Tutorials Architectural terms

This page explains a variety of miscellaneous architectural terms. There are no plans to make it a comprehensive list; only those terms which are usable for featuresSpecial attraction at normal Minecraft scales will be covered.

• Buttress
  • An external support to a wall that prevents it from leaning outwards and collapsing. See Walls and buttresses.

• Console
  • An ornamental bracket, often used to support a wall fixture, bust or other feature. In Minecraft, a console and a corbel will often be indistinguishable.

• Corbel
  • Corbels, and the technique of `corbelling` are used in various ways in architecture. Prior to the development of the methods now used for arches, a corbel arch was a `fake` arch that just edged the stones out from a wall a little at a time until they met, without changing the shape or orientation of the stones in the ways that would be done for a true arch. `Corbel` is also a term for a support, usually of stone, that has been keyed into the supporting wall so that it is stronger than a console would be.

• Counterfort
  • A supporting structure for a dam or retaining wall, similar to a buttress.

• Dormer
  • A structure on a roof commonly with its own `mini-roof` above it. See Roof decorations. Also a shortened term for a dormer window, a window within a dormer structure.

• Embrasure
  • If a wall is partly hollowed out from the inside, this is known as an embrasure. They may be used as a site for arrow slits, or as a firing hole for a cannon, or to broaden the opening around an arch or doorway. See Walls and buttresses.

• Light
  • The term light is used not only for actual lights, but also for some types of window – hence `skylight`, `fanlight`, `transom light` and so forth.

• Monitor
  • A protuding secondary roof running along the roof ridge parallel to the main roof. See Roof types.

• Mullion
  • A vertical element dividing the sections of windows, doors, or screens, or used decoratively.

• Pile
  • A heavy beam or post driven vertically into the ground to support the foundations of a very large structure.

• Slab ceiling
  • This is a Minecraft-specific term for a ceiling made of slabs. These have less disadvantages than slab floors, as the only common ceiling `furniture` are lights of various kinds, but using a slab ceiling does still impose a limit on the ceiling materials available.

• Slab floor
  • This is a Minecraft-specific term for a floor made of slabs. These are used with some furniture types, which rely on having a half-height base – a slab – in order to look correct. It also makes it possible to approximate skirting boards using step blocks while staying in scale with the rest of the room. The disadvantage of a slab floor is that only a small number of Minecraft blocks have slab variants available, which limits the possible floor types, and the new carpet Carpet Transparency Yes Luminance No Blast resistance 0.5 Tool Any tool Renewable Yes Stackable Yes (64) Flammable Yes Drops Itself Data value dec: 171 hex: AB bin: 10101011 Name carpet Carpets are thin blocks which are mainly used tiles cannot be used.

• Stay
  • A usually nautical term for a rope, wire or rod which helps hold a structure in position. Often used for ships` masts and other very tall, thin structures, and sometimes for certain designs of retaining wall.

• Transom
  • A horizontal structural beam or bar, or the crosspiece separating a door from a window above it. Also a shortened term for a transom window or transom light.