SAH Archipedia uses terms from the Getty Art and Architecture Thesaurus (AAT) to categorize and classify metadata for the entries in the database. For more information on the Getty AAT, click here.

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stormwater systems
Systems used for conveying rainwater, surface water, condensate, cooling water, or similar liquid wastes, exclusive of sewage or industrial waste, to the storm sewer or other legal place of disposal.

straits
A narrow waterway, usually narrower and less extensive than a sound, connecting two larger bodies of water.

strapwork
Ornament consisting of twisted and intertwined bands, originally based on leather strips or ribbons; examples are those popular in Northern Europe during the 16th and 17th centuries and in 19th-century revivals.

street elevations
Particular arrangements of vertical elements of a building as seen by observers from the primary street view.

street vendors
Refers to those who sell food or small goods from temporary positions on the street. For those who move about selling small goods from door to door or on the street, see "peddlers."

streets
A road in a city, town, or village, characterized by usually being paved and comparatively wide (as opposed to a lane or alley), and generally running between two rows of houses or other buildings.

streetscapes
Use to designate the physical environment of the streets including such elements as structures, open spaces, and vegetation.

stringcourses
Horizontal bands of masonry, generally narrower than other courses, extending across the face of a wall and in some instances continuing across piers or engaged columns; may be flush or projecting and may be flat surfaced, molded, or otherwise shaped.

strip clubs
No description is available for this term.

structures (single built works)
Refers to constructions of any kind artificially fabricated of parts joined together in some definite manner and which may or may not provide enclosure or shelter. Includes not just buildings, but other structures, for example oil wells, bridges, docks, and railroads. The term normally applies to structures built by humans, but may also apply to those built by other species.

student unions
Buildings on a college campus dedicated to social and organizational activities of the student body.

studies (rooms)
Rooms or spaces in domestic contexts used for reading, writing, and study.

studio apartments
Apartments containing one spacious room, often with large windows, which is or resembles an artist's studio, and serves as both a sitting area and a sleeping area, and with access to a separate bathroom and small kitchen.

studios (work spaces)
Working places set aside for artists to work. The term is generally applied to workspaces used by artists creating fine art, particularly art dating from the 16th century to the present. The characteristics of a studio may be dictated by the practical requirements of adequate light, ample space in which to create the work of art, and storage of materials. Display of the finished art works and training may also be accommodated in a studio. Creation of an art work may require a range of artistic processes; therefore, separate areas of work may be delegated in the studio. The term may also refer to spaces used by dancers, singers, musicians, and other performing artists to create or practice. The term "workshops" is generally refers to spaces used by craftspeople, artists working prior to the 16th century, and industrial workers. For studios that are larger spaces or complexes, and are used to create films, television or radio programs, or other large scale productions, use "motion picture studios," "broadcasting studios," "sound studios," "recording studios," "radio studios," or "television studios."

stupas
Buddhist relic mounds of earth, brick, or stone, dominated by a hemispherical or bulbous dome set on a square or circular base and topped by a small pavilionlike structure and a spire. Stupas often serve as pilgrimage sites and symbols of the Buddha or his teachings.

stylobates
Course of pavement on which columns rest in Greek temples. For similar features in other building types, including Roman or Etruscan temples, use "podiums (building divisions)."

subdivisions (complexes )
Areas of land divided into blocks or lots, provided with streets or roads and open spaces, and then offered for sale or lease.

suburban houses
Houses located away from the urban center in the suburbs, typically segregated from the work place, and often near only limited shopping and entertainment sources. They are typically part of a group of houses having similar floorplans and styles.

suburban landscapes
Town and country areas with heterogeneous patchy mixture of residential areas, commercial centers, cropland, managed vegetation, and natural areas.

suburbs
Compactly developed or developing, usually residential, areas on the outskirts of a central city; distinguished from central cities by their more homogeneous socio-economic and physical character, although rarely is there an identifiable boundary between suburbs and central cities.

subway stations
Intermediate stopping places along subway lines.

sugar houses
Subsidiary agricultural buildings where sugar is refined, especially those where maple sugar and maple syrup are made.

sugar refineries
Refers to a facility devoted to the production of high-quality sugars from remelted raw cane sugar or from remelted and recrystallized lower-grade beet syrups.

suites (rooms)
Successions of connected rooms, generally on one floor, that are occupied as one unit.

summer camps
Camps providing recreational and sporting facilities during the summer holiday period, usually intended for children and often including overnight accommodations.

summer houses (seasonal dwellings)
Homes in the country used as summer residences.

summer palaces
Palaces that provide summer, generally rural, retreats for rulers and their courts.

summer resorts
Resorts that operate seasonally during the summer months.

summerhouses (garden structures)
Structures of varying forms in gardens or parks designed to provide cool shady places of relaxation or retreats from summer heat.

sun decks
Decks or flat roofs intended for sunbathing.

sunbursts
Generally, a stylized sun motif showing the rays of the sun shooting out from or surrounding it. Specifically in America, it refers to a lunette with conventionalized sun rays, typically found on 18th-century American furniture. In British heraldry, it refers to a device of sun's rays appearing from behind a cloud; this was used as a badge by the English kings Edward III and Richard II.

Sunday schools (buildings)
Buildings that house schools, usually associated with Christian churches and mainly for children, in which religious instruction is given on Sundays.

sunken gardens
Formal gardens or portions of gardens that by design are set at a lower level than their surroundings.

superblocks
Designates very large, usually residential, city blocks often formed by consolidating several smaller blocks and often barred to through traffic and crossed by pedestrian walks.

supermarkets
Large, self-service, retail markets which sell food, household goods, and household merchandise.

superstructures
Refers to the upper portions of buildings or other structures located above the foundation and usually above ground level.

supper rooms
Rooms found in large houses and hotels intended for meals that are part of late evening entertainments.

suspension bridges
Bridges in which the roadway is suspended from cables, ropes, or chains attached to natural or constructed supports. The term applies both to primitive and massively engineered structures that share this basic principle.

sustainable
No description is available for this term.

swales
Either used for long, narrow land depressions, especially on shores and largely parallel to coastlines, or for narrow, valleylike features formed where two slopes intersect.

swamps
Tracts of lowlying ground in which water collects, particularly wetlands partially or intermittently covered with water, often dominated by woody vegetation.

swimming pools
Artificial bodies of water designed for swimming, either sunken into the ground or created by the construction of walls, whether or not the pool is housed within a structure or open to the sky.

swing bridges
Drawbridges that open and close to river craft by rotating around a central pier.

synagogues (buildings)
Community places for the regular assembly or congregation of Jews for liturgical services, assembly, and study apart from the service of the temple; since the destruction of the temple in Jerusalem, worship at the synagogue is the sole place of public worship.

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