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DEFINITION OF ARCHITECTURE BY ARCHITECTS AND EXPERTS

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14-03-2019
Tags: Articles Master

The Royal Spanish Academy defines architecture as the art of projecting and constructing buildings. But is this really a good way to define a profession like architecture?

 

Many authors throughout history have defined this concept from famous architects to other authors and artists. In today's post we will teach you several meanings of architecture according to different authors around the world.

 

10 definitions of architecture by famous architects and designers

 

Charles-Édouard Jeanneret-Gris  

Better known as Le Corbusier, he was an architect, theorist, urban planner, space designer, painter, sculptor and man of letters who declared that "Architecture is the starting point for anyone who wants to take humanity towards a better future ".

Rem Koolhaas  

Architect, urban planner, theoretician, and writer, says: "Architecture is a dangerous mixture of omnipotence and impotence ... Incoherence and chance is what sustains the career of all architects. They are faced with arbitrary requests and parameters that they do not establish in countries that they hardly know about issues which they are vaguely aware, and they are expected to solve problems that have been shown to be unsolvable for much better trained brains. By definition, architecture is a chaotic adventure. There is no determined field that generates the architecture, but it is an interrelation of many activities that are merged in a way in which it can’t be determined”

Louis Kahn  

Who was a renowned architect of his time, defined architecture as the ponderous creation of spaces.

Jean-Nicolas-Luis Durand 

He was an architect, professor, and theorist from The French Architectural School of Public Works. He defined architecture as: "the art of composing and realizing all public and private buildings. For a building to be appropriate, it must be solid, healthy, and comfortable. "

Raúl Monterroso 

This Mexican architect and Doctor of Architectural Design defines architecture as a discipline that allows us to transform reality according to the needs of society, within a determined environment with the available resources.

Carlos Scarpa 

Scarpa, one of the most representative authors of the 20th century, was an intellectual, artist, architect and designer who defined architecture as: "Architecture is a language that is very difficult to understand. It is mysterious unlike other arts such as music, which is more directly understandable ... The value of a work is its expression. When something is well expressed, its value becomes very high. "

Mathias Goeritz

He was a Mexican sculptor, poet, art historian, architect and painter who said that "In general temrs, art and also architecture are a reflection of the spiritual state of human being in his/her time."

Paul Rudolph

American architect who argued that "architecture is not a purely theoretical issue if you are interested in building projects, but architecture is the art of the possible."

Louise Bourgeois 

He was a French artist and sculptor who pointed out that: "Architecture has to be an object of our memory. When we evoke and conjure up memory to make it clearer, we pile up associations in the same way that we pile bricks to build a building. Memory is a form of architecture. "

Otl Aicher

He was a German graphic designer and typographer who maintained that "Design and architecture are in deep crisis. They are in danger of becoming accomplices of fashions and they are no longer derived from argument and reasoning such as science and technique, but of the whimsy and aesthetics that every art reveals itself and nullify another."

Now you know 10 of the most important and pointed definitions about architecture which could be extended to unimaginable limits because some authors define it as geometry/shape, practical poetry, of just a field where imagination became real. The important thing is to continue taking care of this profession and value it as it deserves in order to preserve its importance and cultural interest worldwide.

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The Master of Architecture in Collective HousingMCH, is a postgraduate full-time international professional program of advanced architecture design in cities and housing presented by Universidad Politécnica of Madrid (UPM) and Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH).  Apply now!
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