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Storey
A storey (British English) or story (American English) is any level part of a building with a floor that could be used by people (for living, work, storage, recreation, etc.). Plurals for the word are ''storeys'' (UK) and ''stories'' (US). The terms ''floor'', ''level'', or ''deck'' are used in similar ways, except that it is usual to speak of a "16-''storey'' building", but "the 16th ''floor''". The floor at ground or street level is called the "ground floor" (i.e. it needs no number; the floor below it is called "basement", and the floor above it is called "first") in many regions. However, in some regions, like the U.S., ''ground floor'' is synonymous with ''first floor'', leading to differing numberings of floors, depending on region – even between different national varieties of English. The words ''storey'' and ''floor'' normally exclude levels of the building that are not covered by a roof, such as the terrace on the rooftops of many buildings. Nevertheless, a flat r ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Floor
A floor is the bottom surface of a room or vehicle. Floors vary from simple dirt in a cave to many layered surfaces made with modern technology. Floors may be stone, wood, bamboo, metal or any other material that can support the expected load. The levels of a building are often referred to as floors, although a more proper term is storey. Floors typically consist of a subfloor for support and a floor covering used to give a good walking surface. In modern buildings the subfloor often has electrical wiring, plumbing, and other services built in. As floors must meet many needs, some essential to safety, floors are built to strict building codes in some regions. Special floor structures Where a special floor structure like a floating floor is laid upon another floor, both may be called subfloors. Special floor structures are used for a number of purposes: * Balcony, a platform projecting from a wall * Floating floor, normally for noise or vibration reduction * Glass fl ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Piano Nobile
The ''piano nobile'' ( Italian for "noble floor" or "noble level", also sometimes referred to by the corresponding French term, ''bel étage'') is the principal floor of a palazzo. This floor contains the main reception and bedrooms of the house. Characteristics The ''piano nobile'' is usually the first storey (in European terminology; second floor in American terms), or sometimes the second storey, containing major rooms, located above the rusticated ground floor containing the minor rooms and service rooms. The reasons for this were so the rooms above the ground floor would have finer views and to avoid the dampness and odours of the street level. This is especially true in Venice, where the ''piano nobile'' of the many '' palazzi'' is especially obvious from the exterior by virtue of its larger windows and balconies, and open loggias. Examples of this are Ca' Foscari, Ca' d'Oro, Ca' Vendramin Calergi, and Palazzo Barbarigo. Larger windows than those on other floors a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Basement
A basement or cellar is one or more Storey, floors of a building that are completely or partly below the storey, ground floor. It generally is used as a utility space for a building, where such items as the Furnace (house heating), furnace, water heating, water heater, breaker panel or fuse box, Garage (residential), car park, and air-conditioning system are located; so also are amenities such as the electrical system and cable television distribution point. In cities with high property prices, such as London, basements are often fitted out to a high standard and used as living space. In British English, the word ''basement'' is usually used for underground floors of, for example, department stores. The word is usually used with houses when the space below the ground floor is habitable, with windows and (usually) its own access. The word ''cellar'' applies to the whole underground level or to any large underground room. A ''subcellar'' is a cellar that lies further underneath ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Skyscraper
A skyscraper is a tall continuously habitable building having multiple floors. Modern sources currently define skyscrapers as being at least or in height, though there is no universally accepted definition. Skyscrapers are very tall high-rise buildings. Historically, the term first referred to buildings with between 10 and 20 stories when these types of buildings began to be constructed in the 1880s. Skyscrapers may host offices, hotels, residential spaces, and retail spaces. One common feature of skyscrapers is having a steel frame that supports curtain walls. These curtain walls either bear on the framework below or are suspended from the framework above, rather than resting on load-bearing walls of conventional construction. Some early skyscrapers have a steel frame that enables the construction of load-bearing walls taller than of those made of reinforced concrete. Modern skyscrapers' walls are not load-bearing, and most skyscrapers are characterised by large surface ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bungalow
A bungalow is a small house or cottage that is either single-story or has a second story built into a sloping roof (usually with dormer windows), and may be surrounded by wide verandas. The first house in England that was classified as a bungalow was built in 1869. In America it was initially used as a vacation architecture, and was most popular between 1900 and 1918, especially with the Arts and Crafts movement. The term bungalow is derived from the word and used elliptically to mean "a house in the Bengal style." Design considerations Bungalows are very convenient for the homeowner in that all living areas are on a single-story and there are no stairs between living areas. A bungalow is well suited to persons with impaired mobility, such as the elderly or those in wheelchairs. Neighborhoods of only bungalows offer more privacy than similar neighborhoods with two-story houses. As bungalows are one or one and a half stories, strategically planted trees and shrubs ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Penthouse Apartment
A penthouse is an apartment or unit on the highest floor of an apartment building, condominium, hotel or tower. Penthouses are typically differentiated from other apartments by luxury features. The term 'penthouse' originally referred, and sometimes still does refer, to a separate smaller 'house' that was constructed on the roof of an apartment building. Architecturally it refers specifically to a structure on the roof of a building that is set back from its outer walls. These structures do not have to occupy the entire roof deck. Recently, luxury high rise apartment buildings have begun to designate multiple units on the entire top residential floor or multiple higher residential floors including the top floor as penthouse apartments, and outfit them to include ultra-luxury fixtures, finishes, and designs which are different from all other residential floors of the building. These penthouse apartments are not typically set back from the building’s outer walls, but are inst ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Loft
A loft is a building's upper storey or elevated area in a room directly under the roof (American usage), or just an attic: a storage space under the roof usually accessed by a ladder (primarily British usage). A loft apartment refers to large adaptable open space, often converted for residential use (a converted loft) from some other use, often light industrial. Adding to the confusion, some converted lofts include upper open loft areas. Loft and attic In U.S usage, a loft is an upper room or storey in a building, mainly in a barn, directly under the roof, used for storage (as in most private houses). In this sense it is roughly synonymous with attic, the major difference being that an attic typically constitutes an entire floor of the building, while a loft covers only a few rooms, leaving one or more sides open to the lower floor. In British usage, lofts are usually just a roof space accessed via a hatch and loft ladder, while attics tend to be rooms immediately under the r ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Attic
An attic (sometimes referred to as a ''loft'') is a space found directly below the pitched roof of a house or other building; an attic may also be called a ''sky parlor'' or a garret. Because attics fill the space between the ceiling of the top floor of a building and the slanted roof, they are known for being awkwardly shaped spaces with exposed rafters and difficult-to-reach corners. While some attics are converted into bedrooms, home offices, or attic apartments complete with windows and staircases, most remain difficult to access (and are usually entered using a loft hatch and ladder). Attics help control temperatures in a house by providing a large mass of slowly moving air, and are often used for storage. The hot air rising from the lower floors of a building is often retained in attics, further compounding their reputation as inhospitable environments. However, in recent years attics have been insulated to help decrease heating costs, since, on average, uninsulated at ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Apartment
An apartment (American English), or flat (British English, Indian English, South African English), is a self-contained housing unit (a type of residential real estate) that occupies part of a building, generally on a single story. There are many names for these overall buildings, see below. The housing tenure of apartments also varies considerably, from large-scale public housing, to owner occupancy within what is legally a condominium ( strata title or commonhold), to tenants renting from a private landlord (see leasehold estate). Terminology The term ''apartment'' is favored in North America (although in some cities ''flat'' is used for a unit which is part of a house containing two or three units, typically one to a floor). In the UK, the term ''apartment'' is more usual in professional real estate and architectural circles where otherwise the term ''flat'' is used commonly, but not exclusively, for an apartment on a single level (hence a 'flat' apartment). In some coun ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Willis Tower
The Willis Tower (originally the Sears Tower) is a 108- story, skyscraper in the Loop community area of Chicago in Illinois, United States. Designed by architect Bruce Graham and engineer Fazlur Rahman Khan of Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM), it opened in 1973 as the world's tallest building, a title that it held for nearly 25 years. It is currently the third-tallest building in the Western Hemisphere, as well as the 23rd-tallest in the world. Each year, more than 1.7 million people visit the Skydeck observation deck, the highest in the United States, making it one of Chicago's most popular tourist destinations. The building occupies a site bounded by Franklin Street, Jackson Boulevard, Wacker Drive, and Adams Street. Graham and Khan designed the building as nine square " tubes", clustered in a 3×3 matrix; seven of the tubes set back at upper floors. The tower has 108 stories as counted by standard methods, though the building's owners count the main roof as 109 and the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Setback (architecture)
A setback, in the specific sense of a step-back, is a step-like form of a wall or other building frontage, also termed a recession or recessed storey. Importantly, one or more step-backs lowers the building's center of mass, making it more stable. A setback as a minimum one-bay indent across all storeys is called a recessed bay or recess and is the more common exterior form of an alcove (architecture). Notable upper storeys forming a step-back may form a belvedere – and in residential use are considered the penthouse. If part of the roof, then they are a loft or attic/ garret. History Setbacks were used by people to increase the height of masonry structures by distributing gravity loads produced by building materials such as clay, stone, or brick. This was achieved by regularly reducing the footprint of each level located successively farther from the ground. Setbacks also allowed the natural erosion to occur without compromising the structural integrity of the building ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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