All About Architecture

Architecture is the art and science of designing buildings. In a broader sense, the architecture includes designing and building the entire built environment, ranging from the macro level of town planning, urban design, landscape architecture, down to the micro level of building design, furniture design and product design. The architecture also refers to the results of the design process.


The scope and the desire

According to Vitruvius in his De Architectura (which is the oldest written sources which still exists today), good building should pick the Beauty / Aesthetics (Venustas), Strength (Firmitas), and Purpose / Function (Utilities); architecture can be regarded as balance and coordination between the three elements, and no one element more than any other element. In the modern definition, the architecture must include consideration of function, aesthetic, and psychological. However, it can be said also that element of the function itself in it already covers both the aesthetic and psychological elements.

Architecture is a field of multi-Discipline, including the mathematics, science, art, technology, humanities, politics, history, philosophy, and so on. Citing Vitruvius, "Architecture is a science arising from other sciences, and is equipped with the learning process: assisted with the assessment of the work as a work of art". He also added that an architect should be well versed in music, astronomy, etc.. Philosophy is one of the principal in the architectural approach. Rationalism, empiricism, phenomenology, structuralism, post-structuralism, and dekonstruktivisme are some directions from philosophy influencing architecture.

Theory and practice

The importance of theory to be a referral practices should not be overemphasized, although many architects ignore the theory altogether. Vitruvius said: "The practice and theory are the roots of architecture. Practice is an ongoing reflection on the implementation of a project or workmanship by hand, in the conversion process of building materials in the best way. The theory is the result of reasoned thinking that explains the process of conversion of the building materials into the final result as answer to a question. An architect who practiced without the basic theory can not explain the reasons and basis of the forms he chose. As a practicing architect who theorize without just stick to the "shadow" rather than substance. An architect who hold to the theory and practice , it has a double weapon. He can prove the truth of the design and also can make it happen in the implementation ". This all can not be separated from the concept of the basic idea that the main force in every architect is ideally located in the power of ideas.

History

The architecture was born of the dynamics between needs (needs a conducive environmental conditions, security, etc.), and the ways (available building materials and construction technology). Prehistoric and primitive architecture is an early stage of this dynamic. Then the man becomes more developed and knowledge began to take shape through oral traditions and practices, architecture evolved into a skill. At this stage there was the trial process, improvisation, or imitation to become a successful outcome. An architect was not an important figure, he merely continued the tradition. Vernacular architecture was born of such approaches and is still practiced in many parts of the world.

Human settlements in the past is essentially rural. Then arises the surplus production, so that rural communities develop into urban society. The complexity and typology of buildings increased. Technology development of public facilities such as roads and bridges were developed. Typologies of new buildings such as schools, hospitals, and recreational facilities also appear. Religious architecture remained a vital part in society. Architectural styles evolve, and writings on architecture began to appear. Writings into a collection of rules (canon) to be followed, especially in the construction of religious architecture. Examples of this canon include works written by Vitruvius, or Vaastu Shastra of ancient India. In the period of Classical and Medieval Europe, the building is not the work of individual architects, but professional associations (guilds) is formed by the artisan / specialist building skills to organize the project.

During the Enlightenment, the humanities and the emphasis on the individual becomes more important than religion, and a new beginning in the architecture. Development assigned to individual architects - Michaelangelo, Brunelleschi, Leonardo da Vinci - and the cult of personality began. But at that time, there is no clear division of tasks between artists, architects, and engineers or other fields related work. At this stage, an artist can design a bridge because it is still counting on the structure of a general nature.

Along with the incorporation of knowledge from various disciplines (eg engineering), and the emergence of new building materials and technologies, an architect shift its focus from technical aspects of building toward aesthetics. Then the rise of the "gentry architect" who usually dealt with bouwheer (client) is rich and concentrated on the visual elements in the form of referring to historical examples. In the 19th century, the Ecole des Beaux Arts in France to train prospective architects to create sketches and drawings emphasize beautiful without context.

Meanwhile, the Industrial Revolution opened the door for public consumption, so the aesthetic to a size that can be achieved even by the middle class. Formerly ornate aesthetic products are limited in scope expensive skills, become affordable through mass production. Products such does not have the beauty and honesty in the expression of a production process.

Discontent with the situation so early in the 20th century gave birth to the ideas that underlie modern architecture, among others, the Deutscher Werkbund (formed 1907) which produces machine-made objects with better quality is the point of birth of the profession in the field of industrial design. After that, the Bauhaus school (established in Germany in 1919) refused to past history and chose to see architecture as a synthesis of art, skill, and technology.

When Modern architecture began to be practiced, it is the vanguard of a movement with moral, philosophical, and aesthetic. Truth sought by rejecting history and turning to the functions that gave birth to forms. The architect then became a prominent figure and was dubbed the "master". Later modern architecture into the scope of mass production because of its simplicity and economic factors.

However, the public sensed a decline in the quality of modern architecture in the 1960s, partly because of lack of meaning, sterility, ugliness, uniformity, and psychological impacts. Some architects answered through Post-Modern architecture to the business of architectural form that is more acceptable to the public on a visual level, even at the expense of depth. Robert Venturi argued that "the shack decorated / decorated shed" (an ordinary building interiors are functionally designed it while its exterior is decorated) is better than a "duck / duck" (the building in which both form and function into one). Venturi opinion is a basic approach to Post-Modern Architecture.

Some other architects (and also non-architect) responded by pointing out what they thought was the root of the problem. They felt that architecture is not a philosophical or aesthetic pursuit by an individual person, but the architecture must consider the needs of everyday people and using technology to achieve an environment that can be occupied. Design Methodology Movement involving people such as Chris Jones or Christopher Alexander started searching for a more inclusive process in the design, to get better results. Peneilitian depth in areas such as behavioral, environmental, and humanities conducted for the foundation design process.

Along with the increasing complexity of building, architecture becomes more multi-disciplinary than ever. Architecture today needs a professional set in the process. This is the architect of the current state of the profession. However, individual architects are still preferred and sought after in the design of the building meaningful cultural symbols. For example, a museum of fine art into the land of experimentation dekonstruktivis style today, but tomorrow maybe something else.

Conclusion

the production building is man's most invisible. However, most buildings are still designed by the people themselves or masons in developing countries, or through the standard production in developed countries. Architects remain marginalized in the production building. Expertise sought only architect in the construction of a complex type of building, or buildings that have meaning cultural / political matters. And this is accepted by the general public as an architecture. The role of the architect, although constantly changing, never become a major and never stand alone. There will always be a dialogue between communities and the architect. And the result is a dialogue that can be dubbed as the architecture, as a product and a discipline.