THE 9 BRANCHES OF ARCHITECTURE AND WHAT THEY STUDY - CULTURE VOCABULARY - 2025

The branches of architecture are business, cognitive, computational, corporate, interior, landscaping, marine, software, and systems architecture. Architecture is the mastery and wisdom when it comes to planning, designing, and constructing buildings. It covers the interior and exterior spaces and the design from the simplest room to that of multi-level complexes and multifunctional spaces.

Architecture is not only concerned with creating spaces that are functional and durable. Rather, architects are also taught to design each space in such a way that it is also aesthetically pleasing to the eye and promotes the health and well-being of its occupants. Ergonomically designed spaces go a long way toward achieving these latter goals.

Apart from the actual design and planning of the buildings or houses, architecture also refers to the practical aspects of the construction of these buildings.

Therefore, it also includes estimating the cost and materials required, the number of people required to complete the project within a specified time frame, and other details required for the construction of the structure.

The importance of this science lies in the fact that the construction carried out under its parameters has a great sociocultural load that may be relevant for the anthropological studies of the following generations.

Main branches of architecture

Architecture comprises specific areas that have been distinctively determined. Here are the most important branches of architecture.

Business architecture

It is defined as "a business plan that provides a common understanding of the organization and is used to align strategic objectives and tactical demands."

The people who develop and maintain business architecture are known as business architects.

The business architecture is the bridge between the business model and business strategy on one side, and the business functionality of the company on the other side.

Cognitive architecture

It refers to theories about the structure of the human mind. One of the main objectives of this branch is to summarize the various results of cognitive psychology in a complete computer model.

However, the results must be formalized to the extent that they can be the basis of a computer program.

Formalized models can be used to refine a comprehensive theory of cognition, and more immediately, as a commercially usable model.

Successful cognitive architectures include ACT-R (Adaptive Thought Control, ACT) and SOAR.

The Institute of Creative Technologies defines cognitive architecture as:

Computational architecture

The computational architecture is a set of rules and processes that detail the functionality, distribution and execution of computer procedures.

Some architecture definitions define it by describing the capabilities and programming model of a computer, but not a particular implementation.

In other definitions, computational architecture involves instruction set design, microarchitecture design, logical design, and implementation.

Corporate or business architecture

It is a well-defined practice for conducting business analysis, design, planning, and implementation, using a comprehensive approach at all times, for successful strategy development and execution.

Enterprise architecture applies architectural principles and practices to guide organizations through the business, information, processes, and technological changes necessary to execute their strategies.

These practices use the various aspects of a business to identify, motivate, and achieve these changes.

Enterprise architects are responsible for conducting business structure and process analysis and are often invited to draw conclusions from the information collected to address corporate architecture goals: effectiveness, efficiency, agility, and durability.

Interior architecture

It refers to the design of a space that has been created by structural limits and human interaction within these limits.

It can also refer to the redesign of an internal space as part of sustainable architecture practices, conserving resources by "recycling" an adaptive redesign structure.

It can describe the redesign of a place because its purpose of use has been changed. For example, a room that used to be for an adult and will now be for a child needs structural changes to improve safety.

This architecture is the process through which the interiors of buildings are designed, dealing with all aspects of human uses of structural spaces.

Landscaping (landscape architecture)

It is the design of public outdoor areas, landmarks and structures to achieve environmental, social-behavioral or aesthetic results.

It involves the systematic investigation of the social, ecological and soil conditions and processes existing in the landscape, and the design of interventions that will produce the desired result.

Naval architecture

Also known as naval engineering, it is an engineering discipline that deals with the process of engineering design, shipbuilding, maintenance and operation of ships and marine structures.

Naval architecture involves basic research, applied research, design, development, design evaluation, and calculations in all life stages of a marine vehicle.

Software Architecture

It refers to the structure in a software system, the discipline of creating such structures, and the documentation of these structures.

These structures are necessary to reason about the software system. Each structure comprises software elements, relationships between them, and properties of both elements and relationships.

The architecture of a software system is a metaphor, analogous to the architecture of a building.

Systems architecture

Systems architecture is a conceptual model that defines the structure, behavior, and other perspectives of a system.

A representation of this architecture is a formal description and representation of a system, organized in a way that supports reasoning about the structures and behaviors of the system.

References

1. Hannu Jaakkola and Bernhard Thalheim. (2011) "Architecture-driven modeling methodologies." In: Proceedings of the 2011 conference on Information Modeling and Knowledge Bases XXII. Anneli Heimbürger et al. (eds). IOS Press. p. 98.
2. Fez-Barringten, Barie (2012). Architecture: The Making of Metaphors. Newcastle upon Tyne: Cambridge Scholars Publishing. ISBN 978-1-4438-3517-6.
3. John Ruskin, The Seven Lamps of Architecture, G. Allen (1880), reprinted Dover, (1989) ISBN 0-486-26145-X.
4. Hennessy, John; Patterson, David. Computer Architecture: A Quantitative Approach (Fifth ed.). p. 11. This task has many aspects, including instruction set design, functional organization, logic design, and implementation. "
5. James S. Ackerman, Peter Collins and Others. (June 24, 2016). Architecture. July 27, 2017, from Encyclopædia Britannica, inc. Website: britannica.com
6. Whelan, J.; Meaden, G. (2012). Business Architecture: A practical guide. Ashgate. ISBN 978-1-4094-3859-5.
7. Jarvis, Bob (2003) Enterprise Architecture: Understanding the Bigger Picture - A Best Practice Guide for Decision Makers in IT, The UK National Computing Center, Manchester, UK. p. 9.
8. Lewis V, Edward (Ed.); (June 1989). Principles of Naval Architecture (2nd Rev.) Vol. 1 - Society of Naval Architects and Marine Engineers. ISBN 0-939773-00-7.
9. Bass, Len; Paul Clements; Rick Kazman (2012). Software Architecture In Practice, Third Edition. Boston: Addison-Wesley. ISBN 978-0-321-81573-6.
10. Ali Babar, Muhammad; Dingsoyr, Torgeir; Lake, Patricia; van Vliet, Hans (2009). Software Architecture Knowledge Management. Dordrecht Heidelberg London New York: Springer. ISBN 978-3-642-02373-6.