WJEC Vocational Award Constructing the Built Environment Level 1/2

KEY TERMS Aesthetic: In the construction industry, the term ‘aesthetic’ is used to describe the visually pleasing standards of a building, parts of building or overall impression of a particular detail of the building that has been formed. This pleasurable and descriptive term is often used when contrasting details such as: ‘The black and grey natural Welsh slated conical roof turret contrasted with the green leaves of the trees behind the building. It was aesthetically pleasing to see the building in context of the adjacent valley.’ Impression: In the construction industry, clients, through their design team, often refer to the word impression to relay a concept or feeling of a building or space within the built environment. For example, ‘The castellated stonework gave the impression of a castle wall and so made the building’s envelope feel robust and more secure.’ Conventions • A series of accepted, traditional graphical aspects and impacts of the design process that have developed over, sometimes, hundreds of years and relate to how design data is summarised in: • plans • section • elevations • isometrics • vanishing point drawings • freehand sketches. • It also refers to summary narratives in table form relating to when and how the drawing was drafted and revised, and by who. These often vary slightly, depending on an organisation’s own procedures but generally have the same key data. Terminology • Like conventions, construction terminology has evolved over many years and contains a mix of prescriptive legal-sounding words such as must do and must not narratives, together with softer but definitive aspirational descriptions such as aesthetic and impression . • This is because many clients want their building to be individual or have an expectation of how it will be constructed or what it will look like. • The terminology often reflects the same use of language as the main contract, hence its formal-sounding content. 52 Unit 2 Developing Construction Projects