Principles of Architecture

Massing

• A unified composition of two-dimensional shapes or three-dimensional volumes, especially one that has or gives the impression of weight, density, and bulk.

Chimney Effect

• The tendency of air or gas in a shaft or other vertical space to rise when heated, creating a draft that draws in cooler air gas from below.

Dimensional Transformation

• A form can be transformed by altering one or more of its dimensions and still retain it as a member of a family of a form.

Hierarchy

• The articulation of the importance or significance of a form or space by its size, shape, or placement relative to the other forms and spaces of the organization.

Five Points of Architecture

• An Architectural manifesto by the Swiss-French architect, a set of principles for a modern buildings.

Golden Section

• The division of a line so that the whole is to the greater part as that part is to the smaller part (i.e in a ratio of 1 to 1/2 (square root of 5 + 1)), a proportion which is considered to be particularly pleasing to the eye.

Analogous Color Scheme

• It uses colors that are adjacent to each other on the color wheel. One color is used as a dominant color while others are used to enrich the scheme.

2nd Book

• In Four Books of Architecture, the second book discusses the private town houses and country estates.

Articulation

• This refers to the manner in which the surfaces of a form come together to define its shape and volume. It clearly reveals the precise nature of its parts and their relationships to each other and to the whole.

Free facade

• A consequence of concrete frame construction. Because walls were then deprived of their constructional role, their design became free as well.

Rhythm by repetition

• If equally-spaced windows are introduced on the unbroken wall, then regular repetition is present.

The Modulor

• In 1942, Le Corbusier began his study and published "The Modulor" - a Harmonious Measure to the human scale universally applicable to Architecture and Mechanics.

Black

• A color that feels flat and lifeless, yet it provides enormous support to the other hues.

Competition

• When elements compete with each other for the place of importance, there is a competition. This causes 'Duality' or the presence of two strong conflicting personalities or masses resulting in discord and redundancy.

Cluster Form

• Nakagin Capsule Tower by Kisho Kurokawa, identify what type of form composition.

Personal Character

• In architecture, this type of character bears a certain relation to the same attribute of an individual. It is found that the element of personality plays an important part in the revealing character of both with man and with architecture.

Visual Inertia

• The degree of concentration and stability of a form. It depends on its geometry as well as its geometry as well as its orientation relative to the ground plane and our line of sight.