Dubbed ITIL v.3.0, this definition is probably the industry's most widely accepted approach to IT service management. Its platform-neutral and vendor-neutral approach is successfully used by large organizations around the globe. It defines an architecture as: The structure of a system or IT service, including the relationships of components to each other and to the environment they are in. Architecture also includes the standards and guidelines that guide the design and evolution of the system.

CIO.com has plenty more ITIL resources, if you're interested in the topic.

Sounds good. Heads nod. But what does this mean? Thankfully, some folks took the time to define architecture in plain English on Wikipedia. This definition is clearly oriented towards construction design, as this excerpt illustrates:

As a process, architecture is the activity of designing and constructing buildings and other physical structures by a person or a machine, primarily done to provide socially purposeful shelter.

But look at the next sentence. It maps perfectly to ITIL 3.0, and better still, is understandable by anyone, including a CIO or CEO without a deeply technical background (emphasis mine):

A wider definition often includes the design of the total built environment, from the macro level of how a building integrates with its surrounding man-made landscape (see town planning, urban design, and landscape architecture) to the micro level of architectural or construction details and, sometimes, furniture.

Who among us thought architecture simply meant a design, blueprint, flow chart or model? Don't raise your hand; someone might be looking. The key distinction here is that an architecture, done right, never stands alone. It must always be designed to exist in the context of the total built environment—a distinction that opens up a can of worms or a world of opportunity, depending on your point of view.

Got time for a canonical example of architecture? Consider Frank Lloyd Wright's Fallingwater. Most architects then, and now, would have designed the mountain retreat to be erected in a clearing. Not Wright. He engineered the building's integration with the surrounding natural environment. He also designed the walnut furnishings, fixtures, artwork, lighting—every detail of the interior space was considered, including how and why (!) residents would see the building's namesake. (Hit the links.)

Wright's architecture was more than a set of sterile blueprints for a building. He accounted for the design of the total built environment. The result is one of the greatest examples of modern architecture. It's also the perfect muse for a service-oriented software architecture.