What is Architecture?

1. What is Architecture? Architecture is………….. All Buildings? Only Cool Buildings? Anything Created by an Architect? or just ………………….. Complex?

2. Architecture is?.................. Architecture is roughly concerned with carefully balancing horizontal things on top of vertical things. Reyner Banham, design critic Architecture starts when you carefully put two bricks together. Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, architect All architecture is shelter, all great architecture is the design of space that contains, cuddles, exalts or stimulates the persons in that space. Phillip Johnson, architect

3. Architecture is?.................. Architecture is more than construction The historian Nikolaus Pevsner famously wrote that Lincoln Cathedral is architecture but a bicycle shed is not. What he meant was that architecture addresses aesthetics, unlike purely functional buildings. Some critics disagree with Pevsner about this (including Reyner Banham who was a keen cyclist!), but the main point is that architecture aims to fulfil our cultural needs as well as provide for our basic need for shelter. Architecture is unique to human beings No other living organism can plan, construct, inhabit and adapt three-dimensional structures in the way that human beings can. Architecture holds a mirror up to culture, history and society.

4. Architecture is?.................. • Contemporary buildings • Have to deal with many issues. The design • of a building or public space must • address three main areas: • Function • Location • Construction • Architectural Fundamentals • Shelter • Aesthetics • Structure • Meaning (natural/cultural) • Material

5. Click on the strongest three features of this building functional stimulating originality environmental design balance pleasing to the eye blend with surroundings

6. stimulating functional originality environmental design balance pleasing to the eye blend with surroundings

7. stimulating functional originality environmental design balance pleasing to the eye blend with surroundings

8. Click on key elements to reflect the impact of the building Low Low High Med Med High Functionality Harmony with surroundings Environmental features Aesthetic design Low High Med Low Med High

9. Click on key elements to reflect the impact of the structure Low Low High Med Med High Functionality Harmony with surroundings Environmental features Aesthetic design Low High Med Low Med High

10. Click on key elements to reflect the impact of the building Low Low High Med Med High Functionality Harmony with surroundings Environmental features Aesthetic design Low High Med Low Med High

11. Click on key elements to reflect the impact of the building Low Low High Med Med High Functionality Harmony with surroundings Environmental features Aesthetic design Low High Med Low Med High

12. Click on key elements to reflect the impact of the building Low Low High Med Med High Functionality Harmony with surroundings Environmental features Aesthetic design Low High Med Low Med High

13. Click on key elements to reflect the impact of the building Low Low High Med Med High Functionality Harmony with surroundings Environmental features Aesthetic design Low High Med Low Med High

14. Architectural Inspiration…… • Inspiration for design can come from many sources. • For your project you may choose to adopt an approach to your designing • that features a ‘theme’ for example; • Concepts of illusions, reflections and vistas. • Flowing space and purity. • Wilderness, sustainability and contemporary built environments. • The architecture of change – new forms, old structures. • Time, place and function. • Traditional materials, contemporary space and flexible systems. • Low cost, high concept. • Abstraction and erratic light. • The way we should live. • Austerity or simplicity. • Eclecticism and environmental design. • The unidentified object. • Big ideas, simple methods, things that last. • Creating a difference, beginning as new.