INTRODUCTION TO ARCHITECTURE

ARCHITECTURE

 FUNCTIONS OF A BUILDING

 ELEMENTS OF ARCHITECTURE

 PRINCIPLES OF ARCHITECTURE
Architecture is the design of buildings, homes and other structures. In psychology the term ‘function’ is
defined as ‘ability’ or ‘power’. The dictionary amplifies this definition by adding ‘special kind of
activity’ or ‘mode of action’. Various authors have devoted their considerations to the functions of a
building. In the 1960s De Bruijn, one of the founders of functional analysis as a discipline at Delft’s
Faculty of Architecture, distinguished four different functions (Zeeman, 1980):

1. Protective function: protection of people and property against harmful influences and dangers, e.g.
wind and rain, inquisitive onlookers, interference.

2. Domain or territorial function: buildings make it possible to operate in a place of one’s own, without
disturbance from others. Key words are privacy, safety and security

3. Social function: buildings create spaces and places in which people can carry on their activities
optimally. Primary elements here are health, welfare, communication and quality of life.

4. Cultural function: a building must also satisfy requirements relating to the form and character of the
spatial environment. The cultural function involves aesthetic, architectonic, urban design, planning
and environmental factors. Culture also includes the notion of civilization, one of whose implications
are that buildings and the activities they accommodate should not be nuisance or cause damage to the
environment.

The architecture critics Hillier and Leaman (1976) also distinguish four main functions of a building, but
divide them up differently:

1. Spatial organization of activities: A building needs to provide optimum support for the activities
desired by properly arranging the available space: for example, by siting related activities next to one
another and providing efficient communication between them, and by separating activities that are
likely to conflict with one another.

2. Climate regulation: A building must provide an optimum interior climate for the user, his activities
and his property. This necessitates a protective ‘filter’, separating the inside from the outside, and
efficient plant. Inside the building, elements which separate and connect and the equipment of the
different rooms must make it possible to adjust the interior climate of each room to suit its own
particular use.

3. Symbolic function: A building can be seen as the material embodiment of the specific ideas and
expectations not just of its designer but also of the client and the users. This makes it a cultural object,
an object with social and symbolic significance and meaning.

4. Economic function: A building requires investment. It gives added value to raw materials.
Maintenance and management form part of the exploitation cost, and must be set against income from
 rental or sale. It follows that a building, whether property or an investment object, has economic
value and so an economic function.

The first functions named in the above lists can be summarized as utility functions. The last two
functions refer to cultural functions. This division corresponds closely to the functions distinguished by
the architect Norberg-Schulz (1965). A building creates an artificial climate, protecting people against the
influence of weather, insects, wild animals, enemies and other environmental hazards. The building also
provides a functional framework, within which human activities can be carried out. These activities are
socially determined, and so give buildings a social meaning. A building can also represent something
cultural – perhaps something religious or philosophical. Norberg-Schulz refers to the combination of a
building as a piece of social environment and its cultural symbolism as a ‘symbolic environment’.

Delft University of Technology’s Professor Dirken (1972), head of the product ergonomics department of
the industrial design faculty, uses the terms primary and secondary functionality. Primary functionality
means the utility value or effectiveness of a product. Secondary functionality is concerned with function
as a bearer of meanings, as for example a building as a means of expressing status, evoking a sense of
beauty or representing the kind of experiential values that are described in terms such as ‘pleasant’,
‘pleasing’ or ‘attractive’. Ekambi Schmidt (1972) calls this ‘affective functionality’. Others call the
function of form to evoke a sense of beauty as the ‘aesthetic’ function.

The functional quality of a building can be understood in different ways. In the narrowest sense, it refers
merely to the building’s utility value: the extent to which the building makes possible and supports the
use envisaged for it. In a wider sense, it involves the ability of the building to perform all kinds of
different functions: utilitarian, climatologic, cultural, symbolic, aesthetic, economic and so on. The same
holds true for the concept of architectonic quality. In the narrowest sense it primarily refers to perceptual
qualities, cultural values and symbolic meanings. In a wider sense it is the extent to which an original,
stimulating, efficient and cost-effective synthesis is achieved of form, function and technique (Fig. 1.2).
As a consequence, the architectonic quality of a building in its widest sense includes the following sub-
qualities (Van der Voordt and Vrielink, 1987):
 Functional quality or utility value: The usability of the building in practice: the extent to which the
building is suitable for the activities that have to be able to take place inside.

 Aesthetic quality: The extent to which the building is perceived as beautiful, stimulating or original;
the way it is experienced, whether as pleasant, spacious, homely or simply commercial; the extent to
which it is seen as a piece of culture, e.g. whether it is a representative of a particular style or period
of building; and the extent to which the building evokes different meanings.

Figure: Architectural quality as an integration of functional, formal, technical and economic issues.
 Technical quality: The extent to which the foundations, the load-bearing structure, the shell, the infill
kit and the technical services satisfy technical requirements relating to such matters as strength,
rigidity, stability, sustainability and limited need for maintenance. An important component is
physical quality, the extent to which the building is capable of achieving an attractive, safe and
healthy interior climate, measured in terms of temperature, humidity, illumination, natural lighting
and acoustics, in an environmentally friendly and energy-saving way.

 Economic quality: The extent to which financial resources are applied effectively and efficiently, i.e.
the price–performance ratio. If the building is viewed as an investment object, its economic quality
also depends on the level of return achieved.

The chapter has also made a preliminary exploration of the part played by functional quality in the
different phases of the building process. It has made clear that attention to functional quality is an
important part of every phase of the building process. Because careful programming, design and
evaluation are so important, they are each treated in detail in a separate chapter. The aim is to assist the
reader to work methodically, systematically and in a properly thought out way, using instruments that are
suitable to the task, e.g. design guidelines derived from experience with existing buildings, checklists,
itemised procedures and quality standards.

References

DJM Van Der Voodt & HBR Van Wegen: Architecture In Use: An Introduction to the Programming,
Design and Evaluation of Buildings. ELSEVIER Architectural Press, 2005

PRINCIPLES OF ARCHITECTURE
Principles of Architecture are the philosophies of concepts that are part of an architecture (total concept)
of a structure. Architecture Principles are about the enforced way the concepts that are part of the
architecture of a structure, work, and producing results.

Principles of Architecture play critical role in guiding architectural works to defined direction and the
transitions it needs to reach desired result.

An architect will learn about the six fundamental principles of architecture

while in school. Then when they get out into the workforce, architects will
apply their knowledge of what they learned to their practice. They may
design a house by drawing blueprints. These blueprints will show the
different walls and outline of the building.
Order (Hierarchy and Direction), Propriety, Economy, Axis, Datum,
and Transformation, Proximity, alignment, space, and contrast, movement,
contrast, unity

1. Datum is a method that ties together or secures all other elements of the
design. It must have adequate size, closure, and consistency organized
jointly within the given field. Next is a datum, which is used to define the
volume or a plane.
2. Balance:
 Symmetry or Formal Balance: is simply one shape flipped precisely like
another such that the spaces and forms that constitute the design on the
east mirrors the design on the west, or north as compared to South.
Symmetry refers to the identical parts, having the same ratio in reference
to the scales of the design elements. Both the concept of equity and
equality play significant roles in adopting principle of balance in
architecture. Eg is
 Asymmetry or informal Balance: On the other hand talks about the
adoption of imbalance in design.
 Radial Balance: circulatory movements of the design elements defining a
point of uniform origin.
 Vertical Balance: Elevational or sectional balance when comparing the
vertical or columnar elements through a centerline running from north to
south shows that what is given to the part on the left equals that of the
parts on the right.
 Horizontal Balance: Transverse sectional balance when comparing the
horizontal elements through a centerline running from east to west.
3. Eurhythmy: Eurhythmy refers also to be proportionate consists of
rhythm, repetition, arrangement and harmony.

Rhythm is creating something with repeated use of lines, shape, colour,

texture or pattern. Principle of rhythm is sometimes referred to as repetition.
 Regular Rhythm: occurs when an element is repeated at the same
interval, time and on the same level.
 Graduated Rhythm: occurs when specific element (or compound of
elements) is repeated with increasing or decreasing graduation at
different levels.
 Random Rhythm: occurs when specific element (or compound of
elements) is repeated randomly indicating standalone order of significance
at different intervals.
 Gradated Rhythm: occurs when specific compound of elements is
progressively or retrogressively organized in order of significance at
graded intervals.
Repetition, in architecture, refers to a pattern with the same size, shape, or
color used again throughout the design. It works with and makes rhythmic
sensations showing harmonized pattern of the elements
Harmony: refers to the sense of agreement, arrangement, synchronization
or organization of architectural elements
4. Emphasis: in architecture, principle of emphasis refers to the stressed
element which commands the design and draws attention by the use of
size, placement, colour, or a pointer element. By attribute of prominence
in the design, a part of the design is highlighted to catch viewer’s
attention at a glance.
 Convergence
  Separation or isolation
 Creation of exception, and
 Subordination
Hierarchy is most often formed using a unique shape, size, color, or
deliberate location or placement in architecture. The third principle of
architecture is a hierarchy, which focuses on the importance of shapes and
sizes and how each shape is placed.
5. Proportion and scale: Comparative relationships between elements in a
design with respect to size. While proportion makes reference to
percentage ratio, scales

Axis is a line established by two points in space about which forms and
spaces can be laid out symmetrical or balanced. Axis is a central line that
supports to organization of a design. The first is the axis, which is the line
that separates two points and defines them.
Transformation focuses on keeping a design but also strengthening the
building through transformation. Lastly, there is transformation. This
principle focuses on keeping a design but also strengthening the building
through transformations.

Propriety refers to the conforming to the needs of the customer.

Arrangement is the spatial property resulting from the arrangement of parts

pertaining to each other and the whole.
Economy principle is concerned with real estate, community space,
opportunity cost, and demand.
Propriety principle involves the form, detail, and material of buildings, and
eurhythmy is a normal, tranquil mental state or mood. Each part of a building
should serve a function.

The structure is another principle because the structure has to be proper and
correct before it will be created. The function is another principle because
what is the purpose of creating something when it is not being used the way
that it should. Sustainability is another principle. It should be something
that will withstand the test of time. Lastly, legibility is another important
principle. The structure should look clean and polished before it can be
considered to be good.