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What architecture is, it is both the process and the product that results from the planning, design and construction of buildings or other structures and facilities. Architectural works, in the material form of buildings, are often perceived as cultural symbols and as works of art. Historical civilizations are often identified by their surviving architectural achievements, as well as what is described in history books about some as-yet-unidentified existing architectural objects. The word architecture comes from Arkhektukt a combination of “architect&rdquo and “creator”.

It is the process and product of planning, designing and constructing buildings and other physical structures. The word architecture was once taken as a general term that described buildings or other physical objects and structures, the very art and science of designing  of buildings. Also, architecture can also be used to describe the style and method of construction of buildings and other physical structures. It can also be used to describe the knowledge of art, science, technology, and humanity. It is also used for the design activity of the architect from a macro level (urban design, landscape architecture) to a macro level such as structural details and furniture.

There is frequent use of the word in relation to the practice of the architect itself, where architecture means offering or providing professional services in relation to the design and construction of buildings or the built environment.  

Some famous and little known historical facts

The earliest surviving written work on the subject of architecture is De architecture by the Roman architect Vitruvius in the early 1st century AD. Vitruvius shared in his work that a good building should satisfy the three principles of firmitas, utilitas, venustas, also known as – firmness, commodity and delight. The equivalent in modern English is:

• Sustainability – the building must rise firmly and keep its good condition.
• Usage – must be suitable for the purposes for which it is used.
• Beauty – it must be aesthetically pleasing.

Vitruvius is adamant that the architect should strive to fulfill as well as possible each of these three attributes.

Leon Battista Alberti, who developed Vitruvius's ideas in his treatise De Re Aedificatoria, saw beauty in proportion, although ornament also played a role. For Alberti, the rules of proportion are those that govern the idealized human figure, the golden mean.

The most important aspect of beauty, therefore, is an intrinsic part of an object, not something applied superficially, and is based on universal, recognizable truths.

Climatic, technological, religious and cultural factors influence the development of architectural styles.

Although the development of architecture directly depends on historical time, not in all cases the styles change sequentially, it is possible to have some coexistence of styles as alternatives to each other (symbiosis between baroque and classicism, modernism and eclecticism, functionalism , constructivism and art deco).

These are the individual architectural styles of global importance:

• Primitive architecture
• Ancient architecture from the 8th century BC. – 5th century.
• Romanesque style. 10 – 12 c.
• Gothic. 12 – 15 c.
• Renaissance architecture. The beginning of 15 – the beginning of the 17th c.
• Baroque. The end of the 16th century – the end of the 18th c.
• Rococo. The beginning of 18 – the end of the 18th c.
• Classicism. The middle of the 18th and in the 19th c.
• Eclectic. 1830s – 1890s.
• Modern. 1890s – 1910s.
• Modernism. Early 1900s – 1980s.
• Constructivism. 1920s – early 1930s
• Postmodernism. From the middle of the 20th century.
• High-tech. Since the late 1970s.
• Deconstructivism. Since the late 1980s
• Dynamic architecture. From the beginning of the 21st century.
• Parametric Design

To be continued…