Buildings come in a wide amount of shapes and functions, and have been adapted throughout history for a wide number of factors.

Building come in a wide amount of shapes and functions, and have been adapted throughout history for a wide number of factors, from building materials available, to weather conditions, to land prices, ground conditions, specific uses and aesthetic reasons.

Buildings serve several needs of society – primarily as shelter from weather and as general living space, to provide privacy, to store belongings and to comfortably live and work. A building as a shelter represents a physical division of the human habitat (a place of comfort and safety) and the outside (a place that at times may be harsh and harmful).

Ever since the first cave paintings, buildings have also become objects or canvasess of artistic expression. In recent years, interest in sustainable planning and building practices has also become part of the design process of many new buildings.

Building is defined in many aspects as:

- As a Civil Engineering structures such as a house,worship centre,Factories etc. that has a foundation,wall,roof etc. that protect human being and their properties from direct harsh effect of weather like rain,wind,sun etc.
- The act of constructing, erecting, or establishing.
- The art of constructing edifices, or the practice of civil architecture.
- That which is built; a fabric or edifice constructed, as a house, a church, castle, arena/ stadium, etc.
- The act of constructing or building something during the construction we had to take a detour his hobby was the building of boats.
- The commercial activity involved in constructing buildingstheir main business is home construction. workers in the building trades.
- 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
- The occupants of a building the entire building complained about the noise To differentiate buildings in the usage of this article from other buildings and other structures that are not intended for continuous human occupancy, the latter are called non-building structures or simply structures.

Structural height in technical usage is the height to the highest architectural detail on building from street-level. Depending on how they are classified, spires and masts may or may not be included in this height. Spires and masts used as antennas are not generally included.

The definition of a low-rise vs. a high-rise building is a matter of debate, but generally three storeys or less is considered low-rise.

Residential buildings are called houses/homes, though buildings containing large numbers of separate dwelling units are often called apartment buildings or apartment blocks to differentiate them from the more individual house.

Building types may range from one-room wood-framed, masonry, or adobe dwellings to multi-million dollar high-rise buildings able to house thousands of people. Increasing settlement density in buildings (and closer distances between buildings) is usually a response to high ground prices resulting from many people wanting to live close to work or similar attractors.