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What is a passive house?

A passive house is a building designed to the Passivhaus standard: through very high levels of insulation, airtightness, thermal-bridge-free detailing and mechanical ventilation with heat recovery, it needs almost no heating system. The standard was developed by the Passivhaus Institut in Darmstadt and is applied internationally. The hard criteria The Passivhaus standard works with measurable […]

What is a parterre?

Parterre comes from the French *par terre*, “on the ground”, and in building terms means the ground floor of a building: the storey at ground level. The word also has its own established meanings in garden design and in theatre architecture. The three meanings Storey — the parterre is the ground floor, the level you […]

What is a parquet floor?

A parquet floor is a floor finish made of wooden pieces — blocks, strips or boards — laid in a pattern and bonded or laid over a subfloor. Unlike laminate it is real timber, with a wear layer that can be sanded back and refinished several times. Types of parquet Solid parquet — a single […]

What is a parement?

A parement is the visible, finishing outer face of a wall. Originally the word referred specifically to a skin of carefully dressed natural stone set in front of a rougher core of brick or rubble. In modern Dutch and Belgian usage, *parement* is the everyday term for the outer leaf of a cavity wall. The […]

What is a lift-off hinge (paumelle)?

A lift-off hinge is a two-part hinge: one half is fixed to the frame and the other to the door leaf, and the door is then dropped onto the pin. Because the two halves are not permanently joined, you can lift the door out of the frame without undoing a single screw. The Dutch and […]

What is a foundation levelling course?

A foundation levelling course is the topmost course of a masonry foundation, laid dead level so the superstructure can start from one true datum all around the building. In Dutch it is called the *paslaag* — literally the “fitting course”, because everything is made to fit in this course. Why this course decides the rest […]

What is a cellular beam?

A cellular beam is a steel beam whose web is pierced with circular — sometimes elongated — openings. It is closely related to the castellated beam, which has hexagonal openings. The Dutch name for the circular version is *patrijspoortligger*, after the porthole in a ship’s side. How it is made Like the castellated beam, a […]

What are pastophoria?

Pastophoria are the two small service rooms that flank the sanctuary in Early Christian and Byzantine churches. The singular is *pastophorion*. The name comes from the Greek *pastos* (shrine) and *phoros* (bearer) — literally the room for the shrine, originally the casket holding the relics of the church’s patron saint. Function and layout In Eastern […]