The Architecture Portal
![View of Florence showing the dome, which dominates everything around it. It is octagonal in plan and ovoid in section. It has wide ribs rising to the apex with red tiles in between and a marble lantern on top.](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/1/1b/View_of_Santa_Maria_del_Fiore_in_Florence.jpg/320px-View_of_Santa_Maria_del_Fiore_in_Florence.jpg)
Architecture is the art and technique of designing and building, as distinguished from the skills associated with construction. It is both the process and the product of sketching, conceiving, planning, designing, and constructing buildings or other structures. The term comes from Latin architectura; from Ancient Greek ἀρχιτέκτων (arkhitéktōn) 'architect'; from ἀρχι- (arkhi-) 'chief', and τέκτων (téktōn) 'creator'. Architectural works, in the material form of buildings, are often perceived as cultural symbols and as works of art. Historical civilisations are often identified with their surviving architectural achievements.
Architecture began as rural, oral vernacular architecture that developed from trial and error to successful replication. Ancient urban architecture was preoccupied with building religious structures and buildings symbolizing the political power of rulers until Greek and Roman architecture shifted focus to civic virtues. Indian and Chinese architecture influenced forms all over Asia and Buddhist architecture in particular took diverse local flavors. During the Middle Ages, pan-European styles of Romanesque and Gothic cathedrals and abbeys emerged while the Renaissance favored Classical forms implemented by architects known by name. Later, the roles of architects and engineers became separated.
Modern architecture began after World War I as an avant-garde movement that sought to develop a completely new style appropriate for a new post-war social and economic order focused on meeting the needs of the middle and working classes. Emphasis was put on modern techniques, materials, and simplified geometric forms, paving the way for high-rise superstructures. Many architects became disillusioned with modernism which they perceived as ahistorical and anti-aesthetic, and postmodern and contemporary architecture developed. Over the years, the field of architectural construction has branched out to include everything from ship design to interior decorating. (Full article...)
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Art Deco, short for the French Arts décoratifs (lit. 'Decorative Arts'), is a style of visual arts, architecture, and product design, that first appeared in Paris in the 1910s (just before World War I), and flourished in the United States and Europe during the 1920s to early 1930s. Through styling and design of the exterior and interior of anything from large structures to small objects, including how people look (clothing, fashion, and jewelry), Art Deco has influenced bridges, buildings (from skyscrapers to cinemas), ships, ocean liners, trains, cars, trucks, buses, furniture, and everyday objects including radios and vacuum cleaners.
Art Deco got its name after the 1925 Exposition internationale des arts décoratifs et industriels modernes (International Exhibition of Modern Decorative and Industrial Arts) held in Paris. Art Deco has its origins in bold geometric forms of the Vienna Secession and Cubism. From its outset, it was influenced by the bright colors of Fauvism and of the Ballets Russes, and the exoticized styles of art from China, Japan, India, Persia, ancient Egypt and Maya. (Full article...)General images –
Did you know (auto-generated) -
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/44/Nuvola_apps_filetypes.svg/47px-Nuvola_apps_filetypes.svg.png)
- ... that researchers think that investing in the construction of corporate buildings can also have a social impact?
- ... that the architect of 275 Madison Avenue did not include much exterior decoration because he wanted the building to be "shadow-less"?
- ... that Sarkis Lole, the Armenian chief architect of Mardin who constructed much of the early modern architecture of the city, never received any formal training and designed his buildings in the sand?
- ... that Saints Peter and Paul Seminary, the last Catholic high school seminary in Ohio before its closure in 1990, was designed with influences from Chinese architecture?
- ... that Tenta's architectural remains, artefacts, human burials, flora and fauna have been "virtually unchanged for two millennia"?
- ... that Charles Thaddeus Russell's architectural designs helped to create the "Black Wall Street of America"?
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