Building

A building is an enclosed structure. A building is made using solid materials, a roof and walls. Architects design different types of buildings for different reasons. Residential buildings are constructed as dwellings. These are where people primarily sleep and do other domestic activities. Examples include apartment blocks and houses. Commercial buildings are for operating businesses in. Examples include restaurants, stores and office buildings. Mixed-use buildings combine two or more different uses in a single structure. This usually means the building has both commercial space and living quarters. Hotels and motels are in a category of building that is both residential (in that people sleep there), and commercial as they are businesses. Religious buildings are places of worship. Examples include mosques, temples, and churches. Industrial buildings are where different types of industry take place, such as manufacturing. Examples of an industrial building include a warehouse or factory or workshop. Residential institutional - Buildings that are residential institutions are facilities that house people who can't live in the general population of the society due to crimes they committed, inability to take care of themselves, lack of an income or currently undergoing a residential treatment or training program. Prisons, poorhouses, psychiatric hospitals, nursing homes, college residence halls and military barracks all are examples of residential institutional facilities. Governmental, utility and public buildings - in which official government functions are conducted. Examples include courthouses, legislative offices, power plants, storage sheds and post offices Parts Windows let light inside a building. People often use glass windows. People can use a door to come in or out of the building. Doors that go outside (exterior doors) often have a lock. A lock can stop people from coming into the building. If a building must last for a long time, it must have a solid foundation. This foundation is like the root of a tree, which is sunk a bit deep into the ground and supports the walls. If the ground is soft, the foundation must be very deep and strong so that the building can have a strong contact with the ground. A tall building normally has more than one floor. People can move to a different floor on a staircase or an elevator. Buildings can also have one or more floors under the ground. This is usually called a cellar or basement. Buildings can be beautiful or ugly, exciting or boring. Architects are people who are trained to design buildings. Their work is called architecture. Architecture can be a form of art. There are many styles of architecture. Temporary formwork has been used in construction since ancient times. The history of the development of formwork technologies is closely related to the evolution of architectural forms. All together, buildings, bridges and roads are known as the built environment. Types of buildings Shelters are places to live (residential buildings). We also build places to work and to make things, places to store things, places to sell things, places where sick people can go to be treated, places to put people who break our laws. We build to do many things. Some buildings are meeting places. A large number of people can meet together at a temple or theater or stadium to worship god or to hear or see what other people say or do. In Christendom they are called churches. Until we began to build skyscrapers, religious buildings were usually the largest, tallest buildings in a town. Fortresses and castles were also big but usually were not in towns. Big buildings need much more work to make and maintain. Buildings are made of many different materials. When there is lots of wood, it is used more often. Many buildings that are very old are made of stone. Concrete is used in many places. Starting in the late 19th century, skyscrapers were made of steel, increasingly combined with glass. References See also