Architecture: Architecture And The Concept Of Architecture

Architecture (Latin architectura, from the Greek ἀρχιτέκτων arkhitekton "architect", from ἀρχι- "chief" and τέκτων "builder") is both the process and the product of planning, designing, and constructing buildings and other physical 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.

"Architecture" can mean:

A general term to describe buildings and other physical structures.[3]

The art and science of designing buildings and (some) nonbuilding structures.[3]

The style of design and method of construction of buildings and other physical structures.[3]

A unifying or coherent

An equivalent in modern English would be:

Durability – a building should stand up robustly and remain in good

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:[10] by the 18th century, his Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Sculptors, and Architects had been translated into Italian, French, Spanish, and English.

The Houses of Parliament in London, seen across the river, are a large Victorian Gothic building with two big towers and many pinnacles

The Houses of Parliament, Westminster, master-planned by Charles Barry, with interiors and details by A.W.N.