In an existing system some combination of these attributes:
- High quality (e.g. low number of issues hit by customers, resilient to failures, efficient, secure etc.)
- Easy to maintain (well organized, broken down in a sensible way into components or layers)
- Easy to extend/adapt to future requirements (i.e. the designer was able to anticipate the likely direction of the system and account for that in the design)
Automated testing feels a bit orthogonal to me but a system that is easy to test is likely one with a better architecture. It's not strictly part of what I'd call architecture.
Less different technologies - YES!
Runs on fewer machines is a sign of an efficient/performant design. Less well designed systems exhibit bloat that is often made up for by running on more machines.
We sometimes point to ISO25010 [0] if management or not so experienced devs are asking. It contains a good deal of the relevant "qualities" you keep an eye on for quality.
[0] https://iso25000.com/index.php/en/iso-25000-standards/iso-25...