Outline of architecture


Architecture - the process and the product of designing and constructing buildings. Architectural works with a certain indefinable combination of design quality and external circumstances may become cultural symbols and / or be considered works of art.

What type of thing is architecture?

Architecture can be described as all of the following:
  • Academic discipline - focused study in one academic field or profession. A discipline incorporates expertise, people, projects, communities, challenges, studies, inquiry, and research areas that are strongly associated with the given discipline.
  • Buildings - buildings and similar structures, the product of architecture, are referred to as architecture.
  • One of the arts - as an art form, architecture is an outlet of human expression, that is usually influenced by culture and which in turn helps to change culture. Architecture is a physical manifestation of the internal human creative impulse.
  • * Fine art - in Western European academic traditions, fine art is art developed primarily for aesthetics, distinguishing it from applied art that also has to serve some practical function. The word "fine" here does not so much denote the quality of the artwork in question, but the purity of the discipline according to traditional Western European canons.
  • Science - systematic enterprise that builds and organizes knowledge in the form of testable explanations and predictions about the universe. A science is a branch of science, or a discipline of science. It is a way of pursuing knowledge, not only the knowledge itself.
  • * Applied science - branch of science that applies existing scientific knowledge to develop more practical applications, such as technology or inventions.

    Definitions of architecture

Architecture is variously defined in conflicting ways, highlighting the difficulty of describing the scope of the subject precisely:
  • A general term to describe buildings and other physical structures - although not all buildings are generally considered to be architecture, and infrastructure is civil engineering, not architecture.
  • The art and science, or the action and process, of designing and constructing buildings.
  • The design activity of the architect, the profession of designing buildings.
  • A building designed by an architect, the end product of architectural design.
  • A building whose design transcends mere function, a unifying or coherent form or structure.
  • The expression of thought in building.
  • A group or body of buildings in a particular style.
  • A particular style or way of designing buildings.
Some key quotations on the subject of architecture:
  • Vitruvius: defined the essential qualities of architecture as "firmness, commodity, and delight".
  • Johann Wolfgang von Goethe: "I call architecture frozen music".
  • Walter Gropius: "Architecture begins where engineering ends".
  • Le Corbusier: "A house is a machine for living in".
  • Louis Sullivan: "... form ever follows function. This is the law", usually quoted as the architectural mantra "form follows function".
  • Mies van der Rohe: "Less is more".
  • Robert Venturi: "Less is a bore".

    Roles in architecture

Professionals involved in planning, designing, and constructing buildings include:
- a specific way of building, characterized by the features that make it notable. A style may include such elements as form, method of construction, materials, and regional character. Influential contemporary and relatively recent styles include :
Terms used to describe different architectural concerns, origins and objectives.
  • Architecture parlante - buildings or architectural elements that explain their own function or identity by means of an inscription or literal representation.
  • Religious architecture - the design and construction of places of worship.
  • Responsive architecture - designing buildings that measure their environmental conditions to adapt their form, shape, color or character responsively.
  • Sustainable architecture - environmentally conscious design techniques in the field of architecture.
  • Vernacular architecture - traditional local building styles, typically not designed by professional architects although vernacular elements are adopted by many architects.

    Architectural theory

  • Architectural design values - the various values that influence architects and designers in making design decisions.
  • Mathematics and architecture - have always been close, because architecture relies upon mathematical precision, and because both fields share a search for order and beauty.
  • Pattern language - a term coined by architect Christopher Alexander, a structured method of describing good design practices within a field of expertise.
  • Proportion - the relationship between elements and the whole.
  • Space syntax - a set of theories and techniques for the analysis of spatial configurations.
  • Architecture criticism - published or broadcast critique, assessing the architect's success in meeting his own aims and objectives and those of others.

    Architectural terms

  • Glossary of architecture

    Regional architecture

Architecture of Africa

Architecture of Asia