Architecture is both the process and the product of planning, designing, and constructing buildings or any other structures. Architectural works, in the material form of buildings, are often perceived as cultural symbols and as works of art. Historical civilizations are often identified with their surviving architectural achievements.
Definitions and etymology
Architecture (Latin architectura, from the Greek ἀρχιτέκτων arkhitekton "architect", from ἀρχι- "chief" and τέκτων "creator") is both the process and the product of planning, designing, and constructing buildings and other physical structures.
Architecture can mean:
- A general term to describe buildings and other physical structures.
- The art and science of designing buildings and (some) nonbuilding structures.
- The style of design and method of construction of buildings and other physical structures.
- A unifying or coherent form or structure.
- Knowledge of art, science, technology, and humanity.
- The design activity of the architect, from the macro-level (urban design, landscape architecture) to the micro-level (construction details and furniture). The practice of the architect, where architecture means offering or rendering professional services in connection with the design and construction of buildings, or built environments.
Theory of architecture
Historic treatises
The earliest surviving written work on the subject of architecture is De architectura, by the Roman architect Vitruvius in the early 1st century AD. According to Vitruvius, a good building should satisfy the three principles of firmitas, utilitas, venustas, commonly known by the original translation – firmness, commodity and delight. An equivalent in modern English would be:
- Durability – a building should stand up robustly and remain in good condition.
- Utility – it should be suitable for the purposes for which it is used.
- Beauty – it should be aesthetically pleasing.
According to Vitruvius, the architect should strive to fulfill each of these three attributes as well as possible.
Leon Battista Alberti, who elaborates on the ideas of Vitruvius in his treatise, De Re Aedificatoria,
saw beauty primarily as a matter of proportion, although ornament also
played a part. For Alberti, the rules of proportion were those that
governed the idealised human figure, the Golden mean.
The most important aspect of beauty was, therefore, an inherent
part of an object, rather than something applied superficially, and was
based on universal, recognisable truths. The notion of style in the arts
was not developed until the 16th century, with the writing of Vasari: by the 18th century, his Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Sculptors, and Architects had been translated into Italian, French, Spanish, and English.
In the early 19th century, Augustus Welby Northmore Pugin wrote Contrasts
(1836) that, as the titled suggested, contrasted the modern, industrial
world, which he disparaged, with an idealized image of neo-medieval
world. Gothic architecture, Pugin believed, was the only "true Christian form of architecture."
The 19th-century English art critic, John Ruskin, in his Seven Lamps of Architecture,
published 1849, was much narrower in his view of what constituted
architecture. Architecture was the "art which so disposes and adorns the
edifices raised by men ... that the sight of them" contributes "to his
mental health, power, and pleasure".
For Ruskin, the aesthetic was of overriding significance. His
work goes on to state that a building is not truly a work of
architecture unless it is in some way "adorned". For Ruskin, a
well-constructed, well-proportioned, functional building needed string courses or rustication, at the very least.
On the difference between the ideals of architecture and mere construction, the renowned 20th-century architect Le Corbusier
wrote: "You employ stone, wood, and concrete, and with these materials
you build houses and palaces: that is construction. Ingenuity is at
work. But suddenly you touch my heart, you do me good. I am happy and I
say: This is beautiful. That is Architecture".
Le Corbusier's contemporary Ludwig Mies van der Rohe said "Architecture starts when you carefully put two bricks together. There it begins."
Modern concepts
The notable 19th-century architect of skyscrapers, Louis Sullivan, promoted an overriding precept to architectural design: "Form follows function".
While the notion that structural and aesthetic considerations
should be entirely subject to functionality was met with both popularity
and skepticism, it had the effect of introducing the concept of
"function" in place of Vitruvius' "utility". "Function" came to be seen as encompassing all criteria of the use, perception and enjoyment of a building, not only practical but also aesthetic, psychological and cultural.
Nunzia Rondanini stated, "Through its aesthetic dimension
architecture goes beyond the functional aspects that it has in common
with other human sciences. Through its own particular way of expressing values,
architecture can stimulate and influence social life without presuming
that, in and of itself, it will promote social development.'
To restrict the meaning of (architectural) formalism to art for
art's sake is not only reactionary; it can also be a purposeless quest
for perfection or originality which degrades form into a mere
instrumentality".
Among the philosophies that have influenced modern architects and their approach to building design are rationalism, empiricism, structuralism, poststructuralism, and phenomenology.
In the late 20th century a new concept was added to those
included in the compass of both structure and function, the
consideration of sustainability, hence sustainable architecture.
To satisfy the contemporary ethos a building should be constructed in a
manner which is environmentally friendly in terms of the production of
its materials, its impact upon the natural and built environment of its
surrounding area and the demands that it makes upon non-sustainable
power sources for heating, cooling, water and waste management and lighting.
Philosophy of architecture
Philosophy of Architecture is a branch of philosophy of art, dealing with aesthetic value of architecture, its semantics and relations with development of culture.
Plato to Michel Foucault, Gilles Deleuze, Robert Venturi
as well as many other philosophers and theoreticians, distinguish
architecture ('technion') from building ('demiorgos'), attributing the
former to mental traits, and the latter to the divine or natural.
The Wittgenstein House is considered one of the most important examples of interactions between philosophy and architecture. Built by renowned Austrian philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein,
the house has been the subject of extensive research about the
relationship between its stylistic features, Wittgenstein's personality,
and his philosophy.
History
Origins and vernacular architecture
Building first evolved out of the dynamics between needs (shelter, security, worship, etc.) and means (available building materials
and attendant skills). As human cultures developed and knowledge began
to be formalized through oral traditions and practices, building became a
craft,
and "architecture" is the name given to the most highly formalized and
respected versions of that craft.
It is widely assumed that architectural success was the product of a
process of trial and error, with progressively less trial and more
replication as the results of the process proved increasingly
satisfactory. What is termed vernacular architecture
continues to be produced in many parts of the world. Indeed, vernacular
buildings make up most of the built world that people experience every
day.
Early human settlements were mostly rural. Due to a surplus in production the economy began to expand resulting in urbanization thus creating urban areas which grew and evolved very rapidly in some cases, such as that of Çatal Höyük in Anatolia and Mohenjo Daro of the Indus Valley Civilization in modern-day Pakistan.
Neolithic settlements and "cities" include:
- Göbekli Tepe in Turkey, ca. 9,000 BC
- Jericho in the Levant, Neolithic from around 8,350 BC, arising from the earlier Epipaleolithic Natufian culture
- Nevali Cori in Turkey, ca. 8,000 BC
- Çatalhöyük in Turkey, 7,500 BC
- Mehrgarh in Pakistan, 7,000 BC
- Knap of Howar and Skara Brae, the Orkney Islands, Scotland, from 3,500 BC
- over 3,000 settlements of the Cucuteni-Trypillian culture, some with populations up to 15,000 residents, flourished in present-day Romania, Moldova and Ukraine from 5,400–2,800 BC.
- Yola hut -Tagoat Co. Wexford Ireland
Ancient architecture
In many ancient civilizations, such as those of Egypt and
Mesopotamia, architecture and urbanism reflected the constant engagement
with the divine and the supernatural,
and many ancient cultures resorted to monumentality in architecture to
represent symbolically the political power of the ruler, the ruling
elite, or the state itself.
The architecture and urbanism of the Classical civilizations such as the Greek and the Roman
evolved from civic ideals rather than religious or empirical ones and
new building types emerged. Architectural "style" developed in the form
of the Classical orders.
Roman architecture was influenced by Greek architecture as they
incorporated many Greek elements into their building practices.
Texts on architecture have been written since ancient time. These
texts provided both general advice and specific formal prescriptions or
canons. Some examples of canons are found in the writings of the
1st-century BCE Roman Architect Vitruvius. Some of the most important early examples of canonic architecture are religious.
- Roman aqueduct in Segovia, Spain.
Asian architecture
Early Asian writings on architecture include the Kao Gong Ji of China from the 7th–5th centuries BCE; the Shilpa Shastras of ancient India; Manjusri Vasthu Vidya Sastra of Sri Lanka and Araniko of Nepal.
The architecture of different parts of Asia
developed along different lines from that of Europe; Buddhist, Hindu
and Sikh architecture each having different characteristics. Buddhist
architecture, in particular, showed great regional diversity. Hindu
temple architecture, which developed around the 3rd century BCE, is
governed by concepts laid down in the Shastras, and is concerned with
expressing the macrocosm and the microcosm. In many Asian countries, pantheistic religion led to architectural forms that were designed specifically to enhance the natural landscape.
- The view of Janaki mandir, Nepal.
Islamic architecture
Islamic architecture began in the 7th century CE, incorporating architectural forms from the ancient Middle East and Byzantium,
but also developing features to suit the religious and social needs of
the society. Examples can be found throughout the Middle East, North
Africa, Spain and the Indian Sub-continent.
- Shah Mosque in Isfahan, Iran
Middle Ages
In Europe during the Medieval period, guilds
were formed by craftsmen to organize their trades and written contracts
have survived, particularly in relation to ecclesiastical buildings.
The role of architect was usually one with that of master mason, or Magister lathomorum as they are sometimes described in contemporary documents.
The major architectural undertakings were the buildings of abbeys and cathedrals.
From about 900 CE onward, the movements of both clerics and tradesmen
carried architectural knowledge across Europe, resulting in the
pan-European styles Romanesque and Gothic.
Also, significant part of Middle Ages architectural heritage are numerous fortifications
across the continent. From Balkans to Spain, and from Malta to Estonia,
these buildings represent important part of European heritage.
The Late Middle Ages in Central and Southeastern Europe also saw the expansion of Ottoman architecture, which spread alongside the Ottoman Empire, from Anatolia via the Balkans, to Central and Eastern Europe and beyond to the northern shores of the Black Sea.
In regions from which the Ottoman Empire would eventually be forced to
retreat, almost all their architectural designs were destroyed. In the 21st century, the only significant architectural heritage on European soil outside of modern-day Turkey, can be found in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, and Albania, while some remnants can be found in the Muslim-inhabited parts of Serbia, Montenegro, Macedonia and Bulgaria.
- Mehmed Paša Sokolović Bridge, 16th-c. Mimar Sinan's Ottoman bridge & UNESCO site in Višegrad, Bosnia.
Renaissance and the architect
In Renaissance Europe, from about 1400 onwards, there was a revival of Classical learning accompanied by the development of Renaissance Humanism
which placed greater emphasis on the role of the individual in society
than had been the case during the Medieval period. Buildings were
ascribed to specific architects – Brunelleschi, Alberti, Michelangelo, Palladio – and the cult of the individual had begun. There was still no dividing line between artist, architect and engineer, or any of the related vocations, and the appellation was often one of regional preference.
A revival of the Classical style in architecture was accompanied
by a burgeoning of science and engineering which affected the
proportions and structure of buildings. At this stage, it was still
possible for an artist to design a bridge as the level of structural
calculations involved was within the scope of the generalist.
- Santa Maria Novella, Florence, Italy.
Early modern and the industrial age
With the emerging knowledge in scientific fields and the rise of new materials and technology, architecture and engineering began to separate, and the architect began to concentrate on aesthetics
and the humanist aspects, often at the expense of technical aspects of
building design. There was also the rise of the "gentleman architect"
who usually dealt with wealthy clients and concentrated predominantly on
visual qualities derived usually from historical prototypes, typified
by the many country houses of Great Britain that were created in the Neo Gothic or Scottish Baronial styles.
Formal architectural training in the 19th century, for example at École des Beaux-Arts in France, gave much emphasis to the production of beautiful drawings and little to context and feasibility.
Meanwhile, the Industrial Revolution
laid open the door for mass production and consumption. Aesthetics
became a criterion for the middle class as ornamented products, once
within the province of expensive craftsmanship, became cheaper under
machine production.
Vernacular architecture
became increasingly ornamental. House builders could use current
architectural design in their work by combining features found in
pattern books and architectural journals.
Modernism
Around the beginning of the 20th century, a general dissatisfaction
with the emphasis on revivalist architecture and elaborate decoration
gave rise to many new lines of thought that served as precursors to
Modern Architecture. Notable among these is the Deutscher Werkbund,
formed in 1907 to produce better quality machine made objects. The rise
of the profession of industrial design is usually placed here.
Following this lead, the Bauhaus school, founded in Weimar,
Germany in 1919, redefined the architectural bounds prior set
throughout history, viewing the creation of a building as the ultimate
synthesis—the apex—of art, craft, and technology.
When modern architecture was first practiced, it was an avant-garde movement with moral, philosophical, and aesthetic underpinnings. Immediately after World War I,
pioneering modernist architects sought to develop a completely new
style appropriate for a new post-war social and economic order, focused
on meeting the needs of the middle and working classes. They rejected
the architectural practice of the academic refinement of historical
styles which served the rapidly declining aristocratic order. The
approach of the Modernist architects was to reduce buildings to pure
forms, removing historical references and ornament in favor of
functionalist details. Buildings displayed their functional and
structural elements, exposing steel beams and concrete surfaces instead
of hiding them behind decorative forms. Architects such as Frank Lloyd Wright developed organic architecture,
in which the form was defined by its environment and purpose, with an
aim to promote harmony between human habitation and the natural world
with prime examples being Robie House and Fallingwater.
Architects such as Mies van der Rohe, Philip Johnson and Marcel Breuer
worked to create beauty based on the inherent qualities of building
materials and modern construction techniques, trading traditional
historic forms for simplified geometric forms, celebrating the new means
and methods made possible by the Industrial Revolution, including steel-frame construction, which gave birth to high-rise superstructures. Fazlur Rahman Khan's development of the tube structure was a technological break-through in building ever higher. By mid-century, Modernism had morphed into the International Style, an aesthetic epitomized in many ways by the Twin Towers of New York's World Trade Center designed by Minoru Yamasaki.
- Willis Tower, Chicago, United States
Postmodernism
Many architects resisted modernism, finding it devoid of the decorative richness of historical styles. As the first generation of modernists began to die after World War II, a second generation of architects including Paul Rudolph, Marcel Breuer, and Eero Saarinen tried to expand the aesthetics of modernism with Brutalism,
buildings with expressive sculptural façades made of unfinished
concrete. But an even new younger postwar generation critiqued modernism
and Brutalism for being too austere, standardized, monotone, and not
taking into account the richness of human experience offered in
historical buildings across time and in different places and cultures.
One such reaction to the cold aesthetic of modernism and Brutalism is the school of metaphoric architecture, which includes such things as biomorphism and zoomorphic architecture, both using nature as the primary source of inspiration and design. While it is considered by some to be merely an aspect of postmodernism, others consider it to be a school in its own right and a later development of expressionist architecture.
Beginning in the late 1950s and 1960s, architectural phenomenology emerged as an important movement in the early reaction against modernism, with architects like Charles Moore in the United States, Christian Norberg-Schulz in Norway, and Ernesto Nathan Rogers and Vittorio Gregotti, Michele Valori, Bruno Zevi
in Italy, who collectively popularized an interest in a new
contemporary architecture aimed at expanding human experience using
historical buildings as models and precedents.[29]
Postmodernism produced a style that combined contemporary building
technology and cheap materials, with the aesthetics of older pre-modern
and non-modern styles, from high classical architecture to popular or
vernacular regional building styles. Robert Venturi
famously defined postmodern architecture as a "decorated shed" (an
ordinary building which is functionally designed inside and embellished
on the outside), and upheld it against modernist and brutalist "ducks"
(buildings with unnecessarily expressive tectonic forms).
- The Petronas Tower in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
Architecture today
Since the 1980s, as the complexity of buildings began to increase (in
terms of structural systems, services, energy and technologies), the
field of architecture became multi-disciplinary with specializations for
each project type, technological expertise or project delivery methods.
In addition, there has been an increased separation of the 'design'
architect from the 'project' architect who ensures that the project meets the required standards and deals with matters of liability.
The preparatory processes for the design of any large building have
become increasingly complicated, and require preliminary studies of such
matters as durability, sustainability, quality, money, and compliance
with local laws. A large structure can no longer be the design of one
person but must be the work of many.
Modernism and Postmodernism
have been criticised by some members of the architectural profession
who feel that successful architecture is not a personal, philosophical,
or aesthetic pursuit by individualists; rather it has to consider
everyday needs of people and use technology to create liveable
environments, with the design process being informed by studies of
behavioral, environmental, and social sciences.
Environmental sustainability
has become a mainstream issue, with profound effect on the
architectural profession. Many developers, those who support the
financing of buildings, have become educated to encourage the
facilitation of environmentally sustainable design, rather than
solutions based primarily on immediate cost. Major examples of this can
be found in passive solar building design, greener roof designs, biodegradable
materials, and more attention to a structure's energy usage. This major
shift in architecture has also changed architecture schools to focus
more on the environment. There has been an acceleration in the number of
buildings which seek to meet green building sustainable design
principles. Sustainable practices that were at the core of vernacular
architecture increasingly provide inspiration for environmentally and
socially sustainable contemporary techniques. The U.S. Green Building Council's LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) rating system has been instrumental in this.
Concurrently, the recent movements of New Urbanism, metaphoric architecture and New Classical Architecture promote a sustainable approach towards construction that appreciates and develops smart growth, architectural tradition and classical design. This in contrast to modernist and globally uniform architecture, as well as leaning against solitary housing estates and suburban sprawl.
Glass curtain walls, which were the hallmark of the ultra modern urban
life in many countries surfaced even in developing countries like
Nigeria where international styles had been represented since the mid
20th Century mostly because of the leanings of foreign-trained
architects.
- Auditorio de Tenerife, Canary Islands, Spain..
Other types of architecture
Business architecture
Business architecture is defined as "a blueprint of the enterprise
that provides a common understanding of the organization and is used to
align strategic objectives and tactical demands." People who develop and maintain business architecture are known as business architects.
Business architecture is the bridge between the enterprise business model and enterprise strategy on one side, and the business functionality of the enterprise on the other side.
Cognitive architecture
Cognitive architecture can refer to a theory about the structure of the human mind. One of the main goals of a cognitive architecture is to summarize the various results of cognitive psychology in a comprehensive computer model. However, the results need to be in a formalized form so far that they can be the basis of a computer program. The formalized models can be used to further refine a comprehensive theory of cognition, and more immediately, as a commercially usable model. Successful cognitive architectures include ACT-R (Adaptive Control of Thought, ACT) and SOAR.
The Institute of Creative Technologies
defines cognitive architecture as: "hypothesis about the fixed
structures that provide a mind, whether in natural or artificial
systems, and how they work together – in conjunction with knowledge and
skills embodied within the architecture – to yield intelligent behavior
in a diversity of complex environments."
Computer architecture
In computer engineering, "computer architecture" is a set of rules and methods that describe the functionality, organization, and implementation of computer systems. Some definitions of architecture define it as describing the capabilities and programming model of a computer but not a particular implementation. In other definitions computer architecture involves instruction set architecture design, microarchitecture design, logic design, and implementation.
Enterprise architecture
Enterprise architecture (EA) is "a well-defined practice for conducting enterprise
analysis, design, planning, and implementation, using a holistic
approach at all times, for the successful development and execution of
strategy. Enterprise architecture applies architecture principles and
practices to guide organizations through the business, information,
process, and technology changes necessary to execute their strategies.
These practices utilize the various aspects of an enterprise to
identify, motivate, and achieve these changes."
Practitioners of enterprise architecture, enterprise architects, are responsible for performing the analysis of business structure and processes and are often called upon to draw conclusions from the information collected to address the goals of enterprise architecture: effectiveness, efficiency, agility, and durability.
Interior architecture
Interior architecture is the design of a space which has been created
by structural boundaries and the human interaction within these
boundaries. It can also be the initial design and plan for use, then
later redesign to accommodate a changed purpose, or a significantly
revised design for adaptive reuse of the building shell. The latter is often part of sustainable architecture
practices, conserving resources through "recycling" a structure by
adaptive redesign. Generally referred to as the spatial art of
environmental design, form and practice, interior architecture is the
process through which the interiors of buildings are designed, concerned
with all aspects of the human uses of structural spaces. Put simply,
Interior Architecture is the design of an interior in architectural
terms.
Landscape architecture
Landscape architecture is the design of outdoor public areas,
landmarks, and structures to achieve environmental, social-behavioral,
or aesthetic outcomes.
It involves the systematic investigation of existing social,
ecological, and soil conditions and processes in the landscape, and the
design of interventions that will produce the desired outcome. The
scope of the profession includes landscape design; site planning; stormwater management; environmental restoration; parks and recreation planning; visual resource management; green infrastructure planning and provision; and private estate and residence
landscape master planning and design; all at varying scales of design,
planning and management. A practitioner in the profession of landscape
architecture is called a landscape architect.
Naval architecture, also known as naval engineering, is an engineering discipline dealing with the engineering design process, shipbuilding, maintenance, and operation of marine vessels and structures.
Naval architecture involves basic and applied research, design,
development, design evaluation and calculations during all stages of the
life of a marine vehicle. Preliminary design of the vessel, its
detailed design, construction, trials, operation and maintenance, launching and dry-docking are the main activities involved. Ship design calculations are also required for ships being modified
(by means of conversion, rebuilding, modernization, or repair). Naval
architecture also involves formulation of safety regulations and damage
control rules and the approval and certification of ship designs to meet
statutory and non-statutory requirements.
Network architecture
Network architecture is the design of a communication network. It is a framework for the specification of a network's physical components and their functional organization and configuration, its operational principles and procedures, as well as data formats use. In telecommunication,
the specification of a network architecture may also include a detailed
description of products and services delivered via a communications
network, as well as detailed rate and billing structures under which
services are compensated.
Software architecture
Software architecture refers to the fundamental structures of a software system,
the discipline of creating such structures, and the documentation of
these structures. These structures are needed to reason about the
software system. Each structure comprises software elements, relations
among them, and properties of both elements and relations, along with rationale for the introduction and configuration of each element.
The architecture of a software system is a metaphor, analogous to the architecture of a building.
Software architecture is about making fundamental structural
choices which are costly to change once implemented. Software
architecture choices, also called architectural decisions,
include specific structural options from possibilities in the design of
software. For example, the systems that controlled the space shuttle launch vehicle had the requirement of being very fast and very reliable. Therefore, an appropriate real-time computing
language would need to be chosen. Additionally, to satisfy the need for
reliability the choice could be made to have multiple redundant and
independently produced copies of the program, and to run these copies on
independent hardware while cross-checking results.
Documenting software architecture facilitates communication between stakeholders, captures decisions about the architecture design, and allows reuse of design components between projects.
Distributed computing architecture
In distributed computing, computations are distributed over different networked computers, which communicate and coordinate their actions by passing messages to one another. Examples of architectures for distributed computing include high-level architecture (HLA) and Distributed Interactive Simulation (DIS).
System architecture
System architecture is a conceptual model that defines the structure, behavior, and more views of a system.
An architecture description is a formal description and representation
of a system, organized in a way that supports reasoning about the structures and behaviors of the system.
A system architecture can comprise system components
that will work together to implement the overall system. There have
been efforts to formalize languages to describe system architecture,
collectively these are called architecture description languages (ADLs).
Urban design
Urban design is the process of designing and shaping the physical
features of cities, towns and villages. In contrast to architecture,
which focuses on the design of individual buildings, urban design deals
with the larger scale of groups of buildings, streets and public spaces,
whole neighborhoods and districts, and entire cities, with the goal of
making urban areas functional, attractive, and sustainable.
Urban design is an inter-disciplinary field that utilizes elements of many built environment professions, including landscape architecture, urban planning, architecture, civil engineering and municipal engineering.
It is common for professionals in all these disciplines to practice
urban design. In more recent times different sub-subfields of urban
design have emerged such as strategic urban design, landscape urbanism, water-sensitive urban design, and sustainable urbanism.