The question “what is architecture?” is one of the most basic but also one of the most challenging stuff architects ask themselves. It is a philosophical question that repels a complete answer yet incites an intellectual examination.

What is architecture about? Well, it’s about visualizing spaces in more generic and broader terms, defining what architecture is in words of Le Corbusier, “To create architecture is to put in order, put what in order? Functions and objects”

Architecture is not just about designing buildings but to create a whole story for a user to experience what you want you have conceptualized.

WHAT IS ARCHITECTURE ? is also a question that is particularly important for students who are looking for different perspectives on architecture as they come to form their own definitions.

While artists work from real to the abstract, architects must work from the abstract to the real. Architecture, beneath all its limitations of engineering, safety, function, climate and economy, arouse us with designs in space and light achieved in the abstract.

 

Architecture: “The art or science of building; esp. the art or practice of designing and building edifices for human use, taking both aesthetic and practical factors into account.”

In all disciplines, architecture provides a means for solving a common problem: assuring that a building, or bridge, or composition, or book, or computer, or network, or system has certain properties and behaviours when it has been built. Put another way, the architecture is both a plan for the system so that the result can have the desired properties and a description of the built system. Wikipedia says: “According to the earliest surviving work on the subject, Vitruvius’ ‘On Architecture,’ good building should have Beauty (Venustas), Firmness (Firmitas), and Utility (Utilitas); architecture can be said to be a balance and coordination among these three elements, with no one overpowering the others.”

We speak of the “architecture” of a symphony, and call architecture, in its turn, “frozen music.”

A good system architecture exhibits conceptual integrity; that is, it comes equipped with a set of design rules that aid in reducing complexity and that can be used as guidance in detailed design and in system verification. Design rules may incorporate certain abstractions that are always used in the same way, such as virtual devices. The rules may be represented as a pattern, such as pipes and filters. In the best case there are verifiable rules, such as “any virtual device of the same type may replace any other virtual device of the same type in the event of device failure,” or “all processes contending for the same resource must have the same scheduling priority.”

A contemporary architect might say that the object or system under construction must have the following characteristics.

• It has the functionality required by the customer.
• It is safely buildable on the required schedule.
• It performs adequately.
• It is reliable.
• It is usable and safe to use.
• It is secure.
• It is affordable.
• It conforms to legal standards.
• It will outlast its predecessors and its competitors.

It is a mistake to think of “an architecture” as if it were a simple entity that could be described by a single document or drawing. Architects must make many design decisions. To be useful, these decisions must be documented so that they can be reviewed, discussed, modified, and approved, and then serve to constrain subsequent decision making and construction. For software systems, these design decisions are behavioural and structural.