Why do we need architecture?
Architecture is needed in all sorts of creative projects. Of course we know architecture used in the context of building houses or other buildings. A clear structure for the building must be laid out by the architect so that different professional disciplines are on the same line on what should be built. For example there are bricklayers, electricians, plumbers and roof makers who all have to know what the building should be like. In this case its mostly done with a structured map of the building.

For a skyscraper a different pattern is used then when building a house.
Architectural patterns in software development are much like these structured maps.

What is an architectural pattern?
A "pattern" has been defined as “an idea that has been useful in one practical context and will probably be useful in others.

An Architectural Pattern expresses a fundamental structural organization or schema for software systems. It provides a set of predefined subsystems, specifies their responsibilities, and includes rules and guidelines for organizing the relationships between them.

A distributed system is a software system in which components located on networked computers communicate and coordinate their actions by passing messages

Adaptive architecture is a system which changes its structure, behaviour or resources according to demand. The adaptation made is usually [always?] to non-functional characteristics rather than functional ones.

Mud-to-structure patterns
I will be talking about 3 most known mud-to-structure architectural patterns. Mud to structure patterns help us in how we can transform requirements into organized structur

Pipes and Filters (Mud-to-structure)

The Pipes and Filters pattern provides a structure for systems that process a stream of data. Each processing step is encapsulated in a filter component. Data is passed through pipes between adjacent filters. Recombining filters allows you to build families of related systems.

Blackboard pattern (Mud-to-structure)

The Blackboard pattern is useful for problems for which no deterministic solution strategies are known. In Blackboard several specialized subsystems assemble their knowledge to build a possibly partial or approximate solution.

Layers pattern (Mud-to-structure)

The Layers pattern helps to structure applications that can be decomposed into groups of subtasks in which each group of subtasks is at a particular level of abstraction.

Mostly used for large systems.

Common layers:

• Presentation layer (UI)

• Application layer

• Business layer

• Infrastructure/technology layer

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There is often no explicit distinction between the business layer and the application layer (i.e., the application layer may be considered part of the business layer). On the other hand, one might further divide the application/business layers. For example, if the Model View Presenter pattern is used, the presenter layer might be used as an additional layer between the user interface layer and the application layer.
Further reading and used sources:

http://aahninfotech.com/arct_pattern.html

http://stackoverflow.com/questions/3958316/whats-the-difference-between-architectural-patterns-and-architectural-styles

http://www.opengroup.org/public/arch/p4/patterns/patterns.htm

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ee658117.aspx

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb402960.aspx

http://www.nyu.edu/classes/jcf/g22.2440-001_sp09/slides/session8/g22_2440_001_c82.pdf

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adaptive_architecture

http://www.teamquest.com/solutions/itil/ict-infrastructure-management/

http://www.cs.rug.nl/paris/papers/EPLOP05.pdf

http://pubs.opengroup.org/architecture/togaf8-doc/arch/chap28.html

http://www.sei.cmu.edu/library/abstracts/news-at-sei/architect200708.cfm