GLOSSARY OF ARCHITECTURAL
Terms   S

• SACRISTY In a church, a room for the storage of sacred objects and for the carrying-out of certain church activities.

• SANCTUARY In a church, the area around the principal altar. In a synagogue, the nave.

• SASH In a window the wood or metal frame that holds the glass.

• SCOOP A hollowed-out half-log, used on a roof as a channel to carry away rainwater.

• SEGMENTAL ARCH An arch whose profile comprises an arc smaller than a semicircle.

• SHED ROOF A roof with only one slope; also used to describe the roof of a dormer window if it has only one slope.

• SIDELIGHT A window be side a door forming part of the door unit.

• SIDING A facing material, or cladding, applied to the outside of a wood-framed building to make it weatherproof. Sometimes called weatherboarding. Several kinds of wood siding are common in Canada. Shiplap (or drop siding) consists of horizontally laid boards with notched edges that make an overlapping joint; the face of each board is parallel to the plane of the wall. Clapboard (or bevelled siding) consists of bevelled boards laid horizontally and overlapping at the top and bottom; the face of each board is oblique to the wall. Board-and-batten siding is composed of vertically applied boards whose joints are covered by narrow strips (battens). Shingles may also be used as siding, and materials other than wood are often employed. Composition siding is made of asphalt, asbestos, or synthetic materials, often imitating brick or shingle. Metal siding (usually composed of aluminum or galvanized steel) and vinyl siding are also used, often imitating wood.

• SILL A horizontal member at the bottom of a wall (sometimes called a sill PLATE) or a window.

• SOFFIT The underside of an eave, beam, or other component.

• SPANDREL The portion of wall between the top of one window and the window SILL above it; or the roughly triangular surface between two adjacent arches.

• STAGE One tier in a tower or other vertically composed structure.

• STAVE An archaic construction style; the walls of a stave building are composed of logs standing upright, rather than horizontally.

• STRINGER A BEAM; also a sloping structural member that supports a staircase.

• STUD In timber construction, one of a series of vertical supports or posts.