📖 Illustrated Architecture Glossary | 298 Core Terms, 197 Drawings, 14 Categories, Free

Architecture has its own language, and nobody stops a crit to explain it. The Illustrated Architecture Glossary gathers the 298 words you will meet most in briefs, lectures, reviews and site visits, explains each one in plain English in a sentence or two, and draws the ones that are easier to see than to describe.

197 of the entries have a drawing made for the glossary, all in the same line style, with the part the word refers to picked out in amber. Look a word up A to Z, or browse a whole topic through the index by category at the back, where every line is a link.

📦 What’s inside

• The glossary in A4 (25 pages): how to use it, a visual finder, A to Z entries, an index by category with page links and a “My own terms” page.
• The same glossary in US Letter (25 pages).
• Glossary spreadsheet (XLSX): every term with its category, definition, drawn or not and page, ready to filter and sort.
• 14 categories: structure, construction, materials, building elements, classical and historic, modern movements and styles, urban design, landscape, interiors, environmental and services, representation and drawing, design process, practice and contracts, building types.
• Start Here guide (3 pages).

🧩 Formats and compatibility

PDF in A4 and US Letter, for screen, tablet or print; XLSX for Excel, Google Sheets or Numbers.

🎯 Who it is for

First year architecture and interior design students, students studying in English as a second language, and anyone who keeps nodding in crits at words they half know.

💡 Good to know

• Free download.
• Spelling is British (storey, centre, colour); where North American practice uses a different word, the definition says so.
• The drawings explain ideas, not construction; they are schematic and not to scale.
• Delivered as a download link (Google Drive), 1 file, about 1.8 MB (4 files inside).

🚀 Want more?

The full glossary has 1,110 terms and 594 drawings across the same 14 categories, and it is one folder of the Architecture Student Survival Mega Guide ($12), together with three guide volumes (345 pages: Studio and Design Process; Research, Thesis and Writing; Career, Wellbeing and Skills), the 15 sheet Student OS workbook with a 175 page planner, and shortcut sheets, A3 posters and wallpapers for 10 programs. It is also part of the Ultimate Bundle ($69 for all ten packs).