Defining architecture : A qualitative research

Abstract

The aim of this research is to establish an operational definition of architecture used by practising architects, architecture students and academics. From the feedback received through a questionnaire, practitioners, irrespective of gender, defined architecture as an art and an applied science complementary to the environment, a synergic expression of aesthetics and function. Phenomenology has a leading role in defining architecture for students, the other element being the historico-traditional dimension. Academics defined architecture as a functional space developed through dialogue between human activity/ies and the environment.