Glossary · A
Attic
Also called attic storey
A storey or wall above the main cornice of a façade, as on a Roman triumphal arch, where it carries the dedicatory inscription. Not to be confused with the Attic base of a column.
See also: Triumphal arch
Rules that use the word
The tall building has three parts. Treat a tall office building as base, shaft and top: an open, accessible ground storey for shops and entrances; an indefinite stack of identical office floors expressed as one; and a distinct attic that closes the composition.
The triumphal arch. Pierce a massive rectangular pier with one arch, or with a tall central arch between two lower ones; frame the openings with columns on pedestals carrying an entablature, and crown the whole with a high attic for the dedicatory inscription.
Where it appears in the book
In the chapters Domes, The Roof, Frame and Skin, The Anatomy of an Order, The Ionic Order, Columns in Company, The Classical World, The House in England and America.
A feature of Beaux-Arts, Chicago School architecture.
Nearby in the glossary
Arris · Ashlar · Astragal · Atrium · Attic base · Attractor · Avlu · Axis