Cities and Urban Spaces / Architecture and Construction | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Architecture is the art of constructing individual buildings, integrating new buildings within existing architectural organisation and space, and constructing totally new urban or rural centres within the landscape as well. When designing a building, an architect defines its volume, orientation and height, decides on the number of windows and doors, as well as deciding on appropriate materials, surfaces and decorative features. In cities, the architect must harmonise the building with the rest of the urban web in order to maintain overall visual order. Provision must include public and private spaces as well as residential, religious and municipal areas. These all need to meet the different requirements of users and respond to the local environment and climate. Symbolic expression is seen commonly in palace, military, municipal and governmental architecture. How buildings appear depends very much on the building materials used, its purpose, and who commissioned it, but modes of fashion and advances in materials and techniques also impact on their appearance. In the 19th century new aesthetic canons, construction techniques and materials were employed by architects working in Europe as well as in the Arab and Ottoman world. European influences on Arab and Ottoman architecture are notable in several ways: the change to solid, high buildings constructed along wide, long axial streets and squares, and the integration of commercial centres and new residential complexes among traditional mosques, markets and family houses. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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