What Is Architecture?

The Nature of Architecture

Architecture is more than just building new structures; it is about uncovering and understanding the designs inherent within our world and how we interact with them.

By exploring the very essence of architecture, we examine its core elements, principles, and even philosophical concepts and how they shape our environments.

Architecture stands at the intersection of art and science, turning ideas into concrete and tangible realities.

It reflects our values and cultural identities, while having a profound and ongoing impact on our daily lives.

We will discuss the “Nature” of architecture, regardless of physical or conceptual form, its intrinsic characteristics, universal qualities, and how it can be perceived as both a process, and a tangible output of that process.

The Essence of Architecture

The essence of architecture is found in its fundamental elements and universal principles, reflecting human values and cultural identities, and shaping both the physical and conceptual spaces where interactions happen.

Fundamental Elements of Architecture

Architecture begins with basic elements such as space, form, function, and components.

Space defines how areas are organized and how entities interact within them.

Form is the shape and configuration of structures that give them their distinct identities.

Function refers to the purpose and utility of a structure or space.

Components are the foundational elements or technologies used in the implementation of physical or conceptual structures.

Universal Principles of Architecture

Architecture includes universal principles like consistency, harmony, unity, balance, proportion and scale, among others.

Consistency creates uniformity and enables predictability within an architecture.

Harmony ensures all elements of an architecture work together cohesively.

Unity ensures all components of an architecture work together as a whole.

Balance distributes elements evenly to achieve stability and equilibrium within an architecture.

Proportion relates to the parts of an architecture relative to the whole.

Scale addresses the size or impact of elements in relation to each other within an architecture.

Philosophical Perspectives on Architecture

Architecture is not only technical in nature, but also philosophical to the degree that architecture is deeply intertwined with human values and cultural identities.

Being aware of the philosophical perspectives on architecture enables us to gain a deeper understanding of how architecture goes beyond the balance of form and function to serve as a reflection of our own collective human experience.

Reflecting Human Values

Architecture embodies the ideals and aspirations of humans. It is a mirror to what we value and how we prioritize what matters to us, from innovation and enabling our potential to preserving tradition and beauty.

Cultural Identities

Different cultures - whether societal, corporate, or something altogether - influence architectural styles and practices. The diversity in both physical and conceptual architectural designs across the globe showcases the impact unique of cultural identities and historical contexts on organizations, communities, and societies.

Impact on Experiences

Architecture shapes the spaces where entities exist and interact. The design of spaces and structures affects our behaviors, feelings, and interactions, highlighting the profound but sometimes hidden impact both physical and conceptual architectures have on our daily lives.

Architecture as Tangible Reality

Architecture can be thought of as both a process of creating new structures, as well as the observation and analysis of existing ones.

This dual perspective can show us how architecture both shapes and is shaped by the environment interacts with.

By understanding architecture as a tangible reality, both through the lens of observation and physical construction, we can gain visibility into the underlying principles that govern the built environment and how it interacts with the world around it.

Observable Architecture

Architecture isn’t always about building something new from the ground up. Sometimes it’s about discovering and describing the design inherent within existing structures and flows.

Observable architecture involves studying and understanding structures that already exist in natural, built, or digital environments.

In many cases, architectures have emerged organically and evolved over time that may not have been intended or even known.

By decomposing existing structures, the core design principles, purpose, and intent of the architecture can be inferred and documented.

Analyzing the undlerlying components and the ways in which they are interconnected will reveal critical patterns, dependencies, and feedback loops.

Physical Structures

In its most concrete form, architecture refers to the physical structures and buildings that are designed and constructed.

This can include many things from houses and skyscrapers, to bridges and monuments.

Beyond individual buildings, architecture also encompasses the entire built environment, from urban design, to infrastructure systems, to landscape architecture.

These physical entities can be seen, touched, used, and occupied, shaping the spaces in which we live, work, learn, and play.

Architecture as Conceptual Representation

Sure, architecture can be something tangible that we can see or touch for ourselves.

But it can also be about the ideas, plans, designs, visualizations, and other representations that guide the creation of structures.

These conceptual representations could include drawings, models, diagrams, or specifications that capture the design intent of the architecture, enabling the translation of ideas into reality.

Drawings could be informal, such as white board or flip chart drawings, or they could be more formal in the form of blueprints or CAD (Computer-Aided Design) drawings.

Models could be multi-demensional physical or digital representations of the architecture and its design.

Diagrams provide a way to logically represent a design in a manner that best describes the interaction between the structures and the flows that are supported by the arrangement and functioning of the underlying components of an architecture.

Specifications detail the constraints, functional and nonfunctional requirements, standards, patterns, methods, and other considerations to be applied to the implementation of the architecture and its design.

Architecture as Design Process

You don’t magically jump from planning to having fully implemented structures.

There is a dynamic and iterative multi-stage process to go from conceptualization to realization.

By understanding architecture as a design process, we can start to understand the complexity, creativity, and collaboration involved in transforming ideas and high-level concepts into tangible and usable structures.

Interdisciplinary Collaboration

There are both artistic and scientific elements to the design process - what we refer to as the “Art and Science of Architecture.”

Design often times requires collaboration across multiple disciplines, balancing the aesthetics and visual impact of architecture with the technical, engineering, organizational, and scientific aspects.

And beyond the art and science, design requires collaboration among the stakeholders with a vested interest in the resulting architecture.

This could include multiple organizations, domains, departments, functions, or teams.

Iterative Nature

A key aspect of a design process is that it is iterative in nature, involving feedback, revisions, and refinements to ensure all requirements of the architecture are met.

There is no direct path from concept to implementation.

Progress is incremental. Sometimes it takes many iterations to get a design right.

Sometimes plans and designs are based on assumptions that turn out to be incorrect.

Sometimes plans and designs can change based on unexpected results or critical feedback.

Sometimes you discover new and better ways of doing things along the way.

No matter the reason, design will always be iterative, and it will always take exactly as long as it needs to take.

There are no shortcuts. Good architectural design takes time, patience, and discipline.

The Types of Architecture

Before we start to break architecture down into its core concepts, let’s first categorize the different types of architectures and figure out what they share in common, as well as what makes them unique.

For the sake of this discussion, we are defining and focusing on three types of architecture:

• Physical architecture
• Conceptual architecture (which includes digital architecture)
• Logical architecture

Physical Architecture

Physical architecture involves the design and construction of tangible, visible, and touchable structures and spaces, such as houses, office buildings, or landscapes.

Physical structures interact with the physical environments around them, facilitating flows such as traffic or energy flows.

This is what most of us think of when we think of the general concept of architecture.

We think about the proverbial architect designing buildings and creating blueprints that can be used both in the design, construction, maintenance, or future modifications and enhancements of a physical structure.

Of the three types of architecture that we will be discussing, physical architecture is the “easiest” to grasp because it’s a concrete concept (no pun intended).

The other types of architecture - conceptual and logical - are not as concrete.

Logical and conceptual architectures - including digital architectures - require high levels of abstract thinking, but also follow many of the same principles as physical architecture.

Conceptual Architecture

Conceptual architecture deals with the design and implementation of more abstract structures and flows.

These structures may not be tangible, visible, or touchable but we interact with them every day.

These structures are known to us but might not be observable or obvious.

This could include anything from communication structures, to organizational structures, to market structures.

Digital structures are, by nature, conceptual.

We can see the physical components that make up the underlying hardware platforms that run software applications, but we can’t see the 1’s and 0’s being passed along throughout the circuits within, let’s say, a laptop computer.

We have to imagine and hold the concept of what these 1’s and 0’s are supposed to do, the various paths they take through a system, and the data structures they form, represented to human users in the form of human-centric interfaces.

We’re talking about the flows of digital communications and information, the 1’s and 0’s, through digital architectures run on tangible, physical hardware architectures.

Examples of conceptual architectures include:

• Enterprise architecture
• Business architecture
• Software architecture
• Data architecture
• Cloud architecture
• Application architecture
• Information architecture
• Knowledge architecture

…and many more.

Logical Architecture

Logical architecture combines elements of both physical and conceptual architectures.

Logical architecture exists to explain the connections and groupings of these elements in a consolidated and cohesive manner.

These elements can be from various disciplines or applications, both physical and conceptual.

A great example of logical architecture is the concept of solutions architecture.

Solutions architecture, at its most abstract level, is about designing systems or services that solve business challenges.

It’s neither the specific business challenges nor the specific technologies applied that actually matter.

It’s the way in which those elements are logically organized and structured to address a specific problem, communicate complex concepts, or define domains and boundaries in new ways from different perspectives.

Logical architecture exists within many physical and conceptual architectural disciplines.

I’ll use three concrete examples to demonstrate the concept of logical architecture:

• The OSI model
• Cloud architecture
• Design patterns and conceptual frameworks

…just to name a few common examples.

OSI Model

The OSI model is a well-known conceptual architecture for standardizing network communications. It’s been around for decades.

The OSI model is divided into seven layers, each deeply interconnected with the layer above and below it.

For example, the Physical Layer (Layer 1) is the foundational layer responsible for the physical connections between devices; the remaining six layers build on top of this layer.

Another example, the Transport Layer (Layer 4) enables the transfer of data between systems using protocols such as TCP and UDP, which themselves have their own conceptual architectures.

Can TCP and UDP function outside of the OSI model? Absolutely.

The OSI model is conceptual in nature; there is no physical, tangible entity to bind to or be dependent on.

These layers make it easier for us to grasp complex concepts and technologies by logically grouping them and visualizing their interactions and dependencies in a familiar and easy-to-understand structure.

Cloud Architecture

Cloud architecture represents the abstraction of underlying infrastructure components into a more flexible and scalable logical structure.

Cloud architecture hides the complexity of traditional physical infrastructure by providing services at various levels of abstraction, including concepts such as:

• Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS)
• Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS)
• Software-as-a-Service (SaaS)

Design Patterns and Conceptual Frameworks

Sometimes the problems we face have already been addressed and solved before.

In some cases, flexible and reusable solutions have emerged for common problems we face.

These generalized best practices are referred to as design patterns.

We can think of design patterns as one-off templates for solving known problems, but how these patterns get implemented is ultimately up to us.

In other cases, entire models have been established to provide prescriptive guidance for approaching and solving complex institutional problems.

These models are referred to as frameworks.

Some frameworks are more prescriptive than others.

For example, TOGAF (The Open Group Architecture Framework) includes a methodology and a set of tools and best practices for implementing and managing enterprise architecture.

While TOGAF provides guidance on how to approach and solve a number of problems, it is flexible and can be adapted to the needs and context specific to a given organization or implementation.

On the other hand, frameworks such as SAFe (Scaled Agile Framework) tend to be more prescriptive in that they provide detailed step-by-step instructions for the rigid implementation of Agile practices by dictating the roles, ceremonies, and artifacts to be adopted by the organization.

The Art and Science of Architecture

What do we mean when we say architecture is the art and science of designing and implementing structures and flows?

Architecture by its nature is a multi-faceted discipline.

It is both creative and technical, balancing aesthetics with engineering principles.

Art

When we speak of “art” in the context of “art and science,” we refer to the creative and aesthetic aspects of architecture.

This includes elements of exploration, experimentation, empathy, and an eye for what makes something visually appealing and harmonious.

Balancing look and feel with how something works is a key aspect of designing structures.

Understanding how and where to use colors, shapes, lines, angles, and space to convey both beauty and utility creates engaging structures that are emotionally rewarding to interact with.

Beautiful architecture, whether physical or conceptual, elicits positive emotions, inspiration, and sometimes even awe.

When seamlessly integrated with its surroundings, well-designed architecture has the ability to enrich human lives and provide value far beyond its utility.

Interface and Interaction Design

Examples of the “art” in the “art and science” could be interface or interaction design, taking into consideration aesthetics, user interfaces, experiences, and human-computer interactions.

Aesthetics

Focusing on creating designs that are visually appealing to human users.

Interfaces

Designing intuitive interfaces that are easy for humans to use.

Experiences

Eliciting positive emotional responses, dare I suggest even enjoyment, from interactions through thoughtful design.

Human-Computer Interaction

Understanding how humans interact with systems to improve the usability and accessibility of these systems.

Science

When we speak of “science” in the context of art and science, we refer to the technical aspects of architecture.

This means employing analytical thinking, taking methodical approaches to solving problems, and applying engineering principles and natural laws.

Architecture can draw from a number of scientific and technical domains.

Engineering and Computer Science

If we look at how digital architectures intersect with Engineering and Computer Science:

Algorithms

Developing effective algorithms for solving problems.

Data Structures

Organizing data to optimize retrievability and performance.

Software Architecture

Designing functioning, scalable, and performant software systems free from defects.

System Design

Implementing complex systems with well-defined and observable inputs and outputs.

Information Technology

If we apply concepts from Information Technology to building and maintaining digital architectures:

Infrastructure

Building and maintaining foundational elements and systems.

Networking

Enabling the flow of secure and reliable communications.

Database Structures

Designing efficient data storage and retrieval systems.

Applications

Developing software applications that meet functional requirements while providing emotionally rewarding experiences.

Business Analysis

How can Business Analysis inform architecture?

Understanding Business Operations

Analyzing how businesses function and create value for customers, employees, and stakeholders.

Aligning to Business Goals

Ensuring the right problems are being solved and architectural designs support strategic business objectives.

Identifying Dependencies and Constraints

Hunting down factors that could impact an architecture and understanding structural limitations on growing beyond known boundaries.

Knowing How Value is Created

Knowing how to generate demand for and deliver products and services that solve challenges customers are willing to pay for, within the mechanisms and constraints of market and regulatory structures.

Project Management

What could Project Management have to do with architecture?

Stakeholder Management

Engaging with stakeholders to understand their needs is core to the design process.

Planning

Developing detailed plans to guide the design and implementation of an architecture.

Organizing

Coordinating resources and overseeing design and implementation tasks and activities.

Systems Delivery

Ensuring the successful implementation and adoption of the architecture.

Human Psychology

Human psychology as an influence on architecture and design?

Human Behaviors

Studying and understanding how people interact with structures.

Human Emotion

Decoding the positive or negative emotional response to a design as invaluable feedback to improve future designs.

Mental Models

Understanding the mental frameworks humans apply to interactions and their expectations of a system or experience.

Cognitive Biases

Recognizing and avoiding thinking errors, mental shortcuts, and decision-making biases in our designs.

The Purpose of Architecture

Architecture, whether physical, conceptual, or logical, is a disciplined approach to designing, organizing, and structuring elements within a system to facilitate interactions and flows.

All architecture shares a common purpose: creating coherent and functional structures from a set of underlying components.

In essence, the purpose of architecture is what it does.

By understanding the purpose of architecture in these terms, we can appreciate how it serves to organize and structure our physical and conceptual worlds, designing coherent and functional spaces that create enriching human experiences and support future innovation.

Coherence and Functionality

Coherence is defined as the logical, orderly, and aesthetically consistent organization of components and elements, giving a structure a sense of completeness and uniformity.

Coherent architecture achieves visual unity and clearly communicates its purpose.

Functionality refers to how intuitively and effectively a structure serves its purpose, considering the needs and experiences of the humans interacting with it.

Functional architecture meets practical requirements and enhances user interactions.

Architecture must achieve both coherence and functionality because it significantly influences how we as humans interact with the world around us, whether dealing with physical, conceptual, or digital structures.

Why Do We Need Architecture?

Architecture can be applied to fulfill a number of key purposes:

For Structuring and Organizing

Architecture imposes order on chaos by structuring and organizing elements within a system. This enables functionality and efficiency, ensuring that the system operates effectively and as intended.

For Adapting to Change

Architecture provides a framework that can adapt to continuously changing needs and conditions. By creating flexible and scalable structures, architecture ensures that systems can evolve and grow over time.

For Facilitating Interactions

Architecture shapes spaces and systems to facilitate interactions, whether between people, processes, or systems. This promotes open communication, collaboration, and the exchange of ideas and information.

For Enabling Flows

Architecture enables the smooth flow of resources, information, or people within a system. This ensures components work together seamlessly to achieve the desired outcomes.

For Integrating with our Environments

Architecture integrates structures with their surrounding environments, whether physical or digital. This ensures coexistence between the architecture and its context, which enhances the human experience.

For Defining Boundaries and Spaces

Architecture marks boundaries to define spaces and concepts. Where does something begin, and where does it end?

Architecture shapes the contours of our physical and conceptual landscapes.

Physically, architecture establishes boundaries between private and public spaces, natural and human-made environments, and sacred and secular areas.

Conceptually, architecture sets the parameters within which systems and ideas operate, defining the edges of organizations and technologies.

As Foundations for Exploration

Architecture creates a foundation for future exploration.

Just as a base camp serves as a safe and familiar point for climbers preparing for or returning from ascending into the unknown, a solid architectural foundation provides a platform for future innovation.

It acts as a safety net that gives you the confidence to make bigger bets and explore beyond current boundaries and constraints.

Solving Problems with Architecture

Architecture addresses several key problem spaces:

Imposing Order

Architecture structures and organizes underlying elements to create coherent, orderly, and predictable systems.

Enhancing Efficiency

Architecture improves functionality and efficiency by optimizing the designs of spaces and systems to facilitate flows and interactions.

Facilitating Adaptation

Architecture offers frameworks that can adapt to changes in its environment and to the evolving needs of its stakeholders.

Promoting Interaction

Architecture facilitates interactions and communication within and between systems and their elements.

Enabling Resource Flows

Architecture ensures the smooth flow of resources, information, and people through processes and systems.

The Intent of Architecture

If the “purpose” of an architecture is what it does, then the “intent” of an architecture is what we want it to do.

It reflects the vision, motivation, and inherent purpose behind an architecture.

By understanding the intent of architecture, we can appreciate the deeper motivations and higher aims that drive architectural design.

Bringing Order to Chaos

Architecture serves as an antidote to chaos by organizing and structuring elements within a system. This ensures coherence and functionality, allowing the system to operate smoothly and efficiently.

Vision and Motivation

Architectural projects begin with a vision and motivation. This vision guides the design process, reflecting the desired outcomes and the underlying purpose of the architecture.

Vision

The overarching goal or aspiration that drives the architectural design.

Motivation

The reasons and motives behind the creation of the architecture, including practical needs, aesthetic desires, and social, cultural, or environmental considerations.

Facilitating Movement and Engagement

Architecture aims to facilitate or influence movement and engagement with structures through flows and interactions. This focus on flows ensures that spaces and systems are designed to promote effective and efficient movement and interaction.

Flows

The pathways and routes that people, information, and resources follow as they move within a system.

Interactions

The points of engagement and interaction between humans and the architecture.

Communicating Intent and Purpose

Architecture communicates its intent and purpose through design. Well-designed architecture conveys the intended functionality, significance, and goals of a structure or system, ensuring humans understand and engage with it effectively.

Functionality

How well the architecture serves its intended purpose.

Significance

The meaning and importance of the architecture within its context and environment.

Goals

The specific objectives the design aims to achieve, such as cultural, societal, or environmental.

Innovating and Problem Solving

One of the key intents of architecture is to innovate and solve problems. Architectural design often addresses specific challenges, providing innovative solutions that enhance functionality and user experience.

Innovation

Introducing new ideas, methods, or technologies to improve architectural design.

Problem Solving

Addressing and overcoming challenges through thoughtful and effective design.

Integrating Knowledge

Architecture integrates diverse knowledge and expertise to create cohesive and functional designs. This involves drawing from various disciplines and incorporating different perspectives to achieve holistic and thoughtful architecture representative of the humans who contributed to its design and implementation.

Multidisciplinary Approach

Combining insights from engineering, art, science, and other fields.

Holistic Design

Ensuring that all elements of the architecture are considered and integrated.

Creating Meaningful Experiences

Architecture aims to create meaningful experiences for its users. This involves designing spaces and systems that are not only functional but also engaging and enriching.

User Experience

Enhancing the quality of interactions and experiences for users.

Engagement

Creating spaces that invite interaction and participation.

Inviting Interaction

A successful architectural design invites interaction, encouraging users to engage with and explore the structure or system. This fosters a sense of connection and involvement, providing a more fulfilling overall experience.

Accessibility

Ensuring that spaces or systems are easy to navigate and use for everyone.

Interactivity

Designing features that promote active engagement and participation.

Architecture Lifespan

Architectural intent also considers the lifespan of a structure, whether it is meant to be a permanent fixture or a temporary solution. This affects the materials used, the design approach, and the overall impact on the environment.

Permanent Structures

Designed to last and integrate with their environment over the long term.

Temporary Structures

Built for short-term use, often with flexibility and adaptability in mind.

The Applications of Architecture

Architecture without application is simply design, just as design without implementation is simply art.

The application of architecture involves the practical implementation of architecture thinking and technical expertise to solve real-world problems.

To apply architecture thinking and architectural principles means to put them into operation or use, ensuring they serve their intended purpose effectively.

The application of architecture to solving human challenges is where theory meets practice, turning ideas and designs into tangible and functional realities.

By applying core architectural principles to solving problems, we create coherent, practical, and impactful spaces and systems by ordering and structuring the elements within an architecture to serve specific purposes and meet human needs.

Principles of Applying Architecture

Architecture thinking involves a structured yet creative approach characterized by a number of essential qualities.

A Holistic Perspective

Considers the entire system, environment, or context, understanding how each part interacts and contributes to the whole.

Systems Thinking

Applies an understanding of how systems are composed of interconnected pieces and the consideration of the dual perspective of both the entire system and its individual components, and how changes in one part of a system can affect the whole.

Functionality

Ensures that every design element serves a practical purpose and enhances usability.

A Focus on Interactions

Creates structures and systems that facilitate interactions and enhance user experiences. By focusing on how users engage with architecture, we design solutions that are both effective and meaningful.

Aesthetic Integration

Balances form and function, aesthetic appeal with practical functionality, recognizing beauty and utility as complementary. Architectural designs must be both beautiful and useful, serving their intended purposes effectively, while making structures attractive and interactions pleasing.

An Iterative Process

Embraces cycles of modeling, testing, and refinement to improve and perfect the design.

A Problem-Solving Orientation

Ensures we are always on the lookout for innovative and effective solutions to complex issues.

Attention to Detail

Focuses on the specifics of each component without losing sight of the bigger picture.

Adaptability

Allows flexibility in design to accommodate future changes and unforeseen challenges.

Interdisciplinary Collaboration

Encourages input from various fields and disciplines, integrating diverse insights and expertise into the design process.

Where is Architecture Applied?

Architecture can be applied to a wide range of contexts, each with its own unique approach to design and implementation.

Typically when we are designing and implementing the structures and flows of an architecture, it is to solve complex problems, to bring order to chaos, or to make sense of our world and how we interact with it.

Some examples of where architectural principles are commonly applied include:

Physical Spaces

Architectural designs and structures, whether natural or built, must harmonize with their environment. Integrating with the surrounding environment removes friction from what a human experiences and enhances interactions with an architecture.

Applications include residential buildings, commercial buildings, and public structures, aiming to create spaces that are functional, safe, and aesthetically pleasing.

Business Strategy

Architecture can be applied to business strategy, designing organizational structures and workflows that align with business goals and optimize operations.

Applications of business architecture involve aligning organizational structures with business goals, designing workflows and aligning them to business processes, and optimizing business capabilities and services.

Technology Systems

Developing robust and scalable software and enterprise systems, ensuring that technology solutions meet both current and future needs.

Applications include software architecture, data architecture, and network architecture, ensuring systems are secure, scalable, and capable of meeting stakeholder requirements.

Workflow Design

Architectural principles guide the design of efficient workflows, optimizing processes, and facilitating smooth interactions within organizations.