41 Basics of Architecture

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41 Basics of Architecture 1. What is the plot ratio? Answer: The floor area ratio is the ratio of the total construction area of a project to its total land area. It is generally expressed as a decimal. 2. What is building density? Answer: Building density is the ratio of the total built-up area of a project to the total land area allocated for it. It is generally expressed as a percentage. 3. What is the green space ratio (green coverage rate)? Answer: The green space ratio is the ratio of the total area of green spaces in a project to the total land area. It is generally expressed as a percentage. 4. What is solar distance? Answer: The solar distance is the distance between two adjacent buildings, determined based on the requirements regarding sunlight exposure. The calculation of the sun exposure distance is generally based on the height above the window sills on the ground floor of a building, in the direct south direction at noon on the winter solstice, at which point the wall surface can be illuminated by the sun. 5. What is the difference between buildings and structures? Answer: Any building or structure used by people for production, living, or other activities is called a building, such as apartments, factories, schools, etc ； Buildings in which people do not produce or live are called structures, such as chimneys, water towers, bridges, etc. 6. What are the “three main building materials”? Answer: The “three main materials” in construction refer to steel, cement, and wood. 7. What are the three components of construction and installation costs? Answer: The cost of construction and installation work consists of labor costs, material costs, and machinery costs. 8. What is the Unified Modular System? What are the basic modulus, extended modulus, and sub-modulus? Answer: (1) The so-called unified modular system is a set of basic rules established to standardize design, ensuring that the dimensions of different buildings and their various components are consistent and coordinated, thereby enabling versatility and interchangeability. This helps to speed up the design process, improve construction efficiency, and reduce costs. (2) The basic module is the fundamental unit of size used in module coordination, denoted by M; 1M = 100 mm. (3) The expanded modulus is a type of derived modulus, whose value is a multiple of the basic modulus. There are six types of expansion modules in total: 3M (300mm), 6M (600mm), 12M (1200mm), 15M (1500mm), 30M (3000mm), and 60M (6000mm). The larger dimensions in architecture, such as bay width, depth, span, and column spacing, should be multiples of a certain expanded modulus. (4) The sub-module number is another form of the derived module number, with a value that is a multiple of the basic module number. There are three types of module divisions, namely 1/10M (10mm), 1/5M (20mm), and 1/2M (50mm). Smaller dimensions in architecture, such as gaps, wall thicknesses, and structural joints, should be multiples of a certain sub-module. 9. What are nominal size, geometric size, and actual size? Answer: (1) The dimension of a mark is used to indicate the distances between the alignment axes of a building (such as the bay width and depth), as well as the dimensions defining the boundaries of the locations of building components, structural elements, and related equipment. The size of the signs shall comply with the regulations of the modular system. (2) The construction dimensions are the design dimensions of building products and building components. The construction size is less than or greater than the nominal size. Under normal circumstances, the construction dimension plus the reserved gap size, or minus the necessary support dimensions, equals the sign size. (3) The actual size refers to the true dimensions of building products and building components. The difference between the actual size and the nominal size should be within the allowable construction tolerances. 10. What is a positioning axis? Answer: The alignment axis is a line used to determine the position of the main structures or components of a building, as well as their dimensional markers. 11. What are horizontal and vertical? What are horizontal axes and vertical axes? Answer: (1) Horizontal refers to the width direction of a building. (2) Longitudinal: refers to the lengthwise direction of a building. (3) The axis arranged along the width direction of the building is called a transverse axis. Its numbering method uses Arabic numerals written from left to right inside the axis circles. (4) The axis arranged along the length direction of a building is called the longitudinal axis. Its numbering method uses uppercase letters written from top to bottom within the circle of the axis (where the letters I, O, and Z are not used). 12. What are the bay and depth of a house? Answer: The bay refers to the width of a room, that is, the distance between two transverse axes ； Depth refers to the depth of a house, that is, the distance between its two longitudinal axes. 13. What is ceiling height? What is clear height? Answer: Floor height refers to the height between floors of a building, that is, the distance from the floor or ground level of one floor to the floor or ground level of the floor above ； Clear height refers to the free height of a room, that is, the distance from the floor to the underside of the ceiling. 14. What is the total building height? Answer: The total building height refers to the overall height from the outdoor ground level to the top of the eaves. 15. What is elevation? What are absolute elevation and relative elevation? Answer: (1) The height difference between a certain part of a building and a designated water benchmark is called the elevation of that part. (2) Absolute elevation, also known as altitude, has the average sea level in the Yellow Sea near Qingdao designated as the zero point for absolute elevation in China; elevations throughout the country are measured with this as a reference. (3) The relative elevation takes the floor of the main room on the ground floor of the building as the zero point (+0.00), indicating the height of a certain location above the ground floor floor. 16. What are floor area, usable area, and utilization rate? What are traffic area and structural area? Answer: (1) The building area is calculated by multiplying the outer dimensions of the building in length and width, and then multiplying that result by the number of floors. It consists of usable area, traffic area, and structural area. (2) The usable area refers to the net area of the main rooms and auxiliary rooms (the net area is obtained by multiplying the axis dimensions by 1 minus the wall thickness). (3) The utilization rate, also known as the floor area ratio, refers to the percentage of the usable area compared to the total building area. (4) The traffic area refers to the net area of traffic connection facilities such as walkways, stairwells, and elevator shafts. (5) The structural area refers to the area occupied by walls and columns. 17. What is a red line? Answer: The red line refers to the area allocated to the construction party by the planning department; it is usually marked in red on the drawings and has legal validity. 18. How are buildings classified into grades? Answer: The grade of a building is determined based on its durability grade (service life) and fire resistance grade (fire endurance). (1) Classified by durability level, there are four grades in total: Grade 1, with a durability period of over 100 years ； Grade 2, service life of 50–100 years ； Grade 3, service life of 25~50 years ； Grade 4, with a service life of 15 years or less. (2) Classified by fire resistance rating, there are four levels in total: from level 1 to level 4, the fire resistance capacity of buildings decreases gradually. 19. What is a brick-concrete structure? Answer: The vertical load-bearing elements of a building are made of brick walls or brick columns, while the horizontal load-bearing elements are made of reinforced concrete floor slabs and roof slabs; this type of structural system is known as a brick-concrete structure. 20. What is a frame structure? Answer: A frame structure refers to a framework composed of columns, longitudinal beams, transverse beams, floor slabs, etc., which serves as the load-bearing structure, while the walls act as the enclosing structure. 21. What is a shear wall? Answer: A shear wall refers to a wall added within a frame structure to resist horizontal shear forces. Since the horizontal shear forces that high-rise buildings must resist are primarily caused by earthquakes, shear walls are also known as seismic walls. 22. What is a framework? What is a shear wall structure? Answer: A frame-shear wall structure means that vertical loads are shared by both the frame and shear walls ； In such structures, horizontal loads are borne by 20%~30% by the frame and 70%~80% by the shear walls. The length of shear walls is designed based on a standard of 50 mm per square meter of building area. 23. What is a fully shear wall structure? Answer: A fully shear wall structure is a type of structure that uses the interior walls (or both interior and exterior walls) of a building as its load-bearing framework to carry vertical and horizontal loads on the building. 24. What is a cylinder structure? Answer: The tube structure has evolved and developed through a combination of frame-shear wall structures and fully shear wall structures. A tubular structure is a space-enclosing tube formed by concentrating shear walls or closely spaced column frames inside and around the building. It is characterized by concentrated shear walls, which allow for larger free partitionable spaces, and is commonly used in office building constructions. 25. What is a steel structure? Answer: A steel structure is a structure in which the main load-bearing components of a building are made of steel. It features low self-weight, high strength, good ductility, fast construction speed, and excellent seismic resistance. Steel structures are often used in super-tall buildings and are relatively expensive. 26. What are the advantages and disadvantages of frame structures compared to brick-concrete structures? Answer: Advantages: (1) Light weight: The weight of a brick-concrete structure is 1500 kilograms per square meter ； The self-weight of frame structures that use lightweight panels (such as aerated concrete partition walls and light steel keel partition walls) is 400 to 600 kilograms per square meter, which is only 1/3 of that of brick-concrete structures. (2) Flexible room layout: In a frame structure, the load-bearing element is the framework itself, with wall panels serving only as enclosing and partitioning elements; therefore, the layout can be adjusted quite flexibly. (3) Increased effective area: The walls of frame structures are thinner than those of brick-concrete structures, thereby increasing the usable area of the building. Disadvantages: (1) The amount of steel used is about 30% higher than that in brick-concrete structures, resulting in higher construction costs compared to brick-concrete structures. (2) The cross-sectional dimensions of some columns are too large, causing them to protrude outside the wall and affecting the aesthetics. 27. What is the difference between a foundation and a base? Answer: (1) The foundation soil is the layer of soil beneath the foundation; its role is to bear all the loads transmitted from the foundation. (2) The foundation is the load-bearing component of a building that lies below the ground surface; it is an essential part of the building. Its function is to bear all the loads transmitted from the building and to transfer these loads, along with the building’s own weight, to the soil layer beneath. 28. What is the foundation depth? What are deep foundations and shallow foundations? Answer: (1) The foundation depth refers to the vertical distance from the outdoor design floor level to the bottom surface of the foundation. (2) Foundations with a burial depth of 5 meters or more are referred to as deep foundations ； Foundations with a depth of between 0.5 meters and 5 meters are called shallow foundations. The foundation depth must not be less than 0.5 meters. 29. How can the foundations of buildings be classified into three different methods? Answer: (1) Classified by the materials used, they can be divided into brick foundations, rubble foundations, concrete foundations, reinforced concrete foundations, etc. (2) Classified by structural form: they can be divided into independent foundations, strip foundations, grid foundations, slab foundations, raft foundations, box foundations, pile foundations, etc. (3) Classified by the stress characteristics of the materials used: they can be divided into rigid foundations and flexible foundations. 30. What is a moisture barrier? Answer: To prevent moisture from rising along the walls from below and surface water from eroding the wall surfaces, waterproof materials are used to separate the lower walls from the upper walls; this barrier layer is the moisture barrier. The location of the moisture barrier is generally 60 mm to 70 mm below the indoor floor level on the first floor (+0.00), as well as at a elevation of -0.06 m to -0.07 m. 31. What is a foot strap? What is a skirting? What is their respective function? Answer: (1) The part of the exterior wall below, near the outdoor ground level, is called the plinth. The purpose of footings is to prevent erosion by surface water and rainwater dripping from eaves, thereby protecting the wall surfaces, maintaining dryness inside the building, and enhancing the durability of the structure. The height of the footrest is generally the difference between the indoor floor level and the outdoor floor level. (2) The skirting is a structural element at the junction of the inner side of the exterior wall and both sides of the interior wall with the indoor floor. The purpose of the skirting is to prevent wall contamination when sweeping. The height of the skirting is generally between 120mm and 150mm. 32. What is a apron? What is a open ditch? What is its function? Answer: The apron is a drainage slope located near the bottom of the foundation ； A open ditch is a drainage ditch installed near the lower part of the footwall. Their purpose is to quickly drain the rainwater dripping from the eaves, preventing the building from sinking due to water accumulation seeping into the foundation. 33. What is a transverse wall? What is a longitudinal wall? Answer: (1) A transverse wall is a wall that is arranged along the width direction of the building. (2) Vertical walls are walls arranged along the length direction of the building. 34. What are load-bearing transverse walls, load-bearing longitudinal walls, and mixed load-bearing transverse and longitudinal walls? What are their respective advantages and disadvantages? Answer: (1) Load-bearing transverse walls involve placing beams or slabs on these walls. The advantage is that the dense transverse walls provide high lateral stiffness and excellent seismic resistance, while the windows in the exterior walls offer flexibility, facilitating the creation of cross-ventilation ； The downside is that it requires a large amount of material, and the bay dimensions are not flexible enough. (2) Load-bearing vertical walls involve placing beams or slabs on these vertical walls. The advantage is that the layout of the building is flexible, and less material is required ； The drawback is poor stiffness, along with limited options for installing windows on the exterior walls. (3) Mixed load-bearing of longitudinal and transverse walls means placing beams or slabs on both the longitudinal walls and the transverse walls simultaneously. The advantage is flexible room layout and good overall stiffness ； The disadvantage is that there are many types of beams and slabs used, making construction rather complicated. 35. What are the standard specifications for ordinary clay bricks? Answer: The standard dimensions of a regular clay brick are 240 mm in length, 115 mm in width, and 53 mm in thickness. The width of the grout is taken as 10 mm, resulting in a length-width-thickness ratio for standard bricks of (240+10)∶(115+10)∶(53+10) = 4∶2∶1. The standard number of bricks required for 1 cubic meter of brick masonry is 512 bricks (including mortar joints). 36. What are running bricks and end bricks? What are sleep bricks and fighting bricks? Answer: (1) Running bricks means that the length of the bricks is aligned along the wall surface ； Ding brick refers to the width of the brick along the wall surface. (2) Laying bricks flat is called laying bricks in a horizontal position ； Building bricks vertically on the side is called brick stacking. 37. What is a lintel? What is its function? Answer: A lintel is a beam located above door and window openings; its function is to bear the load above those openings and transfer it to the walls on either side of the doors and windows, thereby preventing the frames from being damaged or deformed. The length of a lintel is generally the span of the door or window opening plus 500 mm. 38. What is a ring beam? What is its function? Answer: A ring beam, also known as a “waist band,” is a continuous closed beam placed on a wall at the same horizontal level. Its function is to enhance the integrity and spatial stiffness of the entire building, resist uneven settlement of the structure, and improve the building’s seismic resistance. 39. What is a structural column? What is its function? Answer: Construction columns are vertical elements installed at the main corners of walls; their function is to work together with ring beams to form a spatial framework that enhances the overall stiffness and ductility of the building, restricts the expansion of cracks in the walls, and thereby improves the building’s seismic resistance. 40. What is a deformation joint? Answer: When a building is subjected to adverse external factors such as temperature changes, uneven settlement of adjacent parts, and collisions caused by earthquakes, it can suffer damage in the form of deformation and cracking. To prevent such damage, buildings are often artificially divided into several separate units, so that their deformation does not interfere with one another; the gaps between these units are known as expansion joints. 41. How many types are there for expansion joints? What are their respective setting principles? Answer: Depending on the external factors that cause damage, expansion joints are divided into three types: expansion joints, settlement joints, and seismic joints. (1) Expansion joints: Also known as temperature joints, expansion joints are installed to account for the effects of temperature changes on buildings. Changes in climate temperature can cause building materials and components to expand and contract, and buildings that are too long or too wide may experience wall cracks or even damage as a result of this expansion and contraction. Therefore, buildings that are too long and too wide are divided into several sections using expansion joints, allowing each section to expand and contract freely, thereby preventing cracks in the walls. The expansion joint has a width of 20–30 mm, and is filled with elastic insulation material. (2) Settlement joints: Settlement joints are provided to account for the possibility of uneven settlement in certain parts of a building. When there are significant differences in the height differences, loads, structural forms, and foundation bearing capacity of adjacent parts of a building, or when the building’s plan shape is complex or the connected buildings are constructed in phases, uneven settlement may occur in those adjacent areas, leading to cracks, tilting, or even collapse of the entire building. Therefore, settlement joints are installed to divide the building into several separate units, ensuring that each unit settles independently without being affected by the others. The width of settlement joints is generally 30~120 mm. (3) Seismic joints: Seismic joints are provided to account for the damage that earthquakes can cause to buildings. For multi-story masonry buildings in earthquake-prone areas, when the vertical height difference between the floors is more than 6 meters, or when the building has different levels with large differences in floor heights, or when the structural stiffness and mass of various parts of the building differ significantly from one another, the adjacent sections of the building may collide with each other during an earthquake, resulting in damage. Therefore, it is necessary to design seismic joints to divide the building into several independent units with simple shapes and uniform structural stiffness, in order to prevent damage from earthquakes. The width of seismic joints is generally 50~100 mm.