The document provides an overview of a lecture on architectural theory. It begins by defining architecture and its role in satisfying human needs functionally, aesthetically, and psychologically. It then introduces various functional aspects of architecture like site, structure, skin, circulation, and services. Finally, it discusses the formal vocabulary of architecture and introduces Gestalt ideas of visual perception, including figure-ground principles and Gestalt laws of organization.

1. “ THEORY OF ARCHITECTURE
I”
LECTURE ONE :

2. Part-1:
Definitions of Architecture- context for architecture as
satisfying human needs- functional, aesthetic and psychological –
architecture as a discipline
Part-2:
Introducing the various functional aspects of architecture:
site, structure, skin, services, use, circulation etc.
Part-3
Introduction to formal vocabulary of architecture and
Gestalt ideas of visual perception
Brainstorm:

3. Definition of Architecture
 Originated from the Greek word Architekton
 Archi – great tekton – builder
 Architecture is the art and science of building
 It is the conscious creation of utilitarian spaces with
the deliberate use of material
 Architecture should be technically efficient and
aesthetically pleasing.
WHAT IS ARCHITECTURE?

4. WHAT IS ART
Important things to understand before you go any
further than (like) going to Architectural Design 1 niggah,
south side (y)
Art
The conscience use of skill, craft, and creative
imagination in the production of what is
beautiful, appealing, or of more than ordinary
significance.
Art is a diverse range of human activities in
creating visual, auditory or performing artifacts
(artworks), expressing the author's imaginative or
technical skill, intended to be appreciated for their
beauty or emotional power

5. Other Definitions
Architecture can be defined as Durability
(firmitas), utility (utilitas) and beauty
(venustas) at the right time and at the right
cost.
(Other: firmness, commodity, delight)
Marcus Vitruvius Pollio (De Architectura or On
Architecture)

6. Cont...
Architecture is the masterly, correct and the magnificent
play of masses to brought together in light. (Le corbusier)
Architecture is a discipline, a profession and a state of mind.
Architecture is a cultural index that takes different forms in
different civilizations and political settings. (Anthony
Antoniades (Poetics of Architecture)

7. Architecture - a manifest order appropriately conceived logically developed
conditioned and disciplined coherent through consistency

8. As per GEORGE S. SALVAN words
1.GENERAL INFLUENCES
CONTEXT FOR ARCHITECTURE AS SATISFYING HUMAN NEEDS

9. CONTEXT FOR ARCHITECTURE AS SATISFYING HUMAN NEEDS
1.GENERAL INFLUENCES
ACTIVITIES OF MAN
 Desire for PRESERVATION Recognition
 Desire for prestige, pride and ambition, social status
 Desire for Response love, friendship, and sociability
 Desire for Self- Expression

10. II. INFLUENCES OF NATURE
A. CLIMATE
B. TOPOGRAPHY
C. MATERIALS

11. III. INFLUENCES OF SOCIETY
2. Man's Personality.
3. Man's Interests.
1. SOCIAL CONDITIONS:
church
factory
house
time
radio
TV
movies
CONTEXT FOR ARCHITECTURE AS SATISFYING HUMAN NEEDS

12. FUNCTIONAL, aesthetic and psychological
Spatial SEQUENCE
SPATIAL FIT

13. FUNCTIONal, AESTHETIC AND PSYCHOLOGICAL

14. FUNCTIONal, AESTHETIC AND PSYCHOLOGICAL
 No Function
 No soul

15. Beauty
Elements of aesthetics
Mass & space
Proportion
Symmetry
Balance
Contrast
Decoration
massing
FUNCTIONAL, AESTHETICS AND PSYCHOLOGICAL

16. FUNCTIONAL, AESTHETICS AND PSYCHOLOGICAL

17. FUNCTIONAL, AESTHETICS AND PSYCHOLOGICAL

18. FUNCTIONAL, AESTHETICS AND PSYCHOLOGICAL

19. FUNCTION, AESTHETICS AND PSYCHOLOGICAL
Physical structure has a significant
 effect on human behavior.
As humans find themselves spending more time
enclosed within the walls of structure, it becomes
valuable to design structures integrating features of the
natural environment and structural landscape features into the human-
made environment (Joye, 2007).
Research suggests the design of residential and
commercial space has pervasive effects on its
inhabitants and is an important consideration in architectural design.

20. FUNCTION, AESTHETICS AND PSYCHOLOGICAL
Space, form, and light are elements that a
re often incorporated either
purposefully or unconsciously for aestheti
c or practical reasons but
more pointedly give people meaning, pur
pose and stability amidst an
ever changing physical universe of seemin
g chao

21. FUNCTION, AESTHETICS AND PSYCHOLOGICAL

22. FUNCTION, AESTHETICS AND PSYCHOLOGICAL

23. ARCHITECTURE AS A DISCIPLINE
ARCHITECTURE – an ability to organize, manipulate and
articulate the constant and variable component parts of
size, shape, and treatment.
ARCHITECTURE - a language of sequential path, place,
and transition spaces in relationship to site, location, an
d orientation.

24. ARCHITECTURE AS A DISCIPLINE
The relationship of architecture to other fields and disciplines.

25. THREE COMPONENTS
1. SIZE AND SHAPE
2. TREATMENT
3. ORIENTATION
SIZE AND SHAPE
is self-evident, consisting of an infinite variety of different
sizes of masses or volumes:
such as squares, rectangles, circles, pyramids, ellipses, curves,
cubes, etc.

26. TREATMENT
what do you do with the sizes and the shapes?
how many different ways can you treat it in a simple way?
how does that treatment alter or change?
in what ways can you define or manipulate the sizes and shapes?
what is your strategy for detailing and joinery (articulation)?
 treatment is pattern, texture, color, figure, ground, light, illumination,
contrast, opacity,
transparency, translucency, reflectivity, visual density, thickness or thi
nness, etc.

27. ORIENTATION
what is the relative position of something or someone?
location - a particular place or position:
external - internal - interstitial
placement and displacement
edge (periphery) vs. center (core) or foreground, middle grou
nd, background
relationship of a building to its neighbors
relationship of building to sky
relationship of building to ground

28. CONT……
directionality, redirection or reversals:
up vs. down
left vs. right
longitudinal vs. transverse
horizontal vs. vertical
orthogonal vs. diagonal
exposure: north - south - east - west
THREE TYPES OF SPACE
1. PLACE - SPACES
2. PATH – SPACES
3. TRANSTITION - SPACES

29. 1. PLACE-SPACES
 major spaces that portray a sense of definite location or position
2. PATH-SPACES
 major transition spaces which are directional; corridor,
connector, passageway.
3. TRANSITION-SPACES
 minor spaces which process a change from one condition to another.
 joint spaces (or articulation spaces)
 can define a pause between spaces
 can juxtapose spaces of contrasting or continuous character
 can act as a separator space
 can act as fastener, joining or linking space
 servant- spaces are transition spaces that act as functional support (storage spaces,
bathrooms, mechanical voids, space occupied by structural elements, etc.)

30. SITE:
Location
(geography)a point or
an area on the
Earth's surface or else
where Building site, a
place
where construction takes
place
Introducing the various functional aspects of architecture

31. STRUCTURE:
 It is an arrangement
and organization of
interrelated elements
in a material object
or system, or the
object or system so
organized
Introducing the various functional aspects of architecture

32. SKIN:
Introducing the various functional aspects of architecture

33. Introducing the various functional aspects of architecture
CIRCULATION:
APPROACH
The Distant View
ENTRANCE
From Outside to inside
CONFIGURATION OF THE PATH
The Sequences of Spaces
PATH-SPACE RELATIONSHIPS
Edges, Nodes, and Terminations of the Path
FORM OF THE CIRCULATION SPACE
Corridors, Halls, Galleries, Stairways and Rooms

34. Cont...
SERVICES:
Structural
Plumbing
Electrical
Fire safety
Maintenance
Gestalt Theory
Gestalt theory originated in Austria and Germany toward the end of t
he 19th century.
Since then, Gestalt theory has become fundamental to
several related disciplines, including art, graphic design, web
design and interior design.

35. What is Gestalt Theory
Gestalt theory focuses on the mind’s perceptive processes
The word "Gestalt" has no direct translation in English, but refer
s to "a
way a thing has been gestellt ; i.e., ‘placed,’ or ‘put together’";
common translations include "form" and "shape“
Gestalt theorists followed the
basic principle that the whole
is greater than the sum of its parts.

36. Fish/Duck/Lizard 1948 M.C. Esher
Cont..
Gestalt theorists followed the
basic principle that the whole
is greater than the sum of its
parts.
 In viewing the "whole," a
cognitive process takes place
– the mind makes a leap from
comprehending the parts to
realizing the whole.

37. Figure Ground Segregation
 When you look at the environment, you
look at it as a whole picture, not separate parts.
 There are images in the environment
that people are aware, this would be
the figure.
 Images people are not aware of make
up the ground.

38.  The figure is what a person is concentrating
on; The ground would be everything else in that
environment; Some properties of figure ground.
 Figures hold more memorable association
than the ground.
 Figures are seen as being in front of the ground.
 The ground is seen as uniformed material
and seems to extend behind the figure.
 The contour separating the figure from the
ground appears to belong to the figure.
(Goldstein, pp. 156-159)
Figure Ground Segregation

39. There are no correct interpretations to what the figure is
and what the ground is; it is the individual’s choice.
 People have different memories and experiences that
influence their perception of images.
 We have seen that meaningfulness can help determine
which area we see as figure.
 If something has meaning to someone, it normally "jump
s out“ at them, and is more noticeable
Reversible figure/ground

40. Gestalt Laws of Organization
1.proximity-:
elements tend to be grouped together according to their nearness
2.similarity:
items similar in some respect tend to be grouped together
3.Closure : items are grouped together if they tend to complete some
entity
4.Continuation
: the eye is compelled to move through one object and
continue to another object