Architecture is the art and the science of building. Without consideration of structural principles, materials, and social and economic requirements a building cannot take form, but unless aesthetic quality also is inherent in its form the building cannot be considered as a work of architecture.
From the very beginnings of architecture many skills, systems, and theories have been evolved for the construction of the buildings that have housed nations and generations of men in all their essential activities, and writing on architecture is almost as old as writing itself. The oldest book we have that sets forth the principles upon which buildings should be designed and aims to guide the architect is the work of Marcus Virtruvius Pollio, [ ‘ma:k s vit’ruvi s p ‘liou] written in the first century B.C.
Architecture is an art, its contemporary expression must be creative and consequently new. The heritage of the past cannot be ignored, but it must be expressed in contemporary terminology.