ARCHITECTURE: FORM, FUNCTION,AND FIT
The term ‘architecture’ is frequently used in the characterization of structures, such as buildings or cities, but increasingly the concept of architecture is being applied to other domains, including products , industries , and organizations .
‘fundamental organization of a system embodied in its components, their relationships to eachother and to the environment, and the principlesguiding its design and evolution’ (Maier, Emery, and Hilliard, 2001: 108).
Contained in this definition is the layman’s understanding that structure should be consistent with purpose (‘form must follow function’). Over time, the concept of architecture across a variety of domains has shifted from a focus on the design of specific structures to a focus on principles that foster coherence, growth, and change (Avermaete, 2005).