Architecture, according to Leland M. Roth, author of Understanding Architecture, is the unavoidable art (Roth, 3-7). The reason architecture is so unavoidable is because all buildings share one primary function: To shelter human beings and those things that human beings value.
More broadly, buildings have six major functions beyond this; they have religious functions, civic or governmental functions, educational functions, residential functions, commercial functions, and entertainment functions.
The three things that all buildings must include, according to Marcus Vitruvius Pollio, a Roman architect whose writings heavily influenced the development of western architecture, are utility, firmness and beauty. The first we have already covered above when we said that all buildings serve a function. Buildings are too expensive and time-consuming to build for the sake of building, and every building erected serves a purpose to its patrons or contractors. That is to say, every building serves a specific utility, be it religious, civic, educational, or so on. The other two items, firmness and beauty, however, beg extended discussion.
Firmness: The Longevity and Safety of the Building
Firmness, as Vitruvius means it, means to address the question of "how does the building stand up?" Every time a building is put up, it fights a perpetual war with gravity, and how the architect equips his or her building decides how long it will be able to withstand the inevitable. There are two fundamental structures that are used in keeping a building standing: the post and lintel, and the arch.
The post and lintel is the older of the two, and consists of two spaced apart columns or posts, on top of which spans a beam or lintel, of wood, stone, or, in more modern times, metal. Buildings made of stone have survived the longest, so far, in human history. The post and lintel system can be expanded to make trusses and frames, the former of which is a structure used in the making of roofs and the latter of which is a structure used in the making of walls.
The Greeks had three generic, widely used systems of stone post and lintel construction, called the Classical Orders. The first and oldest is the Doric Order. It is the most massive pillar type, with no base, a thick shaft, a pragmatic capital, and twenty broad flutes. A later development was the Ionic Order, of which the pillars are slenderer, more delicate, with a base, twenty-four flutes, and a decorative scroll-like capital of connected volutes. Slightly more slender still is the Corinthian Order, which is comparable to the Ionic Order, but with a different capital, of lush (as lush as stone can be), outward curling acanthus leaves. (Roth, 28-34)
The Romans adapted these three basic orders, into the Composite Order – a pillar with both the volutes and the acanthus leaves of the Ionic and Corinthian Orders – and the Tuscan Doric, a simple Doric Order type pillar, but with a base.
The other important construction, the arch, is composed of wedge-shaped voussoirs and a keystone, and is a self-supporting structure. A row of side-by-side arches is an arcade, and a column of arches makes a barrel-vaulted ceiling. Barrel-vaulted ceilings can be manipulated into groin-vaulted ceilings or rib vaulted ceilings using arches, as well. Finally, an arch spun around in a 360-degree angle makes a dome, which can be adapted with pendentives to cover a square room.
Beauty: Architectural Aesthetics and the Element of Enjoyment
Beauty, or delight, is the trickiest element of Vitruvius’, but as important as the other two. It is concerned with manifold issues, such as how color and light interrelate with each other inside and outside of the building, how the texture of the building is felt, with both the eyes and the skin, and how the ornamentation is handled.
One of the most important areas to address under this concern is space, and how it is used. Physical space will be provided for the architect while building the firmness and utility, but it is a good architect who can further shape space into perceptual space, conceptual space, and behavioral space, while maintaining for personal space as well. All of these things will determined how a building is seen and utilized.
Visual perception, scale, rhythm, and proportion determine how the eyes see and make sense of a building, and if they are not attended to, they may lead a viewer to see the building as incomplete or "ugly." And finally, the acoustics of the building are shaped by the architect, especially in the later architectural developments of the 19th through 21st centuries.
Conclusion
Buildings are everywhere, and so long as they meet Vitruvius’ trinity of terms, they are generally accepted and enjoyed by humankind. Stone, despite its lack of tensile strength, is, so far, the longest survived building material in architecture, although modern steel architecture may eventually out survive it. And post and lintel and arch type structures are almost ubiquitous, with newer building techniques the exception, not the norm. How or even if this will change, only time will tell.
Sources
Leland M. Roth. Understanding Architecture: Its Elements, History, and Meaning (Second Edition). Westview Press: Boulder, Colorado, 2007.
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