List of building types

Buildings come in many different shapes and sizes, and each type serves a special purpose in our world. This list helps us understand the main categories of buildings, such as places where people live, work, make things, or use for important services.

You can learn more about individual buildings at Lists of buildings and structures, and about structures that are not buildings at Nonbuilding structure. This list is different from List of architectural styles, which talks about how buildings are designed.

The main article about buildings is Building. This list sorts buildings into four big groups: residential buildings, commercial buildings, industrial buildings, and infrastructural buildings. Each group has its own special role in our communities.

Residential

Main article: List of house types

There are many types of homes where families and individuals live. One common type is the single-family detached home, which stands alone on its own land. Examples include bungalows, cottages, mansions, and log houses found in different parts of the world.

Other homes can be attached to one or more other homes, like duplexes or townhouses. Large buildings may hold many families in apartments or condos, ranging from small walk-up buildings to tall high-rise structures with elevators. There are also special homes for older adults, students, and leaders such as palaces and official residences.

Further information: Single-family detached home and House

• Bungalow

• Central-passage house (North America)

• Chattel house (Caribbean)

• Château (France)

• Cottage (various)

• Courtyard house (various)

• Konak (Asia)

• Log house (various)

• Mansion (various)

• Housebarn (various)

• Split level home (various)

• Upper Lusatian house (Europe)

• Duplex, semi-detached, double-decker, or two-family

• Triplex, triple-decker or three-family

• Quadplex, quadruple, or four-family

• Townhouse or terraced house

Further information: Multi-family residential, Apartment, and Condominium (living space)

• Garden or walk-up apartments: 1–5 stories, 50–400 units, no elevators

• Mid-rise apartments/condos: 5–9 stories, 30–110 units, with elevators

• High-rise apartments/condos: 9+ stories, 100+ units, professionally managed

• Special-purpose group housing

  • Retirement home
  • Nursing home
  • Dormitory

• Official residence

• Palace

  • Archbishop's Palace
  • Bishop's palace
  • Electoral Palace
  • Episcopal Palace
  • Presidential palace
  • Residenz

Commercial

Commercial buildings are places where businesses operate to sell their products to people.

Office

Office buildings can differ in size and quality. They may be small with fewer than 7 floors, medium with 7 to 25 floors, or tall with more than 25 floors, including very tall skyscrapers that have over 40 floors.

Retail

Further information: Marketplace

Retail buildings sell goods and can be part of a group or stand alone. Grouped retail includes large spaces like super-regional centers with many stores, smaller neighborhood centers, and strip centers along roads. Stand-alone retail includes big stores like The Home Depot, Target, and Walmart.

Hotels

Main article: Hotel

Hotels come in many types, such as full-service hotels, motels, extended-stay hotels, boutique hotels, casinos, resorts, and bunkhouses.

Special-purpose

Special-purpose buildings include places like theme or amusement parks, aquariums, bowling alleys, car washes, movie theaters, and zoos.

Industrial

Industrial buildings are mainly used to make and store goods. They can include factories and mills.

Main article: Manufacturing

• Light manufacturing
• Heavy manufacturing

• Warehouses
  • Bulk
  • Ice house
  • Cold/cool/refrigerator/freezer storage
  • High-cube
  • Warehouse store
• Distribution/fulfillment centers
  • Container terminals

Main article: Flex space

Tension fabric buildings

• Office building
• Laboratory
• Data center
• Call center
• Showroom
• Tension fabric building

Infrastructure

Infrastructure buildings are special places that hold tools and machines needed for important public services.

Some examples include places for processing waste, making clean water, and creating electricity from different sources like coal, nuclear energy, or the sun. There are also buildings for sending out power, such as substations, and structures like dams and pump houses.

Agricultural

Agricultural buildings are special places used on farms. Some common types include barns for storing crops or housing animals, chicken coops for keeping chickens, and cow-sheds for cows. There are also farmhouses where families live, granaries for storing grain, and greenhouses to grow plants under protection. Other buildings like haylofts store hay, pigpens keep pigs, and silos store bulk materials. Workshops and windmills are also important parts of many farms.

Institutional

There are many different types of buildings where people go for special purposes. Some are places to learn, like elementary schools, middle school, and university. Others are places to stay healthy, like hospital and nursing homes.

Some buildings are for community use, like library, museum, and community hall. There are also special buildings for governments, such as town hall and police station, and places for travel like airport and railway station.

Other

Here are some more types of buildings and structures:

• Bakehouse
• Tent