What is architecture?
Well, first of all, in software context, the word is a metaphor.
A figure of speech in which a term or phrase is applied to something to which it is not literally applicable in order to suggest a resemblance.
Obviously the suggested resemblance is to the buildings architecture.
So a better question would be:
To what concepts is the metaphor applied?
There are probably many but seems that the outstanding ones are the following three:
1. Culture – The domain of interest and the set of knowledge for a particular person or group.
2. Process – The process/activity of defining the structure of a software system
3. Characteristic – A structural characteristic of a software system.
Adrian Bontea 