For other uses, see Architecture (disambiguation).

In adding the dome to the Florence

Cathedral (Italy) in the early 15th century, the architect Filippo Brunelleschi not only
transformed the building and the city, but also the role and status of the architect. [1][2]

Architecture is the art and technique of designing and building, as distinguished from the skills
associated with construction.[3] It is both the process and the product of sketching, conceiving,
[4]
planning, designing, and constructing buildings or other structures.[5] The term comes
from Latin architectura; from Ancient Greek ἀρχιτέκτων (arkhitéktōn) 'architect';
from ἀρχι- (arkhi-) 'chief', and τέκτων (téktōn) 'creator'. Architectural works, in the material form of
buildings, are often perceived as cultural symbols and as works of art. Historical civilisations are
often identified with their surviving architectural achievements.[6]

The practice, which began in the prehistoric era, has been used as a way of expressing culture by
civilizations on all seven continents.[7] For this reason, architecture is considered to be a form of art.
Texts on architecture have been written since ancient times. The earliest surviving text
on architectural theories is the 1st century AD treatise De architectura by the Roman
architect Vitruvius, according to whom a good building embodies firmitas, utilitas,
and venustas (durability, utility, and beauty). Centuries later, Leon Battista Alberti developed his
ideas further, seeing beauty as an objective quality of buildings to be found in their proportions. In
the 19th century, Louis Sullivan declared that "form follows function". "Function" began to replace the
classical "utility" and was understood to include not only practical but also aesthetic, psychological
and cultural dimensions. The idea of sustainable architecture was introduced in the late 20th
century.

Architecture began as rural, oral vernacular architecture that developed from trial and error to
successful replication. Ancient urban architecture was preoccupied with building religious structures
and buildings symbolizing the political power of rulers until Greek and Roman architecture shifted
focus to civic virtues. Indian and Chinese architecture influenced forms all over Asia and Buddhist
architecture in particular took diverse local flavors. During the Middle Ages, pan-European styles
of Romanesque and Gothic cathedrals and abbeys emerged while the Renaissance favored
Classical forms implemented by architects known by name. Later, the roles of architects
and engineers became separated.

Modern architecture began after World War I as an avant-garde movement that 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. Emphasis was put on modern techniques, materials,
and simplified geometric forms, paving the way for high-rise superstructures. Many architects
became disillusioned with modernism which they perceived as ahistorical and anti-aesthetic,
and postmodern and contemporary architecture developed. Over the years, the field of architectural
construction has branched out to include everything from ship design to interior decorating.

Definitions
Architecture can mean:

 A general term to describe buildings and other physical structures.[8]

 The art and science of designing buildings and (some) nonbuilding structures.[8]
 The style of design and method of construction of buildings and other physical
structures.[8]
 A unifying or coherent form or structure.[9]
 Knowledge of art, science, technology, and humanity.[8]
 The design activity of the architect,[8] 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.[10]

Theory
Main articles: Architectural theory and Philosophy of architecture

Illustration of bracket arm clusters

containing cantilevers from Yingzao Fashi, a text on architecture by Li Jue (1065–1110)

Plan of the second floor (attic storey) of the Hôtel de Brionne

in Paris – 1734.
The philosophy of architecture is a branch of philosophy of art, dealing with aesthetic value of
architecture, its semantics and in relation with development of culture. Many philosophers and
theoreticians from Plato to Michel Foucault, Gilles Deleuze,[11] Robert Venturi and Ludwig
Wittgenstein have concerned themselves with the nature of architecture and whether or not
architecture is distinguished from building.

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.[12] According to Vitruvius, a good building should
satisfy the three principles of firmitas, utilitas, venustas,[13][14] 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 idealized 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, recognizable truths. The notion of style
in the arts was not developed until the 16th century, with the writing of Giorgio Vasari.[15] 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 16th century, Italian Mannerist architect, painter and theorist Sebastiano Serlio wrote Tutte
L'Opere D'Architettura et Prospetiva (Complete Works on Architecture and Perspective). This
treatise exerted immense influence throughout Europe, being the first handbook that emphasized
the practical rather than the theoretical aspects of architecture, and it was the first to catalog the five
orders.[16]

In the early 19th century, Augustus Welby Northmore Pugin wrote Contrasts (1836) that, as the title
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."[17] 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".[18] 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.[18]

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".[19] Le
Corbusier's contemporary Ludwig Mies van der Rohe is said to have stated in a 1959 interview that
"architecture starts when you carefully put two bricks together. There it begins."[20]
 The National Congress of Brazil, designed by Oscar Niemeyer
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".[21]

Among the philosophies that have influenced modern architects and their approach to building
design
are Rationalism, Empiricism, Structuralism, Poststructuralism, Deconstruction 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 the natural environment for heating,
ventilation and cooling, water use, waste products and lighting.

History
Main article: History of architecture

Origins and vernacular architecture

Main article: Vernacular architecture


 In Norway: wood and elevated-level

In Lesotho: rondavel stones

In Ireland: Yola hut

In Romania: peasant houses in the Dimitrie Gusti National Village Museum (Bucharest)
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.
Prehistoric architecture


Göbekli Tepe from Turkey, founded in 10th millennium BC and abandoned in 8th millennium BC

Goseck circle, Germany 4900 BC

Miniature of a regular Cucuteni-Trypillian house, full of ceramic vessels

 

Excavated dwellings at Skara Brae (Mainland, Orkney, Scotland, UK)