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Architecture vocabulary · Building Elements and Structure

Slab

Meaning in architecture, with examples

/slæb/nounCore term

In architecture, slab means: A flat horizontal structural element, usually of reinforced concrete, that forms a floor or roof and spreads loads to beams, walls or columns.

In Turkish: döşeme, plak

How it is used

Common on drawings and on site. Concrete slabs are poured or cast, and their thickness is given in millimetres. Architects talk about floor slabs, roof slabs, slab edges and flat slabs, which are slabs without beams.

Example sentences

  1. With a 250 mm slab and a clear height of 3 m, the floor-to-floor height is 3.25 m.

  2. The first-floor slab will be poured next week.

Common collocations

  • floor slab
  • roof slab
  • pour a slab
  • flat slab
  • slab edge
  • beamA horizontal structural member that carries loads across an opening or between supports and transfers them to columns or walls.
  • columnA vertical structural member, usually of concrete, steel or timber, that carries loads from beams and slabs down to the foundations.
  • reinforced concreteConcrete with steel bars or mesh cast inside it; the concrete resists compression and the steel resists tension, which makes strong beams, slabs and columns possible.
  • cantileverA beam, slab or part of a building that projects outwards and is supported at only one end, with nothing holding it up at the other end.

This word in other fields

The same English word can have a different meaning in another field:

More terms: Building Elements and Structure

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