Essays on Architectural Design

Overview

Islamic architecture is based on the traditions of the Muslim community dating as far back as the seventh century. It is well elaborated in traditional Muslim religious buildings such as the mosque and the madrasa. It is believed that the early Islamic architecture drew its designs from Christian architectural features which included columnar arches, mosaics, and domes. Additionally, the architecture included characteristics such as semicircular horseshoe arch and rich decorated surfaces (Ali et.al, 15). On the other hand, modern architecture is used to refer to architectural designs that emerged in the first half of the twentieth century and extensively ...

Introduction

As the world develops, more people expect a higher and better quality of life. In the 21st Century, architecture has evolved significantly and it seeks to maximise the quality of life that people have across the world. Thus, several works have been done, seeking to blend traditional architecture with other disciplines in order to enhance the nature of the built environment. The purpose of this paper is to conduct a book review on Cognitive Architecture: Designing for How We Respond to the Built Environment by Professors Ann Sussman and Justin Hollander. This book review will include an overview of ...

Thesis statement

Introduction The Japanese architecture differs significantly from the rest of the world, and it has undergone an array of changes from the beginning of its history (Abel & Foster, 2012). The history of the Japanese architecture exists in various documents that bear the historical information regarding most conspicuous aspects of the society. The structures originated from the timber and stones and the major ideas faced the influence of the Koreans. Tadao was a critical regionalist who made significant contributions in shaping the architectural designs in Japan, for example, the construction of the Shinto Shrines. It is one of the oldest ...

Introduction

The White Temple, Uruk at Iraq circa 3200 B.C.E., and the Stepped Pyramid of Djoser at Saqqara, circa 2630 B.C.E. execute the basis for architectural comparisons. Despite the ancient origins of each respective architectural building, several components of the designs such as composition and style, will attempt to inform a cogent analysis and discussion herein. Each structure holds a particular meaning or function in its architectural design. A brief overview of history of the White Temple at Uruk, Iraq, will reveal that the citizens of this ancient dwelling eventually abandoned the region until approximately 300 AD, due to a ...

Abstract

Web servers are the building blocks of this generation distributed systems and plays a major role in the enterprise application architectures. Due to the flexibility and openness that these Web server centric computing model offers, though makes this ubiquity possible, it also opens up corporate data and processes to security threats. This paper focuses on the security of the public Web servers. There are many different vulnerabilities such as exploits utilizing software bugs in the underlying operating system, denial of service, unauthorized access of confidential information, man-in-the middle attacks, subvert the Web server and use it as a bot ...

INTRODUCTION

Human civilization has come a long way since it first began establishing communities and attempted to establish law and order. The reality is that there have always been criminals; people who for one reason or another break the laws established and require consequences for their actions. One of the most controversial discussions throughout history is what are the best means to admonish the offenders, protect law-abiding citizens and send a message of deterrence to other would-be offenders. That being said many different approaches to addressing offenders who commit crimes have existed throughout the ancient world to present day. One ...

Ningbo’s newly completed Central Business District (CBD) belies its status as one of China’s oldest cities. The austere downtown landscape is the equivalent of architecture’s white-washed wall: a place of erasure, forgetting, and dubious progress. With the completion of Wang Shu’s Ningbo Museum in 2008, however, the Ningbo of the present is confronted by the forgotten landscape of its not too distant past. A craggy mountain of a building inspired by the region’s natural topographical features as well its unique crafts and architectural traditions, the Ningbo Museum is not simply an obligatory nod to ...

Synopsis

Colomina argues that architecture is not just an envelopment of space; an enclosure of space where people get solace from the elements of nature and other forms of physical threat. Colomina further argues that the impression of the interior of an architectural space is not just what is left by the users of the space; the imprint of their daily activities. Instead, he argues that the interior of an architectural contains hidden mechanisms that may not be overt to the untrained eye. These hidden mechanisms help describe the construction of the interior space of the building (Colomina 233). Based ...

Introduction

Civil engineering and its related fields are very diverse and entail both structural design and architectural work. Structural engineering as we can deduct from the term ‘structure’ deals with the physical components of a given design. For example, in the house construction process, the structural engineer considers all the aspects of materials to be used and consults with the architect to ensure the durability of the home. On the other hand, architectural engineering refers to the technology of incorporating the basic functional aspects of a given design to make sure that an ambient environment has been created. My journey ...

Burj Khalifa is the world’s tallest building and was designed by Skidmore, Owings & Merrill architects, who have been bestowed with the “Global Icon” award. The design of the high-performance building makes use of cutting edge technology and carries cultural and historical influences. The architects faced several challenges when building a tower of this height such as wind, heat, humidity, gravity and earthquake forces. The essay looks at the advanced technical and engineering skills used to create Burj Khalifa and how a skyscrapers’ design should respect cultural values and make the best use of space utilities and add to ...

Nature in city; seed bank; ecosystem and social-urban development.

The terms “ecology” and environment” have different conceptual meanings which often overlap with the concept of “nature” in the context of academic and scientific research and analysis. For instance, ‘Natures and Ecologies’ studies explore the environmental dimensions of ecosystems which includes both physical parameters and biotic attributes of a particular region. The “environment "includes the physical world, the social world of human relations and the built world of human creation. [Ankers 2005] Within the various uses of the word today, "nature" often refers to geology and wildlife. Nature can refer to the general realm of living plants and animals, ...

The Dome of the Rock is the first imperial structure made for Islam and also the second most important Islamic site after Mecca. It was built in the 7th century in Jerusalem by Caliph Abd al-Malik, also known as the Umayyad. As an edifice, the Dome of the Rock is not a mosque, but more of a religious shrine. Like Mecca, the Dome of the Rock stands on a sacred stone this is the period of the Islamic culture, which also involves Mohamed. Mohamed was born in the 6th century in Mecca. The Dome of the Rock has its ...

Music and Architect

When we talk about “Music and Architect’s” the need arises to describe how the architect and the shape of the space have for a long time made considerable impact on music creation and the performance. This establishes a platform that bring out the mutual relationship that exists between music and architecture and in doing so explains that they are dependent on each other. The architectural design is portrayed as being the independent variable whereas the creation of music and the performance is the independent variable. In my opinion this reasoning is biased since although music is to a ...

When we talk about “Music and Architect’s” the need arises to describe how the architect and the shape of the space have for a long time made considerable impact on music creation and the performance. This establishes a platform that bring out the mutual relationship that exists between music and architecture and in doing so explains that they are dependent on each other. The architectural design is portrayed as being the independent variable whereas the creation of music and the performance is the independent variable. Music can simply be defined as an emotional case of artist translated into ...

Modernism in architecture is the most important new style and design of architecture that is associated with a logical approach to the function of buildings, a strictly balanced use of new materials, openness to architectural modernism, and the elimination of ornaments. The development of modernism in architecture could be traced back to the middle of the nineteenth century through the advent of the Bauhaus. The nineteenth century was a long period in the history of architecture because of which it is called the long 19th century. In this era, art and architecture were used in the old style that ...