Architecture is the art and science of designing buildings. In a broader sense, the architecture includes designing and building the entire built environment, from the macro level of town planning, urban design, landscape architecture, down to the micro level of the building design, furniture design and product design. The architecture also refers to the results of the design process.
The scope and desire
According to Vitruvius in his book De Architecture (which is the oldest written sources which still exists today), good building should choose a beauty / Aesthetics (Venustas), Strength (Firmitas), and Purpose / Function (Utilities); architecture can be considered as balance and coordination among these three elements, and no one element overpowering the others. In the modern definition, architecture should include consideration of function, aesthetic, and psychological. However, it can also be said that the elements of the function itself in it already includes both aesthetic and psychological elements.
Architecture is holak, including the math, science, art, technology, social sciences, politics, history, philosophy, and so on. Citing Vitruvius, "Architecture is a science arising from other sciences, and is equipped with the learning process: assisted with the assessment of the work as a work of art". He adds that an architect should be well versed in the field of music, astronomy, and so on. Philosophy is one of the major architectural approaches. Rationalism, empiricism, phenomenology, structuralism, post-structuralism, and deconstructionism are some directions from philosophy influencing architecture.Theory and practice
The importance of the theory to be a referral practices should not be over-emphasized, though many architects shun theory altogether. Vitruvius said: "The practice and theory are its parents. Practice is an ongoing reflection on the implementation of a project or workmanship by hand, the process of conversion of building materials in the best way. Theory is the result of that reasoning that explains the process of converting materials into the final result as answer to a question. An architect who practiced without basic theory can not explain the reasons and forms the basis on which he chose. while practicing architect who theorize without just stick to the "shadow" instead of the substance. An architect who hold to the theory and practice , it has a double weapon. he can prove the truth of the results of design and also can make it happen in the implementation. " This all can not be separated from the concept of the basic idea that a major force in every architect is ideally located in the power of ideas.
History
Architecture was born out of the dynamics between needs (conducive environmental conditions, security, etc.) and means (available building materials and construction technology). Prehistoric and primitive architecture constitute this early stage. As humans progressed and knowledge began to be formalized through oral traditions and practices, architecture evolved into a craft. At this stage there is the testing process, improvisation, or impersonation to become a successful outcome. An architect is not a significant figure, he simply continued the tradition. Vernacular architecture born of such an approach and is still practiced in many parts of the world.
Early human settlements were essentially rural. Then comes the surplus production, rural societies transformed into urban. The complexity of building and typology increased. Technology development of public facilities such as roads and bridges developed. Typology of new buildings such as schools, hospitals, and recreational facilities also appear. Religious Architecture continues to be an important part in society. Architectural styles developed and texts on architecture began to appear. Written works is a set of rules (canon) to be followed especially in religious architecture. Examples of these include the canon of writings by Vitruvius, or Vaastu Shastra of ancient India. In the Classical period and the European Middle Ages, the building is not the work of individual architects, but professional associations (guilds) are formed by the artisans / expert skill building to organize the project.
During the Enlightenment, the humanities and the emphasis on individual becomes more important than religion, and a new beginning in the architecture. Development assigned to individual architects - Michaelangelo, Brunelleschi, Leonardo da Vinci and the cult of personality began. But at that time, there was no dividing line between artist, architect and engineer, or other fields related work. At this stage, an artist to design a bridge for structural calculations it is still common.
With the consolidation of knowledge from many disciplines (eg, engineering), and the emergence of new building materials and technology, the architect began to lose ground technical aspects of building toward aesthetics. Then the rise of the "gentleman architect" who usually dealt with bouwheer (client) is rich and concentrated on the visual elements in the form of referring to historical examples. In the 19th century, the Ecole des Beaux Arts in France, the training was toward producing quick sketch schemes involving beautiful drawings without much emphasis on context.
Meanwhile, the Industrial Revolution opened the door for mass consumption and aesthetics to a size that can be achieved even by the middle class. Ornamented products, once within the province aesthetic expensive skills, become affordable through mass production. Such products lacked the beauty and honesty in the expression of a production process.
The dissatisfaction with such a general situation at the beginning of the 20th century gave birth to the ideas that underlie modern architecture, among others, the Deutscher Werkbund (formed 1907) which produces machine-made objects with better quality is the point of the birth of the profession of industrial design. After that, the Bauhaus school (founded in Germany in 1919) rejected history and looked at architecture as a synthesis of art, craft, and technology.
When Modern architecture first began to be practiced, it was an avant-garde movement with moral, philosophical, and aesthetic. Truth sought by rejecting history and turning to function bear form. Architects became prominent figures and dubbed the "master". Later modern architecture moved into the realm of mass production due to its simplicity and economy.
However, the general sense a decrease in the quality of modern architecture in the 1960s, partly because of lack of meaning, sterility, ugliness, uniformity, and psychological effects. Some architectural profession responded to the Post-Modern architecture by forming a more acceptable at the visual level, even at the expense of depth. Robert Venturi's contention that "the shack adorned / decorated shed" (an ordinary building which it is functionally designed and embellished exterior) is better than a "duck / duck" (a building where both form and function into one). Venturi's opinion becomes the basis of Post-Modern Architecture approach.
Some other architects (and also some non-architects) responded by going to what they considered the root of the problem. They felt that architecture was not a personal philosophical or aesthetic pursuit by individualists; rather it had to consider everyday needs of people and use technology to give a livable environment. Design Methodology Movement involving people such as Chris Jones, Christopher Alexander started searching for a more inclusive process design in order to obtain better results. Extensive studies on areas such as behavioral, environmental, and social sciences were done to the design process.
Along with the increasing complexity of building, architecture becomes more multi-disciplinary than ever. Architecture today needs a set of professionals in the process. This is the state of the profession today. However, individual architects are still preferred and sought after in the design of building meaningful cultural symbol. For example, an art museum into new experiments in style dekonstruktivis today, tomorrow maybe something else.
Conclusion
human production building is the most visible. However, most buildings are designed by the people themselves or masons in developing countries, or over production standards in developed countries. Architect remain marginalized in the production building. Expertise sought only architect in the construction of complex building types, or building a meaningful cultural / political matters. And this is what the public perceives as architecture. The role of the architect, though changing, never became a major and never stand alone. Always there will be dialogue between the society and the architect. And the result is a dialogue can be termed as the architecture, as a product and as a discipline.