Architectural style
**1. Overview of Architectural Style:**
– Architectural style is a classification based on characteristics.
– Styles are associated with historical epochs and geographical locations.
– Architectural style reflects the attitude and movement of people in a period.
– Contemporary architecture heavily relies on computer-aided design.
– Folk architecture applies local customs to small-scale construction.
**2. Evolution and Spread of Architectural Styles:**
– Styles emerge gradually as architects adapt to new ideas.
– Architectural styles spread to other places and evolve uniquely.
– Revivals and reinterpretations occur after styles go out of fashion.
– Classicism has been revived as neoclassicism multiple times.
– Spanish mission style evolved into Mission Revival and Spanish Colonial Revival.
**3. Historical Development of Architectural Style Concept:**
– Early writings on architectural history treated it as a patrimony.
– Giorgio Vasari shifted the narrative to biographies of artists in the 16th century.
– 19th-century scholars constructed schemes of historic art and architecture.
– Art historians proposed grand schemes tracing the transmission of styles.
– Stylistic change in architecture often follows the discovery of new techniques or materials.
**4. Debate and Influence of Architectural Style:**
– Style provides a relationship between disparate buildings.
– Extensive debate on style has existed since the 19th century.
– Some argue that style classification misses architects’ hidden ideas.
– Studying architecture history through styles reflects changes in materials and beliefs.
– Architectural styles serve as historical tools beyond aesthetic value.
**5. Practical Considerations and Influence of Architectural Style:**
– Architects in the 19th century used historical styles due to aesthetic and social factors.
– The choice of architectural style became a practical consideration.
– The Cambridge Camden Society advocated for Norman style in British colonies.
– Architects and builders were encouraged to repeat English architectural history.
– Discussions on appropriate styles were elaborate.
An architectural style is a classification of buildings (and nonbuilding structures) based on a set of characteristics and features, including overall appearance, arrangement of the components, method of construction, building materials used, form, size, structural design, and regional character.
Architectural styles are frequently associated with a historical epoch (Renaissance style), geographical location (Italian Villa style), or an earlier architectural style (Neo-Gothic style), and are influenced by the corresponding broader artistic style and the "general human condition". Heinrich Wölfflin even declared an analogy between a building and a costume: an "architectural style reflects the attitude and the movement of people in the period concerned.
The 21st century construction uses a multitude of styles that are sometimes lumped together as a "contemporary architecture" based on the common trait of extreme reliance on computer-aided architectural design (cf. Parametricism).[citation needed]
Folk architecture (also "vernacular architecture") is not a style, but an application of local customs to small-scale construction without clear identity of the builder.