ARCHITECTURE

Architecture is both the process and the product of planning, designing, and constructing buildings or
any other 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.

Theories of Architecture

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. According to Vitruvius, a good building should satisfy the
three principles of firmitas, utilitas, venustas, 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.

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 pan 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 an object, something applied
superficially, rather than and was based on universal, recognizable truths. The notion of style in the arts
was not developed until the 16th century, with writing of 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 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."

Seven Lamps of Architecture by Ruskin

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".

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 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
puttwo bricks together. There it begins.”

The view shows a 20th century building with two identical towers very close to each other rising from a
low building which has a dome at one end, and an inverted dome, like a saucer, at the other.

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.

Jørn Utzon’s Sydney Opera House

The Sydney Opera House appears to float on the harbour. It has numerous roof sections which are
shaped like huge shining white sails Sydney Opera House, Australia designed by Jørn Utzon. 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 building
design are rationalism, empiricism, structuralism, poststructuralism, 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.

Cathedrals. From about 900 CE onward, the movements of both clerics and tradesmen carried
architectural knowledge across Europe, resulting in the Pan-European styles Romanesque and Gothic.
Also, significant parts of Middle Ages architectural heritage are numerous Fortifications across the
continent. From Balkans to Spain, and from Malta toEstonia, these buildings represent important part of
European heritage.

The Late Middle Ages in Central and Southeastern Europe also saw the expansion of Ottoman
architecture, which spread alongside the Ottoman empire, from Anatolia via the Balkans, to Central and
Eastern Europe and beyond to the northern shores of the Black Sea. In regions from which the Ottoman
Empire would eventually be forced to retreat, almost all their architectural designs were destroyed. In
the 21st century, the only significant architectural heritage on European soil outside of modern-day
turkey, can be found in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, and Albania, while some remnants can be
found in the Muslim-inhabited parts of Serbia, Montenegro, Macedonia and Bulgaria.

Renaissance and the Architect

In Renaissance Europe, from about 1400 onwards, there was a revival of Classical learning accompanied
by the development of Renaissance Humanism which placed greater emphasis on the role of the
individual in society than had been the case during the Medieval period. Buildings were ascribed to
specific architects – Brunelleschi, Alberti, Michelangelo, Palladio — and the cult of the individual had
begun. There was still no dividing line between artist, architect and engineer, or any of the related
vocations, and the appellation was often one of regional preference.

A revival of the Classical style in architecture was accompanied by a burgeoning of science and
engineering which affected the proportions and structure of buildings. At this stage, it was still possible
for an artist to design a bridge as the level of structural calculations involved was within the scope of the
generalist.

Early Modern and the Industrial Age

With the emerging knowledge in scientific fields and the rise of new materials and technology,
architecture and engineering began and architecture started to concentrate on aesthetics and the
humanist aspects, often at the expense of technical aspects of building design. There was also the rise of
the “gentleman architect” who usually dealt with wealthy clients and concentrated predominantly on
visual qualities derived usually from historical prototypes, typified by the many country houses of Great
Britain that were created in the Neo Gothic or Scottish Baronial styles. Formal architectural training in
the 19th century, for example at École des Beaux-Arts in France, gave much emphasis to the production
of beautiful drawings and little to context and feasibility.

Meanwhile, the Industrial Revolution laid open the door for mass production and consumption.
Aesthetics became a criterion for the middle class as ornamented products, once within the province of
expensive craftsmanship, became cheaper under machine production.

Vernacular architecture became increasingly ornamental. House builders could use current architectural
design in their work by combining features found in pattern books and architectural journals.

Modernism

Around the beginning of the 20th century, a general dissatisfaction with the emphasis on revivalist
architecture and elaborate decoration gave rise to many new lines of thought that served as precursors
to Modern Architecture. Notable among these is the Deutscher Werkbund, formed in 1907 to produce
better quality machine made objects. The rise of the profession of industrial design is usually placed.
Following this lead, the Bauhaus School, founded in Weimar, Germany in 1919, redefined the
architectural bounds prior set throughout history, viewing the creation of a building as the ultimate
apex-of art, craft, and technology.

When modern architecture was first practiced, it was an avant-garde movement with moral,
philosophical, and aesthetic underpinnings. Immediately after World War I, pioneering modernist
architects 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. They rejected the architectural
practice of the academic refinement of historical styles which the rapidly declining aristocratic order.
The approach of the Modernist architects was to reduce buildings to pure forms, removing historical
references and ornament in favor of functionalist details. Buildings displayed their functional and
structural elements, exposing steel beams and concrete surfaces instead of hiding them behind
decorative forms. Architects such as Frank Lloyd Wright developed organic architecture, in which the
form was defined by its environment and purpose, with an aim to promote harmony between human
habitation and the natural world with prime examples being Robie House and Fallingwater. Architects
such as Mies van der Rohe, Philip Johnson and Marcel Breuer worked Ito create beauty based on the
inherent qualities of materials o and modern construction techniques, trading traditional historic forms
for simplified geometric forms, celebrating the new means and methods made possible by the Industrial
Revolution, including steel-frame construction, possible bye birth to high-rise superstructures. Fazlur
Rahim Khan’s development of the tube structure was a technological break-through in building ever
higher. By mid-century, Modernism had morphed into the International Style, an aesthetic epitomized in
many ways by the Twin Towers of New York’s World Trade Center designed by Minoru Yamasaki.

Postmodernism

Many architects resisted modernism, finding it devoid of the decorative richness of historical styles. As
the first generation of modernists began to die after World War II, a second generation of architects
including Paul Rudolph, Marcel Breuer, and Eero Saarinen tried to expand the aesthetics of modernism
with Brutalism, buildings with expressive sculptural façades made of unfinished concrete. But an even
new younger postwar generation critiqued modernism and Brutalism for being too austere,
standardized, monotone, and not taking into account the richness of human experience offered in
historical buildings across time and in different places and cultures.

One such reaction to the cold aesthetic of modernism and Brutalism is the school of metaphoric
architecture, which includes such things as and zoomorphic architecture, both using nature as the
primary source of inspiration and design. While it is considered by some to be merely an aspect of
postmodernism, others consider it to be a school in its own right and a later development of
expressionist architecture.

Beginning in the late 1950s and 1960s, architectural phenomenology emerged as an important
movement in the early reaction against modernism. With architects like Charles Moore in the United
States, Christian Norberg Schulz in Norway, and Ernesto Nathan Rogers and Vittorio Gregotti Michele
Valori, Bruno Zevi in Italy, who collectively popularized an interest in a new contemporary architecture
aimed at expanding human experience using historical buildings as models and precedents.
Postmodernism produced a style that combined contemporary building technology and cheap materials,
with the aesthetics of older pre-modern and non-modern styles, from high classical architecture to
popular or vernacular regional building styles. Robert Venturi famously defined postmodern architecture
as a “decorated shed” (an ordinary building which is functionally designed inside and embellished on the
outside), and upheld it against modernist and brutalist “ducks” (buildings with unnecessarily expressive
tectonic forms).

Architecture today

Since the 1980s, as the complexity of buildings began to increase (in terms of structural systems,
services, energy and technologies), the field of architecture became multi-disciplinary with
specializations for each project type, technological expertise or project delivery methods. In addition,
there has been an increased separation of the ‘design’ architect from the ‘project’ architect who ensures
that the project meets the required standards and deals with matters of liability. The preparatory
processes for the design of any large building have become increasingly complicated, and require
preliminary studies of such matters as durability, sustainability, quality, money, and compliance with
local laws. A large structure can no longer be the design of one person but must be the work of many.
Modernism and Postmodernism have been criticized by some members of the architectural profession
who feel that successful architecture is not a personal, philosophical, or aesthetic pursuit by
individualists; rather it has to consider everyday needs of people and use technology to create liveable
environments, with the design process being informed by studies of behavioral, environmental, and
social sciences.

Environmental sustainability has become a mainstream issue, with profound effect on the architectural
profession. Many developers, those who support the financing of buildings, have become educated to
encourage the facilitation of environmentally sustainable design, rather than solutions based primarily
on immediate cost. Major examples of this can be found in passive solar building design, greener roof
designs, biodegradable materials, and attention to a structure’s energy usage. This major shift in
architecture has also changed architecture schools to focus more on the environment. There has been
acceleration in the number of buildings which seek to meet green building sustainable design principles.
Sustainable practices that were at the core of vernacular architecture increasingly provide inspiration for
environmentally and socially sustainable contemporary techniques. The U.S. Green Building Council’s
LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) rating system has been instrumental in this.

Concurrently, the recent movements of New Urbanism, Metaphoric Architecture and New Classical
Architecture promote a sustainable approach towards construction that appreciates and develops smart
growth, architectural tradition and classical design. This is in contrast to modernist and globally uniform
architecture, as well as leaning against solitary housing estates and suburban sprawl. Glass curtain walls,
which were the hallmark of the ultra modern urban life in many countries surfaced even in developing
countries like Nigeria where international styles had been represented since the mid 20 th Century mostly
because of the leanings of architects.

Types of Architecture

Business Architecture

Business architecture is defined as “a blueprint of the enterprise that provides a common understanding
of the organization and is used to align strategic objectives and tactical demands.” People who develop
and maintain business architecture are known as business architects.

Business architecture is the bridge between the enterprise business model and enterprise strategy on
one side, and the business functionality of the enterprise on the other side.

Cognitive Architecture
Cognitive architecture can refer to a theory about the structure of the human mind. One of the main
goals of a cognitive architecture is to summarize the various results of cognitive psychology in a
comprehensive computer model. However, the results need to be in a formalized form so far that they
can be the basis of a computer program. The formalized models can be used to further refine a
comprehensive theory of cognition, and more immediately, as a commercially usable model. Successful
cognitive architectures include ACT-R (Adaptive Control of Thought, ACT) and SOAR.

The Institute of Creative Technologies defines cognitive architecture as: “hypothesis about the fixed
structures that provide a mind, whether in natural or artificial systems, and how they work together – in
conjunction with knowledge and skills embodied within the architecture – to yield intelligent behavior in
a diversity of complex environments.”

Computer Architecture

In computer engineering, “computer architecture” is a set of rules and methods that describes the
functionality, organization, and implementation of computer systems. Some definitions of architecture
define it as describing the capabilities and programming model of a computer but not a particular
implementation. In other definitions computer architecture involves instruction set architecture design,
microarchitecturedesign, logic design, and implementation.

Enterprise Architecture

Enterprise architecture (EA) is “a well-defined practice for conducting enterprise analysis, design,
planning, and implementation, using a holistic approach at all times, for the successful development and
execution of strategy. Enterprise architecture applies architecture principles and pactices to guide
organizations through the business, information, process, and technology changes necessary to execute
their strategies. These practices utilize the various aspects of an enterprise to identify,motivate, and
achieve these changes.”

Practitioners of enterprise architecture, enterprise architects, are responsible for performing the
analysis of business structure and processes and are often called upon to draw conclusions from the
information collected to address the goals of enterprise architecture: effectiveness, efficiency, agility,
and durability.

Interior Architecture

Interior architecture is the design of a space which has been created by structural boundaries and the
human interaction within these boundaries.It can also be the initial design and plan for use, then, later
redesign to acommodate a changed purpose, or a significantly revised design for adaptive reuse of the
building shell. The latter is often part of sustainable architecture practices, conserving resources through
“recycling” a structure by adaptive redesign. Generally referred to as the spatial art of environmental
design, form and practice, interior architecture is the process through which the interiors of buildings
are designed, concerned with all aspects of the human uses of structural spaces. Put simply, Interior
Architecture is the design of an interior in architectural terms.

Landscape Architecture

Landscape architecture is the design of outdoor public areas, landmarks, and structures to achieve
environmental, social-behavioral, or aesthetic outcomes. It involves the systematic investigation of
existing social,ecological, and soil conditions and processes in the landscape, and the design of
interventions that will produce the desired outcome. The scope of the profession includes landscape
design; site planning; stormwater management; environmental restoration; parks and recreation
planning; visual resource management; green infrastructure planning and provision; and private estate
and residence landscape master planning and design; all at varying scales of design, planning and
management. A practitioner in the profession of landscape architecture is called a landscape architect.

Naval Architecture

Naval architecture, also known as naval engineering, is a discipline dealing with the engineering design
process, shipbuilding, maintenance,and operation of marine vessels and structures. Naval architecture
involves basic and applied research, design, development, design evaluation and

Calculations during all stages of the life of a marine vehicle. Preliminary design of the vessel, it’s
detailed design, construction, trials, operation and maintenance, launching and dry-docking are the
main activities involved. Ship design calculations are required for ships being modified (by means of
conversion, rebuilding, modernization, or repair). Naval architecture also involves formulation of safety
regulations and damage control rules and the approval and certification of ship designs to meet
statutory and non-statutory requirements.

Network Architecture

Network architecture is the design of a communication network. It is framework for the specification of
a network’s physical components and their functional organization and configuration, its operational
principles and procedures, and data formats use. In telecommunication, the specification of a network
architecture may also include a detailed description of products and services delivered via a
communications network, as well as detailed rate and billing structures under which services are
compensated.

Software Architecture

Software architecture refers to the fundamental structures of a software system, the discipline of
creating such structures, and the documentation of these structures. These structures are needed to
reason about the software system. Each structure comprises software elements, relations among them
and properties of both elements and relations, along with rationale for thee introduction and
configuration of each element. The architecture of a software system is a metaphor, analogous to the
architecture of a building.

Software architecture is about making fundamental structural choices which are costly to change once
implemented. Software architecture choices, also called architectural decisions, include specific
structural options from possibilities in the design of software. For example, the systems that controlled
the space shuttle launch vehicle had the requirement of being very fast and very reliable. Therefore, an
appropriate real-time computing language would need to be chosen. Additionally, to satisfy the need for
reliability the choice could be made to have multiple redundant and independently produced copies of
the program, and to run these copies on independent hardware while cross-checking results.

Documenting software architecture facilitates communication between stakeholders, captures decisions

Distributed Computing Architecture

In distributed computing, computations are distributed over different networked computers, which
communicate and coordinate their actions by passing messages to one another. Examples of
architectures for distributed computing include high-level architecture (HLA) and Distributed Interactive
Simulation (DIS).

System Architecture

System architecture is a conceptual model that defines the structure, behavior, and more views of a
system. An architecture description is a formal description and representation of a system, organized in
a way that supports reasoning about the structures and behaviors of the system.

A system architecture can comprise system components that will work together to implement the
overall system. There have been efforts to formalize languages to describe system architecture,
collectively these are called Architecture Description Languages (ADLs).

Urban Design

Urban design is the process of crafting and shaping the physical features of cities, towns and villages. In
contrast to architecture, which focuses on the design of individual buildings, urban design deals with the
larger scale of groups of buildings, treets and public spaces, whole neighborhoods and districts, and
entire cities, with the goal of making urban areas functional, attractive, and sustainable?

Urban design is an inter-disciplinary field that utilizes elements of many built environment professions,
including landscape architecture, urban planning, architecture, civil engineering and municipal
engineering. It is common for professionals in all these disciplines to practice urban design. In more
recent times different sub-subfields of urban design have emerged such as strategic urban design,
landscape urbanism, water- sensitive urban design, etc.
Famous Filipino Architect and Their Works

The architecture of the Philippines reflects the country’s complex cultural identity. First colonized by
Spain, then Japan and finally America, Filipinos joke that they spent 400 years in a convent, five in a
prison camp, and 45 in Hollywood. This complexity finds its creative expression in the work of these six
post-war architects, whose vision simultaneously captured the country’s history while looking towards
the region’s future.

Leandro Locsin

Leandro Locsin (1928-1994) was in some ways a quintessential Renaissance man. A brilliant architect,
interior designer, artist, and classically trained pianist, Locsin was also a keen art collector, amassing a
sizable collection of fine Chinese art and ceramics during his lifetime. It is for his buildings however, that
he is remembered. From airport terminals to memorial chapels arts centers to stock exchange
structures, Locsin left his mark on the urban landscape of the Philippines.

Locsin was determined to reconfigure western architectural mores for a Filipino audience. His most
substantial contribution to Filipino architecture is the Cultural Center of the Philippines, a collection of
five buildings that demonstrate the architect’s drive to find a vernacular form of modernist architecture.

Juan Nakpil

The son of veterans of the Philippine Revolution, Juan Nakpil (1899-1986) was committed to the belief
that architecture built in the Philippines should reflect its culture and people.

Nakpil worked on dozens of buildings across the nation, from the Manila Jockey Club and the Quiapo
Church, t the Mabini Shrine and government departments.

Quiapo church

Carlos A. Santos-Viola

An urbane young man who enjoyed lawn tennis and playing the saxophone, Carlos Santos-Viola was also
a gifted architect. He was a devout Catholic throughout his life, and many of his best known designs
were executed for the Iglesia Ni Cristo, a Filipino religious group. Santos-Viola created churches for the
group all over the archipelago, designed in a style quite distinct from that of his contemporaries. Instead
of the monumentalism of Leandro Locsin or the art deco simplicity of Pablo Santos-Viola chose to
incorporate Gothic and Baroque elements into his modern churches.

Iglesia ni Cristo