LECTURE 1 - CO URS E INTRO DUCTIO N

Prep. by Abubeker B.
April, 2021
Seneca
 Introduction to….
 Art
 Architecture
 Architectural design
 Basic architectural design
 Art
Birth of Art

• The first phase of human existence was the Paleolithic

which spanned 2,500,000-10,000 BC. From the very
beginning of this period, humans made stone tools.
 Art
Development of Art
Prehistoric Art: 25,000 to 2,500
B.C.
 Painting: Cave paintings of
animals and everyday human
activities with crushed rocks,
berries and charcoal.
 Types of Art

• Arts created primarily for aesthetic and intellectual

purposes and judged for its beauty and
meaningfulness.
• Painting, drawing, watercolor, graphics, sculpture and
architecture.
• Arts created primarily for visual perception including
paintings, drawings, visual designs, photography and
computer art.
• Arts stay in one place, unmoving and two-dimensional
things, sculpture and architecture come under
separate headings.
• Performing arts - Stage, screen, music, and dance arts
- also come under their own separate headings.
• Forms of creative activity that are performed in front
of an audience, such as drama, music, and dance.
• The application of artistic design to utilitarian objects
in everyday use.
• Artistic disciplines including industrial design, fashion
design, interior design, and computer graphics, as
well as most types of decorative art (e.g. furniture,
carpets), pottery are some classified as applied arts.
• Architecture, too is best viewed as an applied art.
 Design
• Plan something for a specific role, purpose or effect.
How it begins?
In the beginning…What was there ?
A single gas matter

A BIG BANG…

CHAOS…
the formless matter!......

Design begins here, Architecture is not yet.

Origin of Design
 Architecture
= Arkhitekton
Arkhi, meaning “chief” or “master”, and
Tekton, meaning “mason” or “builder”

• The architect used to be known as the “master

mason” or “master builder” in the past.
• From a scale as large as the planning of a city, up
to a scale as small as the design of a chair.
 Architecture
“ The art and science of
designing and constructing
Buildings” in response to an
existing set of conditions.

These conditions:
I. May be functional in nature
II. May also reflect in varying
degrees the social, political,
and economic climate.
 Architecture In response to politics and economy

In response to social life

Empire State building in New York,

The Big Donut shop in Los Angeles , tells
tells us about capitalism and the
us about the living style of
urban values of 20th
American people
century
 Origin of architecture
• The first applied art and the oldest profession in
human history.
• It appeared with human being’s need of shelter to
protect himself from the weather and danger outside.
 Origin of architecture
“Architecture is what nature cannot make”. Louis Kahn
• But, a certain bird in South America builds a two room
nest, with rooms tied to each other by a tube like
structure. Or, white blind ants build structures out of
mud on the ground. How? Is that Architecture?
 • However, unlike the animals, we as human beings
“think” while we are making buildings. Our act of
building our buildings is a conscious process.
• “ Great nations write their autobiographies in three manuscripts–
the book of their deeds, the book of their words, and the book
of their art. Not one of these can be understood unless we read
the other two; but of the three, the only quite trustworthy one is
the last.”
 Fundamentals of architecture
• Vitruvius has written in his book that a good building
must satisfy three main qualities, which are firmitas,
utilitas, venustas.
 Fundamentals of architecture
• Therefore, the ultimate test of architecture is made
with the following questions:
1. Is the building functional?
2. Is the building firm?
3. Is the building beautiful?
Constituents of architecture
 Architectural elements
 Architectural systems
 Architectural orders
• All of these constituents can be perceived and
experienced.
• They should be interrelated to form an integrated
whole having a unifying or coherent architecture.
 Architectural elements
• Some may be readily apparent while others are
more obscure to our intellect and senses. Some
may dominate while others play a secondary role
in a building’s organization.
• A small visual parts of any architectural system
which includes all the elements and principles of
design.
 Architectural systems

Spatial System Structural System Enclosure System Circulation System

Architectural orders
 Architectural Design
• Therefore, The act of creating architecture, then, is
a Design process.
• The objective of this design process is to create new
objects/solutions for the mind to feast upon.
• 4 major characteristic features about design:
i. Identifying the problem
ii. Process/analyzing
iii. Problem solving
iv. Creative activity/innovative solution
Architectural Design
• To undertake a design activity you need…
 Knowledge: set of accumulated information (what
you have inside).
 Imagination: power of visualizing various layers,
sides, dimension & possibilities of information.
 Skill: the ability to execute our ideas.
 Basic Architectural Design

• As the “art of building”, architecture has its own

language.
• In order to read and write in a language you should
first know the letters, words and the grammar of
that language.
 Basic Architectural Design
• In order to learn architecture, you have to learn its
letters, its vocabulary (or basic elements) and the
grammar (composition principles) that brings them
together.
• Once you learn these fundamental components, you
can read and write anything in architecture.
 Basic Architectural Design

• Basic architectural design is, therefore, on

broadening and enriching a vocabulary of design
through the study of its essential elements and
principles.
Questions……?