The following outline is an overview and topical guide to architecture: Architecture – the process and the product of designing and constructing buildings. Architectural works with a certain indefinable combination of design quality and external circumstances may become cultural symbols and / or be considered works of art. What type of thing is architecture? Architecture can be described as all of the following: Academic discipline – focused study in one academic field or profession. A discipline incorporates expertise, people, projects, communities, challenges, studies, inquiry, and research areas that are strongly associated with the given discipline. Buildings – buildings and similar structures, the product of architecture, are referred to as architecture. One of the arts – as an art form, architecture is an outlet of human expression, that is usually influenced by culture and which in turn helps to change culture. Architecture is a physical manifestation of the internal human creative impulse. Fine art – in Western European academic traditions, fine art is art developed primarily for aesthetics, distinguishing it from applied art that also has to serve some practical function. The word "fine" here does not so much denote the quality of the artwork in question, but the purity of the discipline according to traditional Western European canons. Science – systematic enterprise that builds and organizes knowledge in the form of testable explanations and predictions about the universe. A science is a branch of science, or a discipline of science. It's a way of pursuing knowledge, not only the knowledge itself. Applied science – branch of science that applies existing scientific knowledge to develop more practical applications, such as technology or inventions. Definitions of architecture Architecture is variously defined in conflicting ways, highlighting the difficulty of describing the scope of the subject precisely: A general term to describe buildings and other physical structures – although not all buildings are generally considered to be architecture, and infrastructure (bridges, roads etc.) is civil engineering, not architecture. The art and science, or the action and process, of designing and constructing buildings. The design activity of the architect, the profession of designing buildings. A building designed by an architect, the end product of architectural design. A building whose design transcends mere function, a unifying or coherent form or structure. The expression of thought in building. A group or body of buildings in a particular style. A particular style or way of designing buildings. Some