What Is Architecture?

John Hill

24. June 2013

Photo: Screenshots

The question "what is architecture?" is one of the most basic—but also one of the most difficult—things architects ask themselves. It is a philosophical question that resists a definitive answer yet provokes intellectual exploration. Architects' answers also help define how their designs look and perform. Architecture students at the University of Innsbruck ask this and other related questions of a number of architects, and here we compile a sampling.

It is also a question that is particularly important for students who are looking for different perspectives on architecture as they come to form their own definitions. Architecture students at the University of Innsbruck ask this and other related questions (What can architecture do? What is your architectural position? What is your design method?) of a number of architects for dasMONOKEL, and here we compile a sampling.