• What is architecture?
• History of architecture
• Types of architecture
• Architecture and urbanism

We explain what architecture is and how it arises in the history of humanity. Types of architecture. Town planning.

art and the technique to conceive, design and construct buildings that function as habitat for him human being, whether they are homes, workplaces, recreation or memorials. The term comes from ancient Greek, formed by the words arch- ("boss, authority") and techné ("Creation, construction"), from which it follows that it is the art of construction.

In a strict sense, architecture is inherent in human civilization and cannot escape from it as long as it is lived in. society. When the human being builds a wooden hut to protect himself from the elements, when he paves the ground to erect a plaza with the statues of his martyrs on top, when he designs a temple with which to worship his gods, or when he erects an immense tower of offices, man puts into practice his knowledge architectural.

The various styles and modes of architecture in human history, in fact, reflect many of the conditions and moments of its thought, whether in artistic or pragmatic terms.In fact, its knowledge is based on three fundamental principles: beauty, firmness and utility.

At the same time, architecture has been included among the Fine arts of humanity, along with the painting, the literature, the music, the sculpture, the dance, the movie theater, the Photography and the cartoon.

History of architecture

structures Y environments beautiful, useful and durable far predates that age of mankind. The great works of the cultures ancient that today surprise by their workmanship, such as the pyramids of Egypt, the cities Mesoamerican stone walls, the temples of Greco-Roman antiquity or the Christian habitations of Cappadocia, are just some proofs of this.

Ancient, medieval and modern architecture exhibits the aesthetic methods and tendencies of the different cultures that gave rise to it. For example, medieval European architecture reveals the dominance of the religion Christianity and obscurantism, while the Renaissance reveals the renovating and disruptive endeavor that prevailed at the time.

Later, with the arrival of the industrialization and the discovery of new materials, architecture would take a huge leap forward and nourish itself with new knowledge and technologies, which would start during the 20th century a true urban and architectural explosion throughout the world, and the appearance of totally original styles of architecture, unrelated to the tradition and the heritage constructed.

Types of architecture

Architecture can be studied and classified from many points of view, such as historical, cultural or functional. Broadly, let's define the following three classifications:

• According to its functionality. That is, according to the purpose with which it is built.
  • Religious architecture. Those whose works have functions of worship, such as churches, temples, mystical monuments, etc.
  • Military architecture. The one that proposes buildings for strategic, tactical or defensive use, such as castles, walls, barracks, etc.
  • Civil architecture. That which conceives structures and spaces for the use of citizens on foot: from houses and buildings, to squares and civic monuments or cultural spaces (theaters, libraries, schools, etc.).
• According to your construction technique. This is, according to the criterion that governs the construction.
  • Stylistic or historical architecture. The one that connects with the tradition from which it comes and that has produced traditional, durable pieces, using methods and inherited imaginaries.
  • Popular architecture. Constructions made by the people themselves, such as craftsmen or people of little education, using natural materials and generally without greater aspirations for greatness.
  • Common or vulgar architecture. That made by professionals of the area obeying a purely pragmatic criterion, that is, of use and functionality, without taking into account an architectural tradition.
• According to its historical period. As many architectural styles can be named as there are moments and historical contexts, that is, hundreds of them. In the West, the three most recognizable are:
  • Roman architecture. That of the Roman Empire and its inheritance Greek, was characterized by great functionality and logic, which did not neglect the motives of its important religious world.
  • Baroque architecture. Characterized by the great abundance of details and ornaments, it is typical of the 16th and 17th centuries in Europe Y Latin America.
  • Neoclassical architecture. Typical of the European eighteenth century, it represented a return to the classical values ​​of Greco-Roman antiquity, hand in hand with the newly discovered faith in reason and human enlightenment.

Architecture and urbanism

Urbanism is a discipline very close to architecture and that is responsible for the understanding, conceptualization and improvement of cities.

For this he uses the geography as a fundamental tool, to procure the most suitable design not only of buildings and public spaces, but of roads and systems of displacement, to take better advantage of the relief, to the weather and thus meet the social and cultural needs of the population. As will be seen, it has many points of contact with architecture, and they are usually studied together.