Architecture All About?

Architecture is the art and science of designing buildings and other physical structures. A wider definition often includes the design of the total built environment from the macro level of town planning, urban design, and landscape architecture to the micro level of construction details and, sometimes, furniture. The term “Architecture” is also used for the profession of providing architectural services.

Architectural design is primarily driven by the holistically creative manipulation of mass, space, volume, texture, light, shadow, materials, program, and Realistic elements such as cost, construction and technology, in order to achieve an end which is aesthetic, functional and often artistic. This distinguishes Architecture from engineering design, which is usually driven primarily by the creative application of mathematical and scientific principles.

Interior Architecture bridges the practices of interior design and architecture so that professionals working in the field have a structural and load bearing education with an emphasis on interior spaces. The field is similar to architecture in that it deals with structures and load bearing walls. It is similar to interior design in that it focuses on interior spaces.

There is no one-size-fits approach in architecture, each building project should respond to its very unique context: site, climate, social, budget and materials.

Buildings also need to be able to age well, to adapt to changing requirements and have flexibility to accommodate various uses. They also should be built sustainable, in both the materials that they use during construction, and the energy resources that they require to function.

If architecture is only in the building, what, we might say, puts it there? The labour and skills of the contractors and mechanics who build the building? If that were true then every building would be architecture, and not even the most sceptical of observers would claim that to be the case. Architecture is something different from building. So what makes it different?

Architecture is the built realisation of a particular concept, or idea. This idea can be about construction, or the way people will use a building, or how the building fits into a physical, or a social, landscape.

Humanity leaves immortal echoes through its history using the media of language, art, knowledge and architecture.

The more concepts and ideas formulated by the architect have an Imminence for contemporary conditions of living, thinking and working. We want architecture to participate in the crucial changes affecting our lives, and not simply form a backdrop to them.

Developers, corporations, and politicians understand the marketing value of architecture, as long as it gathers attention. But that cannot be all there is. Architects themselves, whom devote their mind and their talents for ideas to serving the interests of developers, corporations, and politicians, are ignoring more urgently critical conditions. Continuing the struggle to understand what architecture is helps keep everyone especially the architects more honest.

The balanced integration of artistic sensibility and scientific methodology as it applies to designing buildings and their environments is essential to creating great architecture.

The public realm refers to publicly-owned streets, parks, which is where buildings are situated. Architecture clearly meets this definition. All of us, as the public, interact with architecture. We are affected on a practical and emotional level by both the way a building appears in its context and by its interior environment.

The scientific method is used by architects to research and develop concepts on Countless levels required to create buildings. These levels include understanding the surrounding context from environmental, historic, stylistic and infrastructure perspectives; and determining program areas required by users such as interior products, structure, mechanical, electrical, plumbing, fire protection, technological and security systems.

The orchestration between art and science involves discipline in both the lateral and linear thought processes. Lateral thinking utilizes analogies and links ideas across a spectrum to create something imaginative. Linear thought is a step by step idea that keeps us grounded and leads to a specific result.

At its simplest, architecture is the design of buildings, groups of buildings and often the space between buildings. But the scope of architecture goes well beyond just the drawing of plans.

At a time when it is fashionable to say that architecture is everything-from philosophy to science to art to theory

Architecture takes imagination; the ability to order ideas and communicate them clearly; creatively (not necessarily artistic ability); a keen interest in human behaviour, our habitat and the natural environment; and problem solving skills.

Before defining architecture, the terms ‘designing’ and ‘engineering’ must be made clear. The clarification of the term ‘designing’ is needed for making a distinction between the design and the architecture of a system. All these terms refer to how systems are constructed.

In an odd but quietly very important way, works of architecture ‘speak’ to us. Some buildings, streets and even whole cities seem to speak of chaos, aggression or military pride; others seem to be whispering to us of calm or graceful dignity, generosity or gentleness.

However, a dominant strand of modern opinion doesn’t think it matters very much what our buildings speak to us about. It is deemed pretentious or over-sensitive to suppose that something as external as a building could really have much of an effect on our inner mood. We’d rather see ourselves as able to generate our psychological states independently of the colour, shape and texture of the walls.

And yet a more modest, permeable idea of who we are would accept with good grace that we remain in truth, very vulnerable to the voices of the largest, most public objects in our environment. Our inner states are heavily open to influence and we may be as harmed by architectural ugliness as we are by moral evil. Our spirits can be decisively sunk by a grid of city streets designed without any talent or care.

In modern commercial society, buildings are seen largely in terms of finance, cost and return on capital. Politicians impose some restraints on developers. There are frequently a few rules about height and environmental performance. But the full range of the kinds of damage that ugly buildings create for us has not been recognised or granted political expression. There’s nothing unusual in this. Many forms of public harm can be real yet ignored; it took many decades for industrial pollution of rivers to be interpreted as any real threat to the public good.

If we better understood the impact that ugly architecture has on our lives, its power to sap our spirits and give assistance to our worst selves, we’d surely legislate against it. But as yet, no politician who announced an intention to make the built environment more beautiful would prosper — or even be deemed sane.

In the utopia, architecture would more fairly be interpreted as a branch of mental health, with a crucial role to play in public contentment. And bad design would — at last — be interpreted as the crime it is to the health of the collective spirit.

Have you ever wondered why architecture is so important for the society we live in? Architecture is the art that provide us the physical environment we live in. It is a deep expression of human civilisation in a particular era and it will endure and outlive us in forms of monuments that future generations will study and strive to understand. All architects represent a great force in our society because architecture is as well an expression of the strengths of the society as well as their technological progress. Architecture is a form of visual art that creates irrevocable works. Human value this art so much because it’s a permanent expression of the society values, desires, ways of thinking and ideals, ideology and many other things in a fixed point in time. It is like a reflection in the mirror, a way society sees itself as well as how it sees the environment, nature and finally, this world.

Architecture can indeed serve us as a little time capsule of human history. It reveals us human thoughts, ideals, ideas, even our fears and worries. All human emotions and thoughts can be reflected in one powerful piece of art that lies ahead of us while we remain still, watching it in awe. It reflects our culture, who we are and where we belong within the society.

As you probably know, architecture is part art and part science. Being an art, it provides us an outlet for creative expression and allows the society to view, create and shape their environment and living space differently, in a unique way. Being a science, architecture also covers our functional needs, providing us living space and environment that is practical and comfortable.

Ideally, when creating their work, architectural experts must always equally incorporate functionality and aesthetical aspects in their building design. Thanks to modern technology, the boundaries of architecture are constantly expanding, and new wonders can be made every day. Unfortunately, many architects have neglected the aesthetics of their work over functionality, therefore losing the unique difference that was present between architecture and engineering.