oq-gem

Glossary for gem taxonomy

Authors: Luke Allen, Andrew Charleson, Svetlana Brzev, and Charles Scawthorn

This online Glossary explains around 400 terms contained in the GEM Building Taxonomy v 2.0 and nearly 700 images.

The terms have been listed in alphabetical and numerical order. Text description of each term is accompanied by illustrations (photos and/or drawings) where possible.

We welcome contributions in the form of photographs or images, illustrating glossary terms. If you have any questions you can also contact us at buildingtaxonomy@globalquakemodel.org


The building is used for commercial or retail at the ground floor, with residential  or office accommodation above. Choose this attribute if the proportion of the commercial and residential occupancies are approximately equal. Otherwise for mixed occupancy choose the dominant occupancy. For example, choose ‘mixed occupancy’ for a two story building with a single-family dwelling above a shop, but choose multi-family dwelling for a ten-story apartment building with shops at ground floor.

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