Building

A building or edifice is an enclosed structure with a roof, walls and often windows, usually standing permanently in one place, such as a house or factory. Buildings come in a variety of sizes, shapes, and functions, and have been adapted throughout history in response to numerous factors, from available building materials to weather conditions, land prices, ground conditions, specific uses, prestige, and aesthetic reasons. To better understand the concept, see Nonbuilding structure for contrast.

Buildings serve several societal needs: occupancy, primarily as shelter from weather; security; living space; privacy; storage for belongings; and comfortable places to live and work. A building as a shelter represents a physical separation of the human habitat (a place of comfort and safety) from the outside (a place that may be harsh and harmful at times).

Buildings have been objects or canvasses of much artistic expression. In recent years, interest in sustainable planning and building practices has become an intentional part of the design process of many new buildings and other structures, usually green buildings.

Definition

A building is 'a structure that has a roof and walls and stands more or less permanently in one place'; "there was a three-storey building on the corner"; "it was an imposing edifice". In the broadest interpretation a fence or wall is a building. However, the word structure is used more broadly than building, to include natural and human-made formations and ones that do not have walls; structure is more often used for a fence.