In this article, the first usage is generally intended unless otherwise specified.
Buildings come in a wide amount of shapes and functions, and have been adapted throughout history for a wide number of factors, from building materials available, to weather conditions, to land prices, ground conditions, specific uses and aesthetic reasons.
Buildings serve several needs of society - primarily as shelter from weather and as general living space, to provide privacy, to store belongings and to comfortably live and work. A building as a shelter represents a physical division of the human habitat The term habitat comes from ecology, and includes many interrelated features, especially the immediate physical environment, the urban environment or the social environment into the inside (a place of comfort and safety) and the outside (a place that at times may be harsh and harmful). Ever since the first cave paintings Cave paintings are paintings on cave walls and ceilings, and the term is used especially for those dating to prehistoric times. The earliest known European cave paintings date to Aurignacian, some 32,000 years ago. The purpose of the paleolithic cave paintings is not known. The evidence suggests that they were not merely decorations of living, buildings have also become objects or canvasess of artistic expression. In recent years, interest in sustainable Sustainability, in a broad sense, is the capacity to endure. In ecology the word describes how biological systems remain diverse and productive over time. For humans it is the potential for long-term improvements in wellbeing, which in turn depend on the wellbeing of the natural world and the responsible use of natural resources planning and building practices has also become part of the design process of many new buildings.
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Definitions
To differentiate buildings in the usage of this article from other buildings and other structures that are not intended for continuous human occupancy Occupancy is a defined legal term in building construction and building codes. It refers to the use or intended use of a building or part thereof for the shelter or support of persons, animals or property. A closely-related meaning is the number of units in such a building that are rented or leased, or otherwise in-use. The lack of occupancy in, the latter are called nonbuilding structures Nonbuilding structures, also referred to simply as structures, are those not designed for continuous human occupancy. The term is used by architects and structural engineers to distinctly identify structures that are not buildings or simply structures.
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.[citation needed]
History
The first shelter on Earth constructed by a relatively close ancestor to humans is believed to be built 500,000 years ago by an early ancestor of humans A human is a member of a species of bipedal primates in the family Hominidae . DNA and fossil evidence indicates that modern humans originated in east Africa about 200,000 years ago. When compared to other animals and primates, humans have a highly developed brain, capable of abstract reasoning, language, introspection and problem solving. This, Homo erectus Homo erectus is an extinct species of the genus Homo, believed to have been the first hominin to leave Africa.[1]
Types
Main article: List of building types Categories: Buildings and structures by type | Architecture lists | Lists of buildings and structures A timber framing house Timber framing , or half-timbering, is the method of creating framed structures of heavy timber jointed together with pegged mortise and tenon joints in Marburg Marburg is a city in Hesse, Germany, on the River Lahn. It is the main town of the Marburg-Biedenkopf district. Its population is 78,701, and its geographical position is 50°48′36″N 8°46′15″E / 50.81°N 8.77083°E, Germany Germany (pronounced /ˈdʒɜrməni/ ), officially the Federal Republic of Germany (German: Bundesrepublik Deutschland, pronounced [ˈbʊndəsʁepuˌbliːk ˈdɔʏtʃlant] ( listen)), is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered to the north by the North Sea, Denmark, and the Baltic Sea; to the east by Poland and the Czech Republic; to the south.Residential
Residential buildings are called houses A house is generally a shelter or building or structure that is a dwelling or place for habitation by human beings. The term includes many kinds of dwellings ranging from rudimentary huts of nomadic tribes to high-rise apartment buildings. In some contexts, "house" may mean the same as dwelling, residence, home, abode, lodging,/homes A home is a place of residence or refuge and comfort. It is usually a place in which an individual or a family can rest and be able to store personal property. Most modern-day households contain sanitary facilities and a means of preparing food. Animals have their own homes as well, either living in the wild or in a domesticated environment, though buildings containing large numbers of separate dwelling units are often called apartment buildings / blocks to differentiate them from the more 'individual' house.
Building types may range from one-room wood-framed, masonry, or adobe Adobe is a natural building material made from sand, clay, and water, with some kind of fibrous or organic material , which is shaped into bricks using frames and dried in the sun. It is similar to cob and mudbrick. Adobe structures are extremely durable and account for some of the oldest extant buildings on the planet. In hot climates, compared dwellings to multi-million dollar high-rise buildings able to house thousands of people. Increasing settlement density in buildings (and closer distances between buildings) is usually a response to high ground prices resulting from many people wanting to live close to work or similar attractors.
Multi-storey
A multi-storey building is a building that has multiple floors A storey , floor, deck or level is the level of a building above (or below) the ground above ground in the building.
Multi-storey buildings aim to increase the area of the building without increasing the area of the land the building is built on, hence saving land and, in most cases, money (depending on material used and land prices in the area).
Creation
The practice of designing, constructing, and operating buildings is normally a collective effort of different groups of professionals The word professional traditionally means a person who has obtained a professional level degree. The term professional is used more generally to denote a white collar working person, or a person who performs commercially in a field typically reserved for hobbyists or amateurs and trades A tradesman is a skilled manual worker in a particular trade or craft. Economically and socially, a tradesman's status is considered between a laborer and a professional, with a high degree of both practical and theoretical knowledge of their trade. In cultures where professional careers are highly prized there can be a shortage of skilled manual. Depending on the size, complexity, and purpose of a particular building project, the project team may include:
- A real estate developer Real estate development is a multifaceted business, encompassing activities that range from the renovation and re-lease of existing building to the purchase of raw land and the sale of improved parcels to others. Developers are the coordinators of the activities, converting ideas on paper into real property. They create, imagine, fund, control and who secures funding Funding or financing is to provide capital , which means money for a project, a person, a business or any other private or public institutions for the project;
- One or more financial institutions or other investors that provide the funding
- Local planning and code authorities
- A Surveyor A quantity surveyor is a professional person working within the construction industry. The role of the QS, in general terms, is to manage and control contracts and costs within construction projects. This involves the deployment of an extensive set of skills acquired through specialised formal education, specific training and experience who performs an ALTA/ACSM and construction surveys throughout the project;
- Construction managers Construction Management refers either to the study and practice of the managerial and technological aspects of the construction industry , or to a business model where one party to a construction contract serves as a construction consultant, providing both design and construction advice who coordinate the effort of different groups of project participants;
- Licensed architects An architect is trained and licensed in planning and designing buildings, and participates in supervising the construction of a building. Etymologically, architect derives from the Latin architectus, itself derived from the Greek arkhitekton , i.e. chief builder. A looser usage of Architect is: the translator of the building user's requirements of and engineers Architectural engineering, also known as Building Engineering, is the application of engineering principles and technology to building design and construction. Definitions of an architectural engineer may refer to: who provide building design and prepare construction documents A document is a bounded physical representation of body of information designed with the capacity (and usually intent) to communicate. A document may manifest symbolic, diagrammatic or sensory-representational information. To document (verb) is to produce a document artifact by collecting and representing information. In prototypical usage, a;
- Landscape architects A landscape architect is a person involved in the planning, design and sometimes oversight of an exterior landscape or space. Their professional practice is known as landscape architecture;
- Interior designers Interior design or Décor is a profession concerned with anything that is found inside a space - walls, windows, doors, finishes, textures, light, furnishings and furniture. All of these elements are used by interior designers to develop a functional, safe, and aesthetically pleasing space for a building's user;
- Other consultants;
- Contractors A general contractor is a group or individual that contracts with another organization or individual for the construction, renovation or demolition of a building, road or other structure. A general contractor is defined as such if it is the signatory as the builder of the prime construction contract for the project who provide construction In the fields of architecture and civil engineering, construction is a process that consists of the building or assembling of infrastructure. Far from being a single activity, large scale construction is a feat of multitasking. Normally the job is managed by the project manager and supervised by the construction manager, design engineer, services and install building systems such as climate control HVAC is an initialism or acronym that stands for "heating, ventilating, and air conditioning". HVAC is sometimes referred to as climate control and is particularly important in the design of medium to large industrial and office buildings such as skyscrapers and in marine environments such as aquariums, where humidity and temperature, electrical An electrician is a tradesman specializing in electrical wiring of buildings and related equipment. Electricians may be employed in the installation of new electrical components or the maintenance and repair of existing electrical infrastructure, plumbing Plumbing is the skilled trade of working with pipes, tubing and plumbing fixtures for drinking water systems and the drainage of waste. A plumber is someone who installs or repairs piping systems, plumbing fixtures and equipment such as water heaters. The plumbing industry is a basic and substantial part of every developed economy due to the need, Decoration A house painter and decorator is a tradesman responsible for the painting and decorating of buildings, and is also known as a decorator or house painter. The purpose of painting is to make them look better or to protect them from damage by water, rust, corrosion, insects or mould, fire protection Fire protection is the study and practice of mitigating the unwanted effects of fires. It involves the study of the behaviour, compartmentalisation, suppression and investigation of fire and its related emergencies, as well as the research and development, production, testing and application of mitigating systems. In structures, be they land-based,, security The word security is derived from the Ancient Greek "Se-Cura" and literally translates to "without fear". 'Security' is therefore the state of being secure, or the actions employed to achieve that state, i.e. to be secure is to be without fear of harm and telecommunications Telecommunication is the assisted transmission over a distance for the purpose of communication. In earlier times, this may have involved the use of smoke signals, drums, semaphore, flags or heliograph. In modern times, telecommunication typically involves the use of electronic devices such as the telephone, television, radio or computer. Early;
- Marketing or leasing Leasing is a process by which a firm can obtain the use of a certain fixed assets for which it must pay a series of contractual, periodic, tax deductible payments. The lessee is the receiver of the services or the assets under the lease contract and the lessor is the owner of the assets. The relationship between the tenant and the landlord is agents;
- Facility managers Facility management is an interdisciplinary field primarily devoted to the maintenance and care of large commercial or institutional buildings, such as hotels, resorts, schools, office complexes, sports arenas or convention centers. Duties may include the care of air conditioning, electric power, plumbing and lighting systems; cleaning; decoration; who are responsible for operating the building.
Regardless of their size or intended use, all buildings in the US must comply with zoning ordinances Zoning is a device of land use regulation used by local governments in most developed countries . The word is derived from the practice of designating permitted uses of land based on mapped zones which separate one set of land uses from another. Zoning may be use-based , or it may regulate building height, lot coverage, and similar characteristics,, building codes A building code, or building control, is a set of rules that specify the minimum acceptable level of safety for constructed objects such as buildings and nonbuilding structures. The main purpose of the building codes is to protect public health, safety and general welfare as they relate to the construction and occupancy of buildings and structures and other regulations such as fire codes Fire safety refers to precautions that are taken to prevent or reduce the likelihood of a fire that may result in death, injury, or property damage, alert those in a structure to the presence of a fire in the event one occurs, better enable those threatened by a fire to survive, or to reduce the damage caused by a fire. Fire safety measures, life safety codes Administered, copyrighted, and published by the National Fire Protection Association , the Life Safety Code, known as NFPA 101 is the registered trademark of an American consensus standard which, like many NFPA documents, is systematically revised on a three year cycle and related standards.
Vehicles—such as trailers Sometimes recreational vehicles, travel trailers, or mobile homes with limited living facilities where people can camp or stay have been referred to as trailers. In earlier days, many such vehicles were towable trailers, caravans A travel trailer or caravan is a trailer towed behind a road vehicle to provide a place to sleep which is more comfortable and protected than a tent . It provides the means for people to have their own home on a journey or a vacation (holiday), without relying on a motel or hotel, and enables them to stay in places where none is available, ships A ship /ʃɪp/ Audio (help·info) is a large vessel that floats on water. Ships are generally distinguished from boats based on size and passenger capacity. Ships may be found on lakes, seas, and rivers and they allow for a variety of activities, such as the transport of people or goods, fishing, entertainment, public safety, and warfare and passenger aircraft An aircraft is a vehicle which is able to fly by being supported by the air, or in general, the atmosphere of a planet. An aircraft counters the force of gravity by using either static lift or by using the dynamic lift of an airfoil (as with vehicles that plane the air with wings in a straight manner, such as airplanes and gliders, or vehicles—are treated as "buildings" for life safety purposes.
Ownership and funding
- Mortgage A mortgage is the transfer of an interest in property to a lender as a security for a debt - usually a loan of money. While a mortgage in itself is not a debt, it is the lender's security for a debt. It is a transfer of an interest in land (or the equivalent) from the owner to the mortgage lender, on the condition that this interest will be
- Mortgage loan A mortgage loan is a loan secured by real property through the use of a note which evidences the existence of the loan and the encumbrance of that realty through the granting of a mortgage which secures the loan. However, the word mortgage alone, in everyday usage, is most often used to mean mortgage loan
- Real estate developer Real estate development is a multifaceted business, encompassing activities that range from the renovation and re-lease of existing building to the purchase of raw land and the sale of improved parcels to others. Developers are the coordinators of the activities, converting ideas on paper into real property. They create, imagine, fund, control and
Planning and design
- Architecture Architecture is the art and science of designing and constructing buildings and other physical structures for human shelter or use. A wider definition often includes the design of the total built environment, from the macro level of how a building integrates with its surrounding context (see town planning, urban design, and landscape architecture)
- Building construction In the fields of architecture and civil engineering, construction is a process that consists of the building or assembling of infrastructure. Far from being a single activity, large scale construction is a feat of multitasking. Normally the job is managed by the project manager and supervised by the construction manager, design engineer,
- Civil engineering
- Mechanical, electrical, and plumbing design
- Quantity surveying
- Structural engineering
- Urban Planner
Building services
Physical plant
Main article: Physical plantAny building requires a certain amount of internal infrastructure to function, which includes such elements like heating / cooling, power and telecommunications, water and wastewater etc. Especially in commercial buildings (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:
Building damage
A building in Massueville, Quebec, Canada engulfed by fire.Buildings may be damaged during the construction of the building or during maintenance. There are several other reasons behind building damage like accident.[2] Buildings also may suffer from fire damage in special circumstances.
See also
| Architecture portal |
| Architecture portal |
- Autonomous building
- Building material
- Earthquake engineering
- Famous buildings
- Green building
- Hurricane proof building
- List of building types
- List of largest buildings in the world
- Natural building
- Natural disaster and earthquake
- Nonbuilding structure
- Skyscrapers
References
| Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Buildings |
- ^ "World's oldest building discovered". BBC News. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/662794.stm.
- ^ Building Damage
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Q. I have a wired network in a big building. I need to connect a remote building to our network. There is another building inbetween the two. We originally tried to go wireless but the building is made with double cinder blocks with a brick core. We couldn't get a signal in a room next to wireless router. So we opted to go with a wired network. The main building is fine, no issues. I even have wireless located in a comp lab, hosting 30 computers. The remote building is on one side of city block, while main building is on opposite side. Any suggestions?
Asked by fishtycoonaddict - Fri Jun 23 07:28:46 2006 - - 2 Answers - 0 Comments
A. It sounds like you need the help of a consultant. It's worth the money to have an experienced engineer determine the best method for your specific situation. He might recommend fiber optic cabling or a leased line from your local phone company. It sounds like you tried to use wireless access points but building-to-building wireless is not done that way. You need a wireless bridge. Again you need an experienced wireless engineer to examine your environment and make a recommendation.
Answered by emmittnervend - Fri Jun 23 07:52:40 2006
