In architecture, construction, engineering, real estate development and technology the word building may refer to one of the following:
- Any human-made structure used or intended for supporting or sheltering any use or continuous occupancy, or
- An act of construction (i. e. the activity of building, see also builder)
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 (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, buildings have also become objects or canvasess of artistic expression. In recent years, interest in sustainable planning and building practices has also become part of the design process of many new buildings.
Read more about Building: Definitions, History, Creation, Building Damage
Other articles related to "building, buildings":
... Built in 1969, it is Boston's 16th-tallest building, standing 500 feet (152 m) tall, and housing 40 floors ... It has been known as the New England Merchants Bank Building and the Bank of New England Building ... The building has a rectangular footprint which is then setback once near the top floor ...
... The building was converted by architects Herzog de Meuron and contractors Carillion, after which it stood at 99m tall ... documentary Architects Herzog and de Meuron Alchemy of Building Tate Modern ... The southern third of the building was retained by the French power company EDF Energy as an electrical substation (in 2006, the company released half of this holding) ...
... In 2004, the long vacant Arizona Bank Building, an 11-story building completed in 1961 on a small quarter of a city square block, was in the process of being remodeled into residential condominiums ... In May 2005, Grace Communities announced the existing building would be razed and in its place a 34-story tower would be erected and named 44 Monroe, the site’s address. 2005, demolition of the Arizona Bank Building began ...
... Buildings include Castle Building, Weinberg Building, the I-Wing, the art building, and the Nangaku Building ...
... A selection of the tallest buildings in Cologne are listed below ... was at one time Europe's tallest office building), the Kranhaus buildings at Rheinauhafen and the Messeturm Köln (English Trade Fair tower) ... Cologne Tower), Cologne's second tallest building at 165.48 metres (542.91 ft) in height, second only to the Colonius telecommunication tower ...
Famous quotes containing the word building:
“Nowadays almost all man’s improvements, so called, as the building of houses and the cutting down of the forest and of all large trees, simply deform the landscape, and make it more and more tame and cheap.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“Are we not madder than those first inhabitants of the plain of Sennar? We know that the distance separating the earth from the sky is infinite, and yet we do not stop building our tower.”
—Denis Diderot (1713–1784)
“The legislative powers of government reach actions only, and not opinions, ... thus building a wall of separation between Church and State.”
—Thomas Jefferson (1743–1826)