What is architecture? The definition of architecture is architecture is what architects design. Whatever that is. Then we must ask what is it architects design?
The reason architecture is such an interesting field of study is because so many things are being designed at the same time. We may call these design elements or design products but to understand architecture we should start by asking what is being designed. Space. Architecture is one of the few practices that designs inhabitable space. Sculpture can design space at the small scale and city planning can design space at the scale of urban environments, but only architecture design space for people to inhabit.
It is this inhabitable space which becomes the architects main design focus. Form. Secondary to space is the building's form both external and and internal. The form of a building determines its space, so space and form are linked together. Formal design, the design of form, is developed through an understanding of three-dimensional design processes.
Formal design requires an understanding of geometry, three-dimensional composition, sculptural form, and many other concepts. Person-environment interaction, the lived experience. Architects don't just design a building's form, but how people interact with the building and their lived experience in the building.
This is a complex design process as the architect must understand human behavior and people's wants, needs, and desires. Here, architects design around human needs, human circumstances, and human value systems. Although there are lots of ways to design around a person's experience of their environment, I break this down into elements of interaction between the built environment and the person's experience of it. People interact with a space by moving through it. As the body moves through space, the building reveals itself.
Movement implies the mind imagining space and remembering space, since the body can only be in one place at a time. Space is created through varying degrees and types of enclosure. From very open to very closed, people interact with walls, floors, doors, windows, and other elements of enclosure. Center. The lived experience of space always has a center, which is either focused on the human body or the visual and tactile elements as extensions of the body.
The body creates the center and all space extends out from it. Periphery. If the experience of space has a center, it also has a periphery. These are far away things. People experience the periphery of space through memory, remembering where they came from, and envisioning where they are going.
Geometry. Form always has geometry that a person can interact with, either physically or visually. Clear geometry helps us to envision space and form. Structure. Built environments have a certain pattern or rhythm.
These patterns can be experienced as a person moves through space. The best example are columns and a person's moving through a colonnade. Signs.
The built environment can communicate ideas, feelings, and suggest behaviors through signs and symbols. The architect is always designing nonverbal signs and symbols through architectural form. Natural environment.
Built environment interaction. There is always an interaction between the natural environment and the built environment. Architects must create some relationship between the two.
Site conditions, the slope of the ground plane, sun, wind, light, vegetation, all affect the design of a building. An architect must design for this interaction. How does light enter a building?
How does the building sit on the site? What is the relationship of the building to the ground plane? All these forces must be designed in relation to each other. A building form is not built in isolation like a sculpture in a museum, but always interacts with its environment.
Built environment, social environment, interaction. A building always exists in a social environment and must interact with larger social forces. Often architects are designing for social institutions like government, corporations, nonprofit organizations, religious groups, and many others. All these Social entities have their own needs, wants, and desires.
Architecture always has a social purpose. It is always used by society. Architects need to design the interaction between built form and society.
Social Value Buildings are the largest things architects create and as such have great value. In capitalism, buildings store money, what Marx calls surplus value. It takes vast resources to build large buildings, and their creations represent the storage of this surplus value. Buildings are physical manifestations of money and power. Buildings also meet clients'functional requirements.
Institutions need places to support their missions, like hospitals, offices, factories, and government buildings. Buildings are a physical manifestation of institutional needs. Architects exist within society and must always function within their laws, codes, and standards.
By implementing these standards, architects become part of the government regulatory body. In other words, architects help implement the agenda of their clients. Architects must manage the needs of different users of a building and design to all social requirements.
Social value is also the expression of power, where a government or institution makes people their subjects. We see this expressed most clearly in prisons, hospitals, schools, and government buildings. Materiality.
Building form is always built out of something, not just an abstract plastic material. Architects need to design for specific materials and combinations like wood, steel, glass, concrete, and other materials. They must understand the scientific properties of these materials and how they interact together. Along with materiality comes constructability. Is a building buildable?
Finally, architects need to ensure buildings are resilient to natural conditions like rain, snow, wind, fire, and other natural forces. Buildings must stand up and resist gravity loads, earthquake loads, snow loads, and wind loads. Architects must design for these forces and make sure the building is structurally sound. Although structural engineers may be hired, architects often design the initial structure and ensure it works before turning over its development to others. This requires an understanding of structural design of materials such as concrete, steel, and wood.
Documentation Architects must communicate their ideas to others through some form of documentation. In the initial conceptual design, architects must create presentation drawings and models. Finally, the architect must create construction documents to communicate how a building is built to construction contractors. This requires skill in graphic communication and architects must have all the skills of graphic designer and artist.
Quickness, change management and productivity. A new development in architecture is the need to design fast, more productively and for less money. and to have minimal changes in the construction phase.
These forces come from the client and from construction managers. This has caused architects to streamline their processes and conform to the needs of the construction industry. Often, this means using the latest computer software such as BIM. The problem of integrated design. The main problem architects have is to design all these different elements, but without becoming attached to any one specific thing.
In this way, architects are generalists who know a little about a lot of things, but are seldom an expert on much of anything. Some architects become specialists who only design one specific element and become an expert in one area of design, much like doctors. For example, some architects only focus on meeting code requirements or writing construction specifications. Other architects design in architectural practice that focuses on their interests and strengths. It is rare that any architect is able and talented enough to design in all these areas of focus.
Architects who do want to design all elements often develop large teams to help them in all aspects of building design. This means coordinating large teams of specialists and engineers. As a result, many architects become managers of the design process.
while doing little design themselves. Hopefully this video gave you an idea of what architecture is and what architects design. Let me know what you think. I briefly touched on many different aspects of architecture in this video.
If you'd like me to make a more detailed video of any of the topics I discussed, please leave a comment below. I'm Jamie Roberts. If you liked this video, please like, comment, and subscribe.