Surprising Facts About Architecture

Architecture is a pretty awesome profession. Many who work in the field are incredibly creative, are excellent problem solvers and are able to envision large-scale projects entirely in their mind. Due to this required combination of skills, the architecture industry has attracted many visionary – and eccentric – individuals over the centuries. Individuals who have designed amazing buildings and structures, and created tools that transcended their original use. For example, did you know the wildly popular video game The Sims was originally designed as an architecture simulator? The autonomous characters in the game acted as residents who tested out a building’s usability. More into historical facts? The Great Wall of China was under construction for over 2,600 years. It began under the reign of China’s first Emperor, Qin Shi Huang, circa 200 B.C. and was not completed until 1878. Of course, most architectural creations took nowhere near this long. And some buildings were well ahead of their time. New York City’s Cooper Union Foundation Building was built in 1857 and included an elevator shaft – even though modern elevators hadn’t been invented yet. These days, architecture may be considered an art form, but it was initially included in the Olympics as a sport. During the first several decades of the Olympics, medals were awarded for architecture – alongside music, painting, sculpting and literature.