Architecture Museums

Architecture is the art and technique of designing and building, as distinguished from the skills associated with construction. It is both the process and the product of sketching, conceiving, planning, designing, and constructing buildings or other structures. The term comes ; ; . 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.

The practice, which began in the prehistoric era, has been used as a way of expressing culture for civilizations on all seven continents. 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 , and (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. Giorgio Vasari wrote ''Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Sculptors, and Architects'' and put forward the idea of style in the Western arts in the 16th century. 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. In fact, During the European 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.''Shorter Oxford English Dictionary'' (1993), Oxford,
* The art and science of designing buildings and (some) nonbuilding structures.
* The style of design and method of construction of buildings and other physical structures.
* A unifying or coherent form or structure.
* Knowledge of art, science, technology, and humanity.
* The design activity of the architect, 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.

Theory of architecture

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, 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.D. Rowland – T.N. Howe: Vitruvius. Ten Books on Architecture. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 1999, According to Vitruvius, a good building should satisfy the three principles of , 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. 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.

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." 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".John Ruskin, ''The Seven Lamps of Architecture'', G. Allen (1880), reprinted Dover, (1989) 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.

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". Le Corbusier's contemporary Ludwig Mies van der Rohe said "Architecture starts when you carefully put two bricks together. There it begins."

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".

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 non-sustainable power sources for heating, cooling, water and waste management, and lighting.

History

Origins and vernacular architecture

File:Stærnes Søndre Loft, Rollag.jpg, In Norway: wood and elevated-level
File:Lesotho Slide Show (294).JPG, In Lesotho: rondavel stones
File:Yola hut -Tagoat Co. Wexford.JPG, In Ireland: Yola hut

Muzeul Satului Bucuresti 02.jpg, 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

File:Göbekli Tepe, Urfa.jpg, Göbekli Tepe from Turkey, founded in 10th millennium BC and abandoned in 8th millennium BC
File:Trypillian house2.jpg, Pottery miniature of a Cucuteni-Trypillian house
File:Cucuteni MNIR IMG 7622.JPG, Miniature of a regular Cucuteni-Trypillian house, full of ceramic vessels
File:Orkney Skara Brae.jpg, Excavated dwellings at Skara Brae (Mainland, Orkney, Scotland, UK)

Early human settlements were mostly rural. Hence, Expending economies resulted in the creation of urban areas which in some cases grew and evolved very rapidly, such as that of Çatal Höyük in Anatolia and Mohenjo Daro.

Neolithic settlements and "cities" include Göbekli Tepe and Çatalhöyük in Turkey, Jericho in the Levant, Mehrgarh in Pakistan, Knap of Howar and Skara Brae, Orkney Islands, Scotland, and the Cucuteni-Trypillian culture settlements in Romania, Moldova and Ukraine.

Ancient architecture

File:Ishtar gate in Pergamon museum in Berlin..jpg, Mesopotamian architecture: Reconstruction of the Ishtar Gate in the Pergamon Museum (Berlin, Germany), circa 575 BC

Kheops-Pyramid.jpg, Ancient Egyptian architecture: The Great Pyramid of Giza (Giza, Egypt), circa 2589-2566 BC, by Hemiunu

File:Parthenon (30276156187).jpg, Ancient Greek architecture: The Parthenon on the Athenian Acropolis, made of marble and limestone, 460-406 BC

Maison Carree in Nimes (16).jpg, Ancient Roman architecture: The Maison Carrée from Nîmes (France), one of the best-preserved Roman temples, circa 2 AD

File:Horyu-ji National Treasure World heritage 国宝・世界遺産法隆寺85.JPG, Japanese architecture: Hōryū-ji, a Buddhist temple in Nara Prefecture, Japan, 607 AD

In many ancient civilizations such as those of Egypt and Mesopotamia, architecture and urbanism reflected the constant engagement with the divine and the supernatural, and many ancient cultures resorted to monumentality in architecture to symbolically represent the political power of the ruler or the state itself.

The architecture and urbanism of the Classical civilizations such as the Greek and the Roman evolved from civic ideals rather than religious or empirical ones and new building types emerged. As the Architectural "style" developed in the form of the Classical orders. Roman architecture was influenced by Greek architecture as they incorporated many Greek elements into their building practices.

Texts on architecture have been written since ancient times. These texts provided both general advice and specific formal prescriptions or canons. Some examples of canons are found in the writings of the 1st-century BCE Roman Architect Vitruvius. Some of the most important early examples of canonic architecture are religious.

Asian architecture

Beauty of khajuraho temple.jpg, Indian architecture: The Kandariya Mahadeva Temple (Khajuraho, Mad