Water Table (architecture)

A water table is a masonry architectural feature that consists of a projecting course that deflects water running down the face of a building away from lower courses or the foundation. A water table may be found near the base of a wall or at a transition between materials, such as from stone to brick.

WATER TABLE: A projection of lower masonry on the outside of the wall slightly above the ground. Often a damp course is placed at the level of the water table to prevent upward penetration of ground water. Technical Notes 2 - Glossary of Terms Relating to Brick Masonry www.bia.org

Note the water table around the base of the Arthur Heurtley House (illustration provided in that article) designed and built by Frank Lloyd Wright in 1902.

Famous quotes containing the words water and/or table:

    Reasoning with a drunkard is like
    Going under water with a torch to seek for a drowning man.
    Tiruvalluvar (c. 5th century A.D.)

    the moderate Aristotelian city
    Of darning and the Eight-Fifteen, where Euclid’s geometry
    And Newton’s mechanics would account for our experience,
    And the kitchen table exists because I scrub it.
    —W.H. (Wystan Hugh)