Architectural Styles

Architectural Styles

• Classical: Derived from Greek and Roman architecture, characterized by five orders of architecture (Tuscan, Doric, Ionic, Corinthian, Composite), and symmetrical proportions.
• Renaissance: Developed during the rebirth of classical art and learning in Europe, characterized by classical orders, round arches, and symmetrical proportions.
• Baroque: More ornate than the Renaissance, characterized by deliberate attempts to impress, lavish use of all styles.
• Rococo: Final phase of Baroque, characterized by profuse and semi-abstract ornamentation, associated with lightness, swirling forms, flowing lines, ornate stucco work, and arabesque ornament.

Medieval and Gothic Styles

• Romanesque: Emerged from Roman and Byzantine elements, characterized by massive articulated wall structures, arches, and vaults.
• Gothic: Revolutionary style of construction, emerged from Romanesque and Byzantine forms, characterized by delicate balance of forces, with thrusts directed throughout a rigid structural lattice.

19th and 20th Century Styles

• Art Nouveau: Characterized by fluid, undulating motifs, often derived from natural forms.
• Art Deco: Style Moderne, marked by geometric motifs, streamlined and sharply defined outlines, and often bold colors.
• International Style: Functional architecture devoid of regional characteristics, characterized by simple geometric forms, large untextured white surfaces, and general use of steel or reinforced concrete construction.
• Bauhaus: Concepts and ideas characterized by synthesis of technology, craft, and design aesthetics; emphasizes functional design.

Modern and Contemporary Styles

• Expressionism: Buildings treated as functional structures and sculptural objects.
• Brutalism: Emphasizes aesthetic use of basic building processes like cast-in-place concrete with no apparent concern for visual amenity.
• Postmodernism: Reaction against international style and modernism, encourages use of elements from historical vernacular styles and often playful illusion, decoration, and complexity.
• Organic Architecture: Expression of personal freedom, harmony between structure and environment, integration of individual parts to the whole concept, all forms should express natural use of elements.
• Deconstructivism: Neo-modern or post-structuralism, questions traditional assumptions and takes modernist abstraction to extreme and exaggerates known motifs.
• Evolutionary Architecture: Design grows and develops based on climatic and ecological elements as well as advances in technology, approached as a living organism as if natural forces had shaped the structure.
• Conceptual Architecture: Invisible or imaginary architecture, represents plans and drawings for buildings and cities that have never been constructed, pure research or speculation.