Craft

Craft has three potential meanings:

1. a small boat or vessel,
2. to craft, make or build something and
3. to be crafty or sneaky.

The word 'Craft' comes from the Middle English word for 'strength' or 'skill' which in turn derived from the old English word craeft from old high German kraft, or strength, and means “skill in planning, making, executing” by extension, “an occupation or trade requiring skill”.

In terms buildings the most relevant meaning comes from an old English word cræftan "to exercise a craft; to build" or to make something "skilfully" from the early 15C. The description craft might also be associated with the Guild of Mastercraftsmen, or with the Arts and Crafts movement which developed in Britain in the 19th Century and spread across America and Europe before it reaching.

Today craft is often still used to express precision or skill in the traditional sense of building.

[edit] Related articles on Designing Buildings

• Arts and craft movement.
• Conservation.
• Heritage.
• Historic buildings.
• IHBC articles.
• The Institute of Historic Building Conservation.
• The guild of master craftsmen.