The meaning of “What is architecture” from Harvard
GREAT ARCHITECTS’ REFLECTIONS:
- Marcus Vitruvius Pollio (roman architect):
“Architecture is the art of building” - Nikolas Pevsner:
“A bicycle shed is a building; Lincoln Cathedral is a work of architecture” - Adolf Loos (austrian architect and theorist):
“Only a very small part of architecture is included in the world of art: funerary and commemorative monuments. Everything else, everything that has a purpose has to be excluded from the world of art.” - William Morris (english theorist, textile designer, poet, novelist, translator, and socialist activist associated with the British Arts and Crafts Movement):
“Architecture embraces the entire physical environment that surrounds human life. We cannot escape from it as long as we are part of civilization, because architecture is the sum of modifications and alterations introduced into the land in order to satisfy human needs.” - Juan Calduch Cervera (spanish architect, theoretician, writer and professor):
“The dominion of nature creates culture through technique […] Construction as technique is the way to dominate our environment to turn it into architecture.“