Friday, November 10, 2006

Architecture and buildings

The difference between architecture and building is a subject that has engaged the notice of many. According to Nicolas Pilsner, European historian of the early twentieth century, a bicycle shed is a construction; Lincoln Cathedral is a piece of architecture. This difference, however, is not a clear one, and fashionable scholarship is showing that all buildings, cathedrals and bicycle sheds alike, are part of a single field that characterizes the build world.
Structural design is also the art of designing the built situation. Buildings, landscape, and street design may be used to impart both functional as well as aesthetic character to a project. Siding and roofing materials and colors may be used to enhance or blend buildings with the environment. Building features such as cornices, gables, entrances, fenestrations and textures may be used to soften or enhance portions of a building. Landscaping may be used to create privacy and block direct views from or to a site and enhance buildings with colorful plants and trees. Street side features such as decorative illumination, benches, indirect walkways, and bicycle lanes may improve a site for passerby, pedestrians, and cyclists.

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