Architecture

Jump to: navigation, search

Section of the dome of Florence Cathedral.

Architecture is the art and science of designing buildings and structures. A wider definition often includes the design of the total built environment: from the macrolevel of town planning, urban design, and landscape architecture to the microlevel of construction details and furniture. The term "Architecture" is also used for the profession of providing architectural services.

Architectural design involves the manipulation of mass, space, volume, texture, light, shadow, materials, program, and other elements in order to achieve an end which is aesthetic as well as functional. This distinguishes Architecture from the applied science of engineering which usually concentrates on the structural and feasibility aspects of design.

Architectural works are perceived as cultural and political symbols and works of art. Historical civilizations are often known primarily through their architectural achievements. Such buildings as the pyramids of Egypt and the Roman Colosseum are cultural symbols, and are an important link in public consciousness, even when scholars have discovered much about a past civilization through other means. Cities, regions and cultures continue to identify themselves with and are known by their architectural monuments.^[1]

Brunelleschi, in the building of the dome, not only transformed the cathedral and the city of Florence, but also the role and status of the architect.

Contents

[hide]

• 1 Etymology and application of the term
• 2 The Architect
• 3 Theory of Architecture
  • 3.1 Historic treatises
  • 3.2 Modern concepts of architecture
• 4 History
  • 4.1 Origins and the ancient world
  • 4.2 The Medieval builder
  • 4.3 Renaissance and the architect
  • 4.4 The Industrial Revolution
  • 4.5 Modernism and reaction
  • 4.6 Architecture today
• 5 See also
• 6 Notes
• 7 References
• 8 External links