PRC ALE key terms

German school of art and design founded in 1919 by Walter Gropius that merged craft training with industrial production and stressed functional, geometric form; its émigré faculty spread modernist ideas worldwide.

A modernist movement of the 1920s and 1930s characterized by rectilinear volumes, flat roofs, large glass areas, and the absence of ornament, named after a 1932 Museum of Modern Art exhibition.

Postwar modernist movement of the 1950s to 1970s that used exposed raw concrete, bold massing, and expressed structure; the name comes from the French béton brut, meaning raw concrete.

An external arched support that carries the outward thrust of a vault from the upper wall across to a pier, letting Gothic churches rise tall with thin walls and large stained-glass windows.

A curved triangular transition element that carries a circular dome over a square room by filling the corners between the supporting arches beneath the dome.

A Spanish-colonial Philippine house type with a stone or brick ground floor and a timber upper storey featuring sliding capiz-shell windows, wide ventanillas, and a steep tiled roof.

A Philippine adaptation of Baroque church design in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, marked by massive low proportions, thick walls, heavy buttresses, and squat bell towers for seismic resistance.

A local ordinance that divides land into districts and regulates permitted uses, building height, density, and yards, directing growth and separating incompatible activities.

The minimum horizontal distance required between a building or structure and the property line or other specified reference line under zoning or building regulations.

The ratio of the total gross floor area of all buildings on a lot to the area of that lot, used to control building bulk and population density.

The percentage of a lot that may be covered by buildings and other roofed structures, computed as the building footprint divided by the total lot area.

The total number of persons a building space is designed to hold, calculated from floor area and use factors, which determines required exit widths and egress capacity.

A continuous, unobstructed route from any point in a building to a public way, made up of the exit access, the exit, and the exit discharge.

The systematic study of a site's physical, legal, and contextual features, including topography, soils, climate, access, views, and adjacent uses, that guides the design response.

The cutting and filling of earth to reshape a site's surface to planned elevations for drainage, access, building pads, and landscape.

The placement and rotation of a building on its site relative to the sun's daily and seasonal path, used to control heat gain, daylight, and glare.

A loose planning diagram using circles or blobs and connecting lines to show required spaces, their relative sizes, and desired adjacencies before anything is drawn to scale.

A grid that rates the desired closeness or separation between every pair of spaces in a program, helping the planner arrange rooms and zones.

The design of buildings and products that can be used by the widest possible range of people, regardless of age or ability, without adaptation or specialized design.

The permanent stationary weight of a structure and its fixed parts, such as floors, walls, roofing, partitions, finishes, and fixed equipment, acting continuously on the framing.

The non-permanent load produced by occupancy and use, including people, furniture, stored goods, and movable equipment, prescribed by building code as a minimum uniform load.

A vertical concrete or masonry wall designed to resist lateral forces from wind or earthquake by collecting them from floors and roof and transferring them to the foundation.

A beam or slab fixed at one end and free at the other, carrying load without support beyond the fixed end and developing tension along its top face.

The portion of floor or roof area whose loads are carried by a particular beam, column, or footing, used to compute the total load on that member.

The maximum pressure a soil or rock mass can safely support without excessive settlement or shear failure, governing the size and type of foundation.

A hydraulic binder made by burning and grinding limestone and clay that sets and hardens through chemical reaction with water; the basic ingredient of concrete and mortar.

Maintaining adequate moisture and temperature in freshly placed concrete so that cement hydration continues, developing strength and durability while reducing cracking.

A hollow masonry unit of cement, sand, and aggregate, usually four, six, or eight inches thick, laid in mortar and often filled with grout and reinforcing steel.

Glued laminated timber made by bonding layers of seasoned lumber with waterproof adhesive, with grains parallel, to form strong structural beams, columns, and arches.

A non-load-bearing exterior cladding of glass, metal, or panels hung on the building frame, carrying only its own weight and resisting wind pressure.

A material other than cement, aggregate, or water added to concrete during mixing to change its properties, such as setting time, workability, or air content.

The Philippine Architecture Act of 2004, which regulates the practice of architecture, covering licensure, the scope of architectural services, the architect's seal, and corporate practice.

The Professional Regulatory Board of Architecture created under RA 9266, which administers the licensure examinations and enforces standards of architectural practice in the Philippines.

A project delivery method in which a single entity contracts with the owner for both design and construction, giving the owner one point of responsibility.

An itemized list of work items with measured quantities and descriptions of materials and labor, used to obtain tenders and to control cost during construction.

A document, usually issued by the architect, certifying that the work is sufficiently complete for its intended use so the owner may occupy it, listing remaining minor items.

A certificate issued by the local building official after final inspection, allowing a completed building to be occupied for its approved use.