What is Architecture: Definition and 71 Discussions

Architecture (Latin architectura, from the Greek ἀρχιτέκτων arkhitekton "architect", from ἀρχι- "chief" and τέκτων "creator") is both the process and the product of planning, designing, and constructing buildings or 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.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 time. The earliest surviving text on architectural theory is the 1st century AD treatise De architectura by the Roman architect Vitruvius, according to whom a good building embodies firmitas, utilitas, and venustas (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 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. 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.

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  1. gmason85

    Thermal Paint Skeptic

    Hi all, Mechanical engineer by education; soon to have a MPhil in Architecture. Building Scientist/ Energy Efficiency consultant by trade. I have a decent physics background, but not an expert around the subject of radiative heat transfer. My posts will likely involve confirming bs from...
  2. lucija_z

    Programs Pursuing a Master's in Physics After an Architecture Degree

    hi, is it possible after a bachelor's degree in architecture to pursue a master's degree in physics and how?
  3. V

    Comp Sci Finding the tag ID for 16-bit architecture

    I'm not sure if I am doing this right so if someone could check over my work that would be appreciated. Would we begin with 25=32 where 5 is the number of bits for the offset, then for the index it would be 256 bytes total meaning 28 so 8 bits for the index and then for the tag it would be...
  4. V

    Comp Sci Binary Encoding for 16 Bit Architecture

    In class we were given the example of a 32-bit architecture, so the opcode has 5 bits, register A had four bits, register B had four bits, the destination register had 4 bits and the offset was 15 bits, this was how it was done for "add" instruction. But when I was further reading about it...
  5. shivajikobardan

    Comp Sci MVC Architecture different in different sources

    Source: https://www.chromeinfotech.net/blog/model-view-controller-architecture/ Source: University of Virginia Computer Science, Engineering Department youtube lecture. Here're my 2 questions: 1) Does user interacts first with a view or controller? 2) Does model sends output directly to view...
  6. brainbaby

    Converting RTL design of computer architecture into REAL Hardware

    Hi guys, 1. Most of the design textbooks which I have seen on computer architecture put stress ONLY till the RTL design of computer architecture. But the story of computer system design goes much beyond the RTL description(i.e how RTL design is converted into actual hardware) 2. We begin from...
  7. anorlunda

    New Tesla DOJO AI architecture

    I'm not qualified to evaluate the performance numbers in this video, but the number of innovations is impressive. I saw another source that speculates that Tesla may become like ARM, licensing this technology to other manufacturers, while it continues to improve it for their internal use...
  8. K

    Enrolling in a Graduate Physics Program with an Architecture Degree

    Hello, Is it possible to enroll in a graduate program in physics if I have an an undergraduate degree in architecture? Or is an undergraduate degree in physics- or in a related field- required to qualify? (Assuming that I have studied extensively physics (alone) while obtaining my degree in...
  9. E

    Here is a 3D model of 13th century French cathedral that I made

    It's the Saint-Etienne cathedral in Auxerre France. Created using Blender 2.92, rendered in cycles render.
  10. P

    Boxing/punching bag stand project

    Criteria: freestanding, not bolted down (i.e into floors, walls, ceiling, et), stable, least corrosion & health/safety concerns, support 200lb bag, and minimal cost. So far it seems best solution is a pull-up bar design: 2 posts with support legs but joined with a 15ft pipe, 2in+ thick...
  11. S

    COVID Effect of Covid-19 on architecture

    Will the Covid-19 pandemic have an effect on architecture? Speculations: 1. Buildings for restaurants, banks, and other retail businesses will be designed to provide ample drive-up service. 2. Factories will be designed to provide "social distancing" between employees. 3. The porches and...
  12. okandrea

    Structural Systems: Steel and Reinforced Concrete (RC)

    I've been looking over precedents for a design project and I noticed that the most commonly used systems are either steel or reinforced concrete structural systems. Is it possible for a steel structural system to be connected to a reinforced concrete structural system? If so, how does it work...
  13. Lietenacious

    Best truss bridge design for this school project?

    Summary:: In my course, we have to design a truss bridge (made out of balsa wood sticks) that can withstand the most weight compared to its mass. It’s our final, so very important haha. One of the rules is we can’t stack the wood right on top of each other to support it (just preventing us from...
  14. A

    I Architecture & Assumptions of General Relativity Theory

    Every theory, whether it is a physical, a psychological or a sociological theory, is defined in terms of an assumed architecture and in terms of a number of assumptions that apply within that architecture. An example from physics is the previously widely accepted dome theory to explain the...
  15. okandrea

    Engineering How do I calculate the overall vapour flow?

    Step 1: Values are from textbook 'Building for a Cold Climate' Mbrick = 46 ng/s*Pa*m^2 Mgypsum = 2870 ng/s*Pa*m^2 (for 9.5mm) took the above value and used ratios to determine permeance for 10mm Gypsum board (2870/9.5 = X/10) Mgypsum (new value) = 3021.05 ng/s*Pa*m^2 Step 2...
  16. samya__

    Schools Can you do a Masters in Physics with a Bachelor degree in Architecture?

    Hello, I'm an undergraduate student at Cairo University and I'm about to start studying Architecture this September. I really had no chance to choose to study Physics at an undergrad level. My question is whether it is possible in the US or in Europe to do a masters degree in physics without...
  17. A

    Basic Hardware Architecture Questions

    Is this thread appropriate for some basic computer science hardware and architecture questions or are the posts in here to be strictly related to specific Programming Languages?
  18. N

    Heat Recovery Potential from Domestic Boilers & Ovens

    Hi guys, I am currently exploring dissertation ideas and have been looking into the heat recovery potential from domestic gas boilers and ovens. More specifically, I am seeing if it is viable to collect heat from these appliances during or after their use, and then pump this heat into the attic...
  19. S

    Event-driven system and subscribers missing events

    Let's say I have a service that publishes events, like eo ("Bought 100 shares of AAPL") e1 ("Bought 100 shares of T") e2 ("Sold 500 shares of TSLA") and there exist stateful services subscribing to the events and whose state depends on the events being processed successfully and in the correct...
  20. S

    Microservices architecture disaster

    Let me describe the problem I see as an engineer when a business wants to create microservices out of its "monolith" (a term used derisively to describe an existing service that works quite well). You have X that you want to divide into A, B, C, or maybe A, B, C, D, E. So you want to create 3...
  21. LtIvan

    8-bit or 16-bit Architecture for a Hobbyist Computer

    I am thinking of building a basic computer, similar to Ben Eater's 8-bit computer. I may be building it on a PCB. However, I intend to aspire to 16-bit bus computer, because it will allow larger numbers, larger computations, larger memory, because the address is larger. However, is it...
  22. I

    MHB Advanced Computer Architecture

    Hi. I don't know if this is the right place to post this but I had a feeling that many of you might have some ideas on this. I have to write a research report on Advanced Computer Architecture. It can be about pipelining, branch prediction, memory or whatever. I want something really interesting...
  23. SuperSusanoo

    Question about multi-threading in computer architecture

    Homework Statement I don't quiet understand the concept of multi-threading in computer architecture. What I understand so far is that with multi-threading, instructions can be executed in a pipe-line without dependencies as long as they are not on the same thread. This doesn't make sense to me...
  24. L

    Definition and alternatives for Von Neumann architecture?

    I have been studying about computers and found that they evolved from the basic mechanical devices with limited functions to the amazing machines we have today. Its all very new and interesting to me. I believe that programming is the act of writing an algorithm in a higher or lower level...
  25. G

    Could mushrooms be the key to sustainable living on Mars?

    I'm going to write a space opera, a part of it involves Mars. I wonder about the plausibility level of my following imaginations. "She descanded on the space elevator. The landscape outside looked like a mushroom field. There were transparent and red ones. The hats of the former ones were big...
  26. W

    I Multi-level extendable hammock posts

    Hi folks, I recently moved to a new house with a small backyard/patio. It's roughly 25ft x 25ft, mostly concrete bordered by an L-shaped Earth area. I'd like to place three hammock posts as shown in the first image. We like to dream big and want these posts tall enough to support two hammocks...
  27. C

    The most beautiful physics department w/ stone architecture?

    I really like stone buildings and Gothic architecture. In US, UK, Canada and Australia, there are many university campuses with stone buildings. But what about physics departments? Although some universities such as Stanford, Princeton, Sydney, Oxford and Cambridge have marvelous limestone or...
  28. E

    Thermal Resistance due to Convection Heat Transfer

    Homework Statement 1) A typical wall construction for a single-family residence might consist of 0.375 inches of outer sheathing (insulating board, hardwood siding, etc.), 3.5 inches of mineral fiber insulation and then a 0.375 inches inner surface (gypsum, etc.). Typical thermal...
  29. S

    Career change to Aerospace from Architecture- need advice

    My name is Lara and I"m posting on behalf of my boyfriend who has a degree in Architecture from Cal Poly Pomona. He's been working since college on movie sets as a production designer (building/designing sets). He recently realized a passion for the Aerospace field and specifically wants to work...
  30. A

    Microcontroller to understand architecture

    Hello, I've been self studying computer architecture and I'm also familiar with digital electronics. I was thinking of getting an actual microcontroller and try to commit all the material that I'm learning by actually playing with a real microcontroller. Obviously PIC and AVR are among the most...
  31. Z

    Computer Architecture for the Simple Mind

    All, Forgive me if this is not the right area of the forum, but it seems like it might reach the broadest audience here. I am looking for an introduction to computer hardware (and perhaps more generally, modern electronics) for a scientist. I am looking for something beyond what one might...
  32. D

    MHB Using Linux? Mac or PC - Which Architecture Runs Better?

    I recently decided to switch to Linux (Ubuntu 12.04) from Windows. Do others here run Linux systems, Windows, or Macs OS? I don't use dual boot. I totally removed Windows. Start times have improved exponential and the amount of free space just from removing Windows is amazing. Which...
  33. G

    EE or Architecture? Making the Decision by the End of the Month

    HI all I have to make a decision by the end of the month.. EE or ARCITECTURE? tbh I wanted to be an architect since I was 10. But after "maturing" I guess your'e forced to face reality... Everything's fascinating about architecture, I don't draw well though. For example, from roman...
  34. R

    What is the endianness of MIPS architecture?

    I wrote all this and for some reason it logged me off and I lost my post. So rather than rewrite everything I'm just going to get straight to the point. I'm trying to learn mips and I know it's a little endian architecture. If i want to store 0xABCD9876 which is 10101011110011011001100001110110...
  35. P

    Understanding computer architecture

    Hi all, I recently purchased a hardware board which supports PC/104 and when i am going through the manual i found a lot of unknown terms like you can configure your PC/104 based board as memory mapped or I/O based and for that you have to do settings in the BIOS or some jumper settings on...
  36. E

    Help Needed on Architecture Beam Calculations with CSC Tedds

    hi, not sure if I am posting in the right section, had a good look through the search option but cannot find what I am looking for, probably because I am being stupid.. im working on some simple beam calculations, I am a studying architecture, however I am trying to get my head round load...
  37. K

    Basics of Computer Architecture

    Hi guys, I am a newcomer to this. Actually I have confusion about Computer Architecture basics. So, I want to know what CPU actually is ? I mean is it a Microprocessor or Micro controller ? What is the difference between CPU and Processor ? If CPU is a Processor, then why we call it as...
  38. I

    Computer Architecture Help

    I have an issue with my computer architecture problem. Computer has intial I=0, PC=100, AC=ABCD, Address 055. The content of memory location (055) is 7777. I have to find PC, AR, DR, AC, and IR from that information using the STA instruction. The STA instruction is M[AR] <-AC I...
  39. I

    Computer Architecture Problem

    I need some help on solving a few problems... Basic Computer has initial I=0, PC=100, AC=ABCD Address 055 Memory Location, Instruction, PC, AR, DR, AC, IR INITIAL, 100, -, -, ABCD, - 100...
  40. S

    Computer architecture power savings question

    Homework Statement Server farms such as Google and Yahoo! provide enough compute capacity for the highest request rate of the day. Imagine that most of the time these servers operate at only 60% capacity. Assume further that the power does not scale linearly with the load; that is, when the...
  41. B

    Structural engineering from engineering or architecture?

    At the moment, I am a first year at BS maths & Physics student. I chose this because i really like Maths and Physics however recently I've been thinking about where i can go with this course. There arent many job prospects, and the jobs do not rly include very high salary. So it looks like I am...
  42. B

    Confused between architecture, engineering or sciences

    OK, so let me start from the beginning... Ive always loved Maths and Physics and I've always got really good grades in olevel and alevel. However i was never sure what i wanted to do. i ended up choosing architecture since it looked cool and involved maths and physics. However i got to know...
  43. L

    Computer Architecture - Synchronisation issue between different processes?

    I'm doing my homework and I've already found out some things about synchronisation issues but if anyone could tell me in a little more detail why synchronisation between different processes belonging to the same or different programs is an important task in parallel computing? Thanks in...
  44. T

    Can the two slit experiment be incorporated into building design?

    This isn't a homework question per se, but I did want help with a problem I'm having. I wanted to integrate the effect of the two slit experiment into a sanctuary space I'm designing and wanted to know first if it was even possible to do it on a building scale and if it is, how wide and far...
  45. S

    Architecture Student Seeks Advice on Wind-Catcher Design

    hi am an architecture student , i used some techniques in my project which it will work same as the wind-catcher , but am not sure how it will work , so can anyone tell me if the air movement is correct in my drawing or its wrong ? and is there any difference in the air movement between day...
  46. M

    Is architecture the right path for me?

    Hi everyone, I'm thinking about my edumacation a bit and would like some advice. I am currently in 3rd year of electrical engineering (I love it, don't get me wrong), I also adore drawing and sculpturing. So for a few months I've been thinking about doing architecture after this degree. It's...
  47. J

    Processor and memory architecture of computer system

    Hi Please have a look on the following linked scanned page: http://img408.imageshack.us/img408/8782/page102cx.jpg Please remember that I'm neither a comp. science student nor of science in general. So, please keep you reply as simple and to the point as possible. Suppose I have the USB...
  48. C

    Machine Architecture vs. Microarchitecture?

    Hi. I'm trying to decipher the differences between the machine architecture and microarchitecture. I believe Machine Architecture is: The ISA (such as x86) Von Neumann Model for Computing? and I believe the Micro Architecture is: Specific implementation of some arbitrary ISA...
  49. U

    Need help to design a computer architecture

    Hi Fnz, I have to design a barrel processor ..for which i have to take a simple processor and have to make changes in that existing architecture design such that we have to add a thread switch unit into the design and the threads had to switched after executing one instruction from...
  50. K

    How does ad hoc-language architecture impact performance?

    I was just reading this, it's just so pervertedly ad hoc, it kind-of makes me sad in a way. I've been reading at a lot of places that Ruby is 'elegant', I can't see it, it's just adding language construct after language construct, feature after feature with no internal cohesion to it, it's just...
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