Although the word "architect" derives from the Greek phrase meaning "master builder," in practice "architecture" has gradually acquired the connotation "art of building." Today not all architects would admit that it is an art. Several of them would insist that it is an application of technology, while others would claim that it is a science. However, all would agree that the product of the discipline is real, whether it be a single building, a group of buildings, a community, or a whole city- even if the architect is concerned only with the design and conception. The fact is that architecture started as a technique of construction, which was gradually specialized into the construction of buildings rather than the building of bridges, roads, and public works, which became the special domain of the engineer. Architecture began as a technique and was transformed into an art - sometimes completely overshadowing the technique. It began as handicraft and artisanship (the architect was the actual builder-entrepreneur), then turned to design and management. Architecture is concerned with individual houses, large composite building complexes, and even whole cities, although the latter specialization is also the province of the town planner.