In order for a building to be considered architecture, it must appeal to the senses. In other words, it must be beautiful. Architects therefore need to possess a good sense for beauty and design in order to create structures that clients consider beautiful.

Although no one can conclusively define exactly what makes a building beautiful, there are certain works of architecture that inspire a positive response in everyone. There is also evidence that certain shapes, such as spirals, curves, grids, and zigzags are found beautiful by all cultures, and that certain parts of the human brain are stimulated when the nervous system experiences what it perceives as beauty (a scientific field of study known as neuroaesthetics).

This suggests that although beauty could be influenced by culture to some degree, it might also be universal at some level. Good architecture schools will therefore usually have students study the designs of outstanding works of architecture throughout history to see if they can identify and define the common elements that make those designs unanimously beautiful. The curriculum of architecture schools also usually includes classes in which students explore the basic concepts, methods, and skills of architectural design, with an emphasis on craftsmanship.

Aesthetics in architecture is also connected with space, dimension, and direction. In fact, neuroaesthetic studies have found that the brain appears to encode horizontal and vertical space dimensions in different ways, and that the lack of recognizable landmarks seems to cause disorientation. Findings like these could have important implications for architecture. It is well known that successful floor plans utilize space, dimension, and direction in such a way as to allow easily accessible routes into, around, and out of the building, in addition to taking into account how the rooms relate to each other, as well as to public and private areas.