rooms.
• E-plan: English country-house plan shaped like an E…
• interaxial: Coming between the axes; said of a member which is left between the main lines of composition and is in a sense disregarded, it being held that the symmetry or sequence of the greater features which are distributed upon the axes makes it possible to put in minor details as convenience demands…
• interaxis: Also see inter.
• anchor: Raised central block, common in Prairie houses. 2. A metal clamp or tie rod with plain or decorative end washers that helps prevent walls from bulging; often ornamental in appearance. 3. Any of various metal devices for binding one part of a structure to another. 4. A mechanical device for locking a stressed tendon in position and delivering the prestressing force to the concrete, either permanently in a posttensioned member or temporarily during hardening of a pretensioned concrete member. Also called anchorage.
• central block: The central portion of a house and often the highest, around which all other parts are attached, as in Prairie style houses.
• alinement: The disposing or arranging of anything so that it shall conform to a fixed line or curve; especially a street line…
• ancillary: A subordinate, auxiliary building in a group composition; a dependency.
• annex: A supplementary building added to, or used in connection with, a previously existing structure.
• annexe: A supplementary building added to, or used in connection with, a previously existing structure.
• bulk: A small structure projecting from a building, as a booth or stall.
• canted: Angled.
• center-passage plan: A two-room floor plan with an entry and central corridor dividing the house. A refinement of the hall-and-parlor house, particularly in Virginia and Maryland from the later 18th century on.
• corps de logis: The main part of a large dwelling, and, by extension, of any building, as distinguished from its wings or other subordinate parts. 2. A detached, or nearly detached residential pavilion. In this sense, not commonly used in English.
• corps-de-logis: The principal section or block of a large building, such as a palace or mansion, containing the entrance and main rooms.
• coupled: Grouped in pairs; also called coupled.
• dependencies: A structure subordinate to or serving as an adjunct to a main building.
• dependency: A structure subordinate to or serving as an adjunct to a main building.
• disposition: The placing of the different parts of a building; whether, in plan, the different rooms, passages, staircases, closets, and the like…
• dominant: In design, an element which dominates the composition.
• ell: An addition or extension usually at a right angle to a building, giving it an “L” or “T” shape. 2. A pipe fitting having an angled, usually 90 degree bend.
• flanking wings: Structures in a subservient position, attached to the main mass of a building.
• informal: Irregular, asymmetrical, ungeometrical design or planting.
• nucleated: Having a nucleus; clustered, such as a town developed around a central square.
• outbuilding: An auxiliary structure that is located away from a house or principal building (e.g., a root cellar, a spring house, a smoke house, a corn crib, etc.).
• paired: Grouped in pairs; also called coupled.
• three pair: See two pair.
• travated: Divided into traves.
• liturgical orientation: See orientation.
• orient: To locate a building by points of the compass. 2. To locate a church so that the altar end is toward the east. In whatever direction the altar of a church is located by local considerations, the altar end is traditionally called the east end.
• hyphen: The portion of a five-part Palladian composition that connects the main central block to the two flanking dependencies.
• hyphens: The portion of a five-part Palladian composition that connects the main central block to the two flanking dependencies.
• Panopticon: A building (often a jail) planned with corridors which radiate from a single, central point. A person located at the central point can observe each of the converging halls.
• compartment: A subdivision of enclosed space.
• asymmetry: Lack of symmetry, but possibly with axial balance.
• axiality: Symmetrical disposition of parts of a building or of structures along an axis.
• axis: An imaginary line about which parts of a building, or individual buildings in a group, are disposed, usually with careful attention to bi-lateral symmetry.
• axis of symmetry: An imaginary line about which a figure, body, or composition is symmetrical.
• bilateral symmetry: Symmetry resulting from the arrangement of similar parts on opposite sides of a median axis.
• formal: An architectural form that is balanced, symmetrical, and regular; the opposite of picturesque.
• local symmetry: A symmetrical condition occurring in one part of a design, often serving to center an irregular pattern.
• radial symmetry: Symmetry resulting from the arrangement of similar, radiating parts about a center point or central axis.
• alette: A minor wing of a building. 2. Side of a pier under the impost of an arch. 3. A door jamb.
• aliform: Having a wing-like shape or extensions.
• barchessa: A covered storage space attached to a farm house; the word is used for the bodies forming the wings of Palladian villas, which usually function as service areas.
• curtains: Also see hyphens.
• extension: A wing or structure added to an existing building.
• flanker: An 18th century name for a smaller outbuilding that serves as an adjunct to a central building.
• membretto: A minor wing of a building; an alette.
• outshot: A small extension or wing built against an exterior wall of a house.
• outshut: A small extension or wing built against an exterior wall of a house.
• vallatorium: A late Latin term for a projection of a building.

Also see Architecture index.