Read a building

Columns, vaults, roofs and façades: the words and forms that let you read any building.

The basics of architecture in ten steps. By the end you will know a Doric from a Corinthian column, a barrel vault from a rib vault, and what a façade can tell you.

Read the page at each step, then do the short exercise: three questions. Two right answers complete the step. You can repeat the exercise as often as you like.

The steps

• Step 1: Looking at a building
• Step 2: The orders of columns
• Step 3: The Greek temple
• Step 4: Arches and vaults
• Step 5: The Gothic cathedral
• Step 6: The church plan
• Step 7: Materials
• Step 8: Roof forms
• Step 9: Reading a facade
• Step 10: Swedish building tradition

• Looking at a building
• The orders of columns
• The Greek temple
• Arches and vaults
• The Gothic cathedral
• The church plan
• Materials
• Roof forms
• Reading a facade
• Swedish building tradition