The Building Technology Resource
A basement is one or more floors of a building that are either completely or partially below the ground floor. Slab-on-grade buildings do not have basements. Basements are typically used as a utility space for a building where such items as the furnace, water heater, car park, and air-conditioning system are located; so also are [...]
The Latin word basilica (derived from Greek, Basiliké Stoà, Royal Stoa), was originally used to describe a Roman public building (as in Greece, mainly a tribunal), usually located in the forum of a Roman town. In Hellenistic cities, public basilicas appeared in the 2nd century BC. Basilicas were also used for religious purposes. The remains [...]
A bay is a unit in architecture. This unit is defined as the zone between the outside edges of an engaged column, pilaster, post, or vertical wall area. In an exterior building facade, a bay is often simply an opening in a wall, usually occupied by a window opening or doorway.
A bay window is a window space projecting outward from the main walls of a building and forming a bay in a room, either square or polygonal in plan. The angles most commonly used on the inside corners of the bay are 90, 135 and 150 degrees. Bay windows are often associated with Victorian architecture. [...]
A bell tower (also belfry) is a tower which contains one or more bells, or which is designed to hold bells, even if it has none. In the European tradition, such a tower most commonly serves as part of a church and contains church bells. When attached to a city hall or other civic building, [...]