Architecture For Dummies

Deborah K. Dietsch

• Publisher: For Dummies
• Year: 2011
• ISBN:
  9781118069660
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Architettura
• Subtopic: Architettura generale

* Just the essential information for readers on the go who want to understand architecture.
* Covers the highlights of architectural history, from the Great Pyramids to Frank Gehry's Guggenheim museum in Bilbao.
* Explains how to look at a building and appreciate it. Explains when a building's a building and when it's art.
* Part of Tens includes: Ten Great Architectural Masterpieces, Ten Biggest Architectural and Engineering Failures, Ten of the Most Interesting Architects Working Today-and more.

Part I

Knowing and Appreciating Architecture

In this part . . .

**IN a DROPCAP**

If you’ve ever wondered about what architects do, this part gives you a short summary. An introduction to the language of architecture explains the special terms used to identify the different types of doors, windows, roofs, and other components that contribute to a particular style.

Chapter 1

Knowing When a Building Is Just a Building and When It’s Architecture

In This Chapter

Comparing buildings and architecture

Discovering the fundamental elements of architecture

Viewing great architecture

W e live, work, and play in buildings every day. Architecture is an important part of our lives, helping us shape the natural environment for human needs.

From ancient temples to modern skyscrapers, architecture has constantly evolved to reflect the accomplishments of civilizations in all corners of the world. It records our cultural, social, and political ambitions in three dimensions. You need only glance at the imposing ruins of the Roman Forum (see Chapter 8) to comprehend the imperial pride of ancient Rome, enter the magnificent space of Chartres Cathedral (see Chapter 9) to feel the religious fervor of medieval Europe, or gaze up at the Empire State Building (see Chapter 13) to view an instant picture of modern American enterprise.

Each one of these buildings represents the era in which it was built. To understand the symbolic meaning of architecture, you have to relate the structure and style of a building to a particular period of history. As you come to understand the basics of architecture, you will find it easier to determine the era in which a particular building was built.

The Beauty of Form Meets Function

A building provides shelter from the elements. But architecture does more than just provide shelter. Architecture responds to the needs of its users and rises to the level of art. Like sculpture, architecture is a three-dimensional visual expression of form, material, and color. French architect Le Corbusier (see Chapter 14) described it as a magnificent play of masses brought together by light. But architecture isn’t merely giant sculpture to be looked at — it serves a practical purpose. Even the most creative architect has to consider where to place the doors, stairs, and bathrooms.

Unlike paintings and sculpture, which can be viewed nearly anywhere, architecture is connected to a particular place. It relates to the specifics of geography, climate, and surroundings. After Arabian Muslims invaded Africa and Spain (see Chapter 18), for example, they drew upon local materials and architectural motifs from indigenous buildings when designing their mosques and palaces.

Called “the mother of the arts,” architecture serves as both a place for viewing art and a backdrop on which to create it. It provides settings for appreciating paintings and sculpture and watching dance and theater in comfortable surroundings. For centuries, architecture has led sculptors, painters, and other artisans to decorate its surfaces. It’s hard to imagine a Gothic cathedral, for instance, without gargoyles, gilded altarpieces, or stained-glass windows.

Why Is Architecture Important?

Architecture has a profound effect on our lives. Working in an office filled with sunlight or in a windowless cubicle changes our habits and our moods for better or worse. As Winston Churchill once observed, people shape their buildings and afterwards their buildings shape them.

Architecture has a wider cultural significance than being merely useful. It permanently records a civilization’s aesthetic tastes, material resources, political and social aspirations, and sheer will in brick, stone, steel, and glass.

When you look at architecture, you can learn a lot about the people who built it. The Great Pyramids outside Cairo (see Chapter 7) convey the ancient Egyptians’ belief in immortality. The great dome of Florence Cathedral (see Chapter 10) reveals the logical mind of the Renaissance scholar. The grand mansions of Newport, Rhode Island (see Chapter 11) show off the wealth and extravagance of the Gilded Age tycoons.

A unique blend of beauty and utility, architecture reflects advancements in both art and science. Modern European buildings of the late nineteenth and early twentieth century, for example, were highly influenced by the Industrial Revolution. Their open spaces and large windows were also made possible by the latest developments in structural engineering and building technology (see Chapters 12 and 13), while echoing the spare lines of abstract art created during the same period (see Chapter 14).

What Makes Architecture Good?

Ancient Roman architect Vitruvius insisted that three fundamental principles are essential to architecture. His formula still holds true. A building must balance all three to be considered architecture. These three fundamental principles are

Function: This refers to how a building is used. Whether a building is used as a house, a store, or a museum, it must accommodate practical requirements for every purpose within its walls. A building without function may be beautiful, but it’s sculpture, not architecture. Artist Richard Serra, for example, creates room-sized steel enclosures that are structurally daring and mysteriously beautiful, but you can’t live in one.

Structure: This refers to how a building stands up. Whether it consists of steel columns, wood studs, or brick walls, the framework must resist gravity and the loads placed upon it. But to be architecture, it must do more. It must create beauty from structural necessity — this is what differentiates architecture from engineering.

Beauty: This refers to the visual and sensory appeal of buildings. It is what Vitruvius called “delight.” Architectural delight can be found in a neatly patterned brick wall, a vaulted stone ceiling, or a tiny window emitting a stream of sunlight. Beauty is the ultimate test of good architecture. Without beauty, a highly functional building is merely utilitarian without rising to the realm of architecture. It’s the difference between a suburban tract house and Frank Lloyd Wright’s masterpiece, Fallingwater (see Chapter 14).

What is considered beautiful and what is considered ugly changes over time. The Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., designed by Edward Durrell Stone, a leading architect of his day, was considered the height of architectural beauty when it opened in 1971. Today, it’s ridiculed for its boxy shape, gigantic lobbies, and modernistic decorations.

Sometimes an architectural style that was once considered beautiful will fall out of favor, only to be rediscovered decades later. In Miami Beach, the city’s once thriving Art Deco hotels fell into disrepair in the 1970s and 1980s after years of neglect. After preservationists pointed out the merits of these architectural treasures, the hotels were renovated to become hip tourist destinations. Art Deco (see Chapter 13) has once again become synonymous with the beauty of Miami Beach.

Truly outstanding works of architecture never fail to wow us with their spatial power. Such structures as Stonehenge (see Chapter 7) and the Parthenon (see Chapter 8) are still admired for their monumentality even though they are thousands of years old.

How to Spot Good Architecture

How can you tell if a building is good architecture? You can be pretty sure that a building is good architecture if you can answer “yes” to the following questions:

Does it express its function in a meaningful and visually interesting way? For example, an airport may be aerodynamically streamlined to resemble flight, a museum may be sculpted into abstract shapes to represent the contemporary art inside, or an institution that values collaboration among its employees may consist of buildings grouped around a shared courtyard.

Does it complement or contrast with its surroundings? Good architecture does not end at its walls. The design of an individual building should relate to its environment in a unique way. Some of the best buildings aren’t very noticeable right away — they use the same materials and shapes as neighboring structures but tweak them in new ways. Other buildings introduce a completely different vocabulary to call attention to t...