As a person involved in the arts, you will be expected to be a so-called "cultured" person. That means one who has a certain level of historical and cultural knowledge. You will need to learn something about the other arts, landscape architecture, interior design, painting, sculpture, music, dance, opera and theater.

You also must have a nodding acquaintance with a number of architectural concepts and well-known people. The following list is a starting point on your journey to become "literate."
 

People

"Modern" Architects (living or lived during last 50 years):

Walter Gropius
Louis Kahn
Le Corbusier ("Corbu")
Phillip Johnson
Peter Eisenman
Michael Graves
Jorn Utzon
Robert Venturi
Renzo Piano
Richard Rodgers
Charles Moore
Erich Mendelsohn
 

"Chicago" Architects
Louis Sullivan
William LeBaron Jenney
Daniel Burnham
Frank Lloyd Wright
Mies Van der Rohe
Walter Netsch
Harry Weese
Stanley Tigerman
Skidmore, Owings & Merrill
Perkins & Will
C. F. Murphy Associates
Helmut Jahn
Thomas Beebe
Andrew Rebor

"Historic" Architects
Imhotep
Ictinus
Vitruvius
Alberti
Viollet le Duc
Henry Hobson Richardson
McKin Mead & White
Palladio
Michaelangelo
Bramante
Raphael

Landscape architects
Jens Jenson
Frederick Law Olmsted
 
 

Books
Aristotle: Poetics
Vitruvius: Decem Libri d'architecture ("The Ten Books of Architecture")
Alberti: De Re Aedificatoria ("Of Things Architectural")
John Ruskin: The Seven Lamps of Architecture
Bannister Fletcher: History of Architecture on the Comparitive Method
Le Corbusier: Vers Une Architecture ("Towards an Architecture")
Henry Russell Hitchcock: The International Style
Robert Venturi: Complexity and Contradiction in Architecture
Christopher Alexander: Notes on the Synthesis of Form
Charles Jencks: Postmodernism
 

Elements of a building
Footings
Caisson
Pile
Column
Style
Doric
Ionic
Corinthian
Volute
Entasis
Capital
Caryatid
Cornice
Eave
Fascia
Facade
Egg and Dart
Beam
Girder
Cantilever
Arch
Segmental arch
Stilted arch
Pointed arch
Corbel
Keystone
Voussoir
Vault
Barrel vault
Groin vault
Buttress
Flying buttress
Boss
Clerestory
Parapet
Pilaster
Plinth
Gargoyle
Entablature
Architrave
Bas relief
Frieze
Dome
Cupola
Finial
Spire
Balloon frame
Platform frame
Sconce