Art 141

Architecture - The practical art of meeting the requirements of providing shelter by enclosing space through the science of construction and within a certain context.

“The business of architecture is to create, out of given materials, a building of reasonable construction, fit for what it was intended, and beautiful. Reasonable construction means, built in such a way that every part, small or great, shall perform and express its particular function in the economy of the whole, as is the case with natural organisms. Fit for what it is intended is self-explanatory. Beautiful means, so built that the sight of the whole shall be a delight to our eyes. Together these mean what Aristotle meant when he said that all art is based on nature and must, in a sense, keep faith with her. For, before all else, nature is reasonable in her construction and, above all else, dear to the eyes of those who love beauty. Conceived and executed in such a spirit, provided it serve the need of its own day, architecture cannot fail to be fine, and never grow old.”

From “Architecture”, by Alfred Mansfield Brooks

1923, George G. Harrap & Co., LTD.

“We all live in, work in, or walk around buildings and experience architecture on a daily basis. The design decisions taken by architects in the near or distant past affect us more directly than any other comparable art or craft. We don’t have to listen to opera or look at paintings but we do have to confront architecture. In addition, architecture is unique among the arts for it attempts to combine beauty with utility; it is, as perceived by Roman and Renaissance architects, the attempt to combine “commodity, firmness, and delight” (as suggested by Vitruvius). Architecture shares with sculpture the fact that it is appreciated in three dimensions; it is an art that can be walked up to, around, and through, and the materials of construction – be they stone, brick, concrete or steel – can give a powerful tactile pleasure and respond in magical ways to changing conditions of light and weather.”

2000, Watson- From “Architecture – The Critic’s Choice”

Edited by Dan Cruickshank

Guptill Publications

“Architectural history is local history. Unique combinations of local materials and methods, cultures and settings, clients and builders create a built environment that cannot be reduced to generalizations…Why is the architecture of one place different from that of somewhere else? Partly because of the variations in climate, available building materials, and the like and partly because people in different cultures have different histories, beliefs, and ideas that fuse with their material resources and constraints to make a distinctive local architectural tradition.”

“Architecture is immensely diverse, as are the social arrangements that it serves. Nomads need movable homes. Kings need palaces. The religious need special structures…or they don’t. Perhaps they simply contemplate a great natural feature like MountTaylor in New Mexico, Mount Fuji in Japan, or Wu Tai Mountain in China to satisfy their religious impulses. The diversity of the built-unbuilt environment reflects an infinity of variations in human responses to constraints and possibilities.”

From “Traditions in Architecture: Africa, America,

Asia, and Oceania”; authors Dora P. Crouch and June Johnson

2001, OxfordUniversity Press

“Though the term ‘vernacular architecture’ has been used in a number of …instances, it includes many types of buildings which have not been professionally designed. Broadly, it may be defined, as it was in the world encyclopedia of the subject, as ‘comprising the dwellings and all other buildings of the people. Related to their environmental contexts and available resources they are customarily owner- or community-built, utilizing traditional technologies. All forms of vernacular architecture are built to meet specific needs, accommodating the values, economies and ways of life of the cultures that produce them.’ To which it could be added that ‘they may be adapted or developed over time as needs and circumstances change.’

“No one can say how many dwellings there are; not to the nearest million, nor even to the nearest hundred million. With a world population in excess of six billion people it is possible that there are a billion dwellings. Of these only a miniscule proportion were designed by architects; one per cent may well be an over-estimate…By far the majority of dwellings in the world, whatever the basis of estimated figures may be, were built either by the occupants themselves or by members of their communities, without external professional intervention.

...But the dwelling is more than the structure, as the soul is more than the body that envelops it. For countless millions of people the bond between themselves and the place where they live transcends the physical frame of their habitation. It is this double significance of dwelling – dwelling as the activity of living and residing, and dwelling as the place or built form which is the focus of residence – which encompasses its manifold cultural and material aspects.”

From “Dwellings”, author Paul Oliver

2003, Phaidon Press