Enjoy the enthusiasm and the added edge. After 20+ years hanging in the industry I still feel like a rebel. You however make it look hip. Keep true. You're doing a great thing! - Ellen S., HKS, Inc.
Design Speak lets you in on a some industry lingo so that you will sound oh-so-smart. From abbreviations to acronyms to phrases to trendy words, we’ll do our best to cover it, and we’ll do it in language you’ll understand.
Filigree has come to mean several things. First, it can describe very detailed, elaborate decorative openwork. Second, filigree can mean any design resembling that type of openwork. Lastly, it can be used to describe intricate metal – i.e., copper, silver or gold – embellishments applied either to a metal surface or to another material. This versatile word can even be used as a verb, as in “to apply something with (or as if with) filigree.”
Besides the obvious culinary meaning, this is one of those words that has too many architectural-related meanings for its own good. In fact, it’s quite confusing. We’ll try to sort it out for you.
1. At its most simple, it refers to a thin narrow strip of material, usually a band of molding that separates other sections of molding.
2. The term can also be used to simply describe the delicate adornment strips applied to shafts and archways along the moldings, as well as the space between two flutings in a shaft. Stay with us here…
3. Lastly, it describes the curved, concave portion forming a junction of two surfaces that would otherwise intersect at an angle. In welding, a fillet weld is radius joint replacing sharp inside corners, and it reinforces the corner where two surfaces meet. A fillet can be 2-dimensional as well; in AutoCAD, you’ll find a fillet function that allows you to quickly insert a radius corner where two lines meet.
A decorative element or detail that sits atop something, crowning it. In traditional architecture, it’s an ornament on top of a peak of an arch or arched structure – a pinnacle or spire, for example. The material can be metal, stone, wood, etc. In the decorative arts and furniture design, though, a finial describes a decorative piece - composed of stone, wood, metal, porcelain, plaster, etc. – that finishes off a piece such as a lamp, clock, etc.
Municipal building codes mandate minimum fire ratings for particular situations, and if these rules are not followed, projects will not pass inspection and/or can cause harm to the structure’s users. The term “fire rated” refers to the UL (Underwriters Laboratories) fire resistance rating of an assembly, which can be a variety of things. A ceiling assembly, for example, could include the structural components, suspension system, ceiling panels, light fixtures, and diffusers. A wall assembly could include the structural members, gypsum board, insulation, and glazing. A door assembly could include the door itself, the associated hardware, and the door framing. You get the picture. Each of these assemblies is fire rated differently and required for certain building applications.
Even the smallest of gaps will allow smoke, toxic gas, heat and even flames to pass, and fire stopping – also known as penetration sealing – is the process of making sure that this doesn’t happen or is, at the very least, considerably slowed. Buildings are constructed under fire codes, which include constructing walls, ceilings, barriers, and floors in a certain way as to act as passive fire protection systems. However, utility systems consisting of ducts, pipes and cables live within a building, penetrating these structural barriers and compromising its fire protection integrity. Sealants, compounds, etc. help stop these potential hazards, and this practice is (now quite obviously) called fire stopping.
As an adjective, flame retardant means that something as been made or treated so as to resist burning. As a noun, a flame retardant is the chemical used to treat products – such as textiles, building materials, home goods, or clothing – during or after the manufacturing process in order to inhibit or resist the spread of fire. Flame retardants are required by law on many components that interior designers specify, but lately, more and more debate has gone on about how certain flame retardants pose a risk to human health. In fact, certain national chain stores are beginning to ban the use of particular chemicals on the products that they offer consumers.
A type of pattern made either with weaving or printing techniques, a flame stitch consists of intertwining peaks and valleys that end up giving the impression of a flame. Used stylishly by fashion designers like Missoni for years, flame stitch patterns can be found a variety of textiles such as rugs, upholstery, and wallcoverings.
You would think that with a name like flashing, the term would refer to something with a little sparkle and pizzazz. Well, we guess sheet metal can put off a little shimmer, and that is exactly what most flashing is made of. The point of flashing is to stop water from penetrating and, consequently, damaging a structure at its seams and joints – i.e., where different materials come together, such as where a chimney emerges from a roof or where a window sits in a wall. That said, flashing needs to be composed of material that itself is impervious to water. Whether exposed to the elements or concealed within structure and whether made of rigid metal or flexible sheeting, flashing needs to be non-corrosive, long-lasting, and prevalent or the building’s occupants are in for lots of grief.
“Up, up and away…” Sorry – wrong kind of float. Nor is it the summer treat made from mixing soda and ice cream. In the design world, the word float is both a noun and a verb used to describe the process of smoothing out a wall, ceiling or floor with a plaster or cement, creating an even surface suitable as a substrate for paint, wallcovering, flooring material, etc. If a surface is rough, uneven, pockmarked, or generally damaged, then using float to float that surface (see how it can be used both ways?) is critical to make the application of the material successful.
When setting tile or stone in beds of mortar, it is common for installers to use strips of material that help them level the hard surfacing material to the desired angle. If on a countertop or vertical surface, chances are that you want the tile installed perfectly flat. If on the floor where drainage is an issue, you want a slight angle, coaxing any water towards a drain. Float strips simply act as guides, making the installation process easier.
This type of door hardware secures a door in place and is mounted either inside (most common) or on the surface of a door. Often used on the more stationary panel of a set of double doors, the bolt can either slide down into the threshold or the floor below the door or slide up into the jamb above the door. Or both!
A decorative term that can apply to classic architectural ornamentation as well as to furniture and accessories. It describes (usually a series of) shallow, parallel concave channels that appear on any surface, but especially on columns and pilasters. Fluting is always vertical, and the grooves can either run from the top to the bottom of a post or simply side by side. When the flute has a rounded top and, occasionally, a base, it is sometimes referred to as gouged. Fluting, by the way, is the reverse of reeding.
Common abbreviation for “Free On Board”. This term is used when dealing with shipping of products. So much of design and decorating deals with shipping items from one place to another, whether it’s from a furniture manufacturer in North Carolina or a marble quarry in Italy. FOB means that the goods are delivered without charge for delivery to and placing on board a carrier at a specified point. FYI: Delivery can be super expensive and add a great deal to the overall cost of a project.
This is not what you make an appointment at the spa for – that’s exfoliation. No, this happy little word is related to foliage – i.e., trees and leaves – and actual foils (and not the kind you wrap your leftovers in). In the world of the decorative arts and architecture, a foil is a lobe or leaf-shaped curve formed by the cusping of a circle or an arch. Very Gothic, but also Moorish. The number of foils involved is indicated by a prefix, e.g. trefoil (3), quatrefoil (4), cinquefoil (5), multifoil, etc. So it makes sense that foliated ornamentation features foils and/or representations of foliage. In architecture, the application commonly is on an archway, window or other opening; in the decorative arts, you can apply it to just about anything.
Though this fun-to-say word means a foolish act, a costly, misdirected undertaking, or a lack of good sense to most of the world, in the architecture and design sense it is used to describe a small-scale, often extravagantly adorned building created solely for the purpose of satisfying the owner’s fanciful taste. If you’ve always dreamed of having a Medieval castle with a turret or a gingerbread style Victorian home but don’t want to actually reside in it, then simply satisfy that architectural jones by erecting a folly on that 50-acre estate of yours!
To bridge the gap between the student / educational community and the professional / manufacturer community of the interior design world, and not to die of boredom while we do it.
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