Specialized Language in Architecture and Restoration

Vocabulary terms and historical concepts from the introductory chapter of Architecture for Students of Architecture and Restoration.

Architecture

The art and science of designing buildings and structures, originating from the Latin architectura and Greek apxitɛktov.

Master builder

The literal meaning of the Greek term apxitɛktov, derived from apxi- (chief, leader) and tɛktωv (builder, carpenter).

Built environment

A wide definition of architecture's scope that includes everything from macro-level town planning and urban design to micro-level furniture creation.

Architectural design

A process involving the manipulation of space, volume, texture, light, shadow, shade, and abstract elements to achieve an aesthetic end.

Engineering

An applied science that focuses primarily on the functional and feasibility aspects of a design, distinguishing it from architecture.

Architectural practice

The profession of providing services including the planning, designing, and oversight of a building's construction.

Construction (Alberti)

Alberti's first concern for an architect, encompassing practical matters of site, materials, their limitations, and human capability.

Articulation (Alberti)

Alberti's second concern, stating that a building must work, please, and suit the needs of those who use it.

Aesthetics (Alberti)

Alberti's third concern, which focuses on both proportion and ornament.

Interdisciplinary field

The nature of an architect's work, which draws upon mathematics, science, art, technology, social sciences, politics, and history.

Vitruvius

The earliest known architectural theorist and author of De architectura in the early $1^{st}$ century CE.

Firmitatis

One of Vitruvius's three principles meaning durability; a building should stand up robustly and remain in good condition.

Utilitatis

One of Vitruvius's three principles meaning utility; a building should be useful and function well for its users.

Venustatis

One of Vitruvius's three principles meaning beauty; a building should delight people and raise their spirits.

Golden Mean

The rules of proportion that govern the idealized human figure, which Leone Battista Alberti saw as the basis for beauty.

John Ruskin

A $19^{th}$ century English art critic who argued in The Seven Lamps of Architecture ($1849$) that architecture must be adorned.

Rustication

A decorative masonry treatment that John Ruskin considered a minimum requirement for a functional building to be considered architecture.

Le Corbusier's 'Construction'

The employment of materials like stone, wood, and concrete to build houses and palaces; characterized by ingenuity.

Le Corbusier's 'Architecture'

Created when a building moves the observer emotionally ("touches my heart") and is considered beautiful.

Form follows function

The overriding precept of architectural design promoted by the $19^{th}$ century architect Louis Sullivan.

Functionality (Modern)

A concept encompassing all criteria of use, perception, and enjoyment, including aesthetic, psychological, and cultural aspects.

Sustainability

A late $20^{th}$ century concept focusing on constructing buildings in an environmentally friendly manner regarding materials, energy, and waste.

Vernacular architecture

Buildings produced through a process of trial and error and replication of successful trials, often making up most of the built world.

Civic ideals

The origin of Classical Greek and Roman architecture and urbanism, as opposed to religious or empirical ones.

Industrial Revolution

A period leading to mass production and the rise of the "gentleman architect" who focused on visual qualities and historical prototypes.

Modern Architecture

An avant-garde movement characterized by pure forms, the removal of historical ornament, and the exposure of steel beams and concrete.

Bauhaus

A school founded in Germany in $1919$ that viewed architecture as a synthesis of art, craft, and technology while rejecting history.

Postmodernism

A reaction against the austerity of Modernism that grew in the late $1970\text{s}$ as the International Style lost influence.

Decorated shed

Robert Venturi's term for an ordinary building that is functionally designed inside and embellished/adorned on the outside.

Duck

Robert Venturi's term for a building in which the whole form is tied directly to its function.

Design Methodology Movement

A movement involving Christopher Alexander that seeks people-oriented designs based on behavioral and social science studies.

Ceiling Height Effect

Research by Joan Meyers-Levy showing that a $10$-foot ceiling promotes abstract thinking while an $8$-foot ceiling focuses thought on specifics.