Architectural style

Architectural styles classify architecture in terms of the use of form, techniques, materials, time period, region and other stylistic influences. It overlaps with, and emerges from the study of the evolution and history of architecture. In architectural history, the study of Gothic architecture, for instance, would include all aspects of the cultural context that went into the design and construction of these structures. Hence, architectural style is a way of classifying architecture that gives emphasis to characteristic features of design, leading to a terminology such as Gothic "style".

Contents

Chronology of styles

Prehistoric

Early civilizations developed, often independently, in scattered locations around the globe. The architecture was often a mixture of styles in timber cut from local forests, and stone hewn from local rocks. Most of the timber has gone, although the earthworks remain. Impressive, massive stone structures have survived.

Ancient Americas


Mediterranean and Middle-East Civilizations

Ancient Near East and Mesopotamia

Classical Antiquity

Iranian and Persian

Islamic

South Asia

Ancient India

Historic Temple Styles

Dravidian and Vesara Temple Styles

Other historic eras

  • Māru-Gurjara Temple Architecture 500-? (Rajastan)
    • Maha-Maru
    • Maru-Gurjara
  • Kalinga Architecture (Orissa and N Andhra Pradesh)
    • Rekha Deula
    • Pidha Deula
    • Khakhara Deula

Islamic influences

  • Indo-Saracenic Revival aka Hindoo Style, Indo-Gothic, Mughal-Gothic, Neo-Mughal, Hindu-Gothic late 19th c. (British India aka The Raj)

Also

Europe up to 1000 AD

Early Medieval Ages

Eastern European

Medieval Europe

The dominance of the Church over everyday life was expressed in grand spiritual designs which emphasized piety and sobriety. The Romanesque style was simple and austere. The Gothic style heightened the effect with heavenly spires, pointed arches and ornamental religious carvings.[3]

Romanesque

Associated styles

Gothic

1140-1520

The Renaissance and its successors

1425-1660+. The Renaissance began in Italy and spread through Europe, rebelling against the all-powerful Church, by placing Man at the centre of his world instead of God.[4] The Gothic spires and pointed arches were replaced by classical domes and rounded arches, with comfortable spaces and entertaining details, in a celebration of humanity. The Baroque style was a florid development of this 200 years later, largely by the Catholic Church to restate its religious values.

United Kingdom

Spain

Colonial

Baroque

1600-1800, up to 1900

Neoclassicism

1720-1837 and on. A time often depicted as a rural idyll by the great painters, but in fact was a hive of early industrial activity, with small kilns and workshops springing up wherever materials could be mined or manufactured. After the Renaissance, neoclassical forms were developed and refined into new styles for public buildings and the gentry.

Neoclassical


Revivalism and Orientalism

19th- early 20th century. The Victorian Era was a time of giant leaps forward in technology and society, such as iron bridges, aqueducts, sewer systems, roads, canals, trains and factories. As engineers, inventors and businessmen they reshaped much of the British Empire, including the UK, India, Australia, South Africa and Canada, and influenced Europe and the USA. Architecturally, they were revivalists who modified old styles to suit new purposes.

Revivals originating prior to the Victorian Era

Victorian Revivals

Orientalism

Revivals in North America

Other late 19th century

Rural styles


Reactions to the Industrial Revolution

1880-1940. As a reaction to the dirty towns, urbanisation and mechanisation, movements appeared calling for a return to wholesome living, craftsmanship and a connection with nature. Some of this was manifested in a taste for exotic cultures and spirituality.

Arts and Crafts in Europe

Arts and Crafts in the USA

Modernism

1880+. The Industrial Revolution had brought steel, plate glass, and mass-produced components. These enabled a brave new world of bold structural frames, with clean lines and plain or shiny surfaces. In the early stages, a popular motto was "decoration is a crime". In Eastern Europe the Communists rejected the West's decadent ways, and modernism developed in a markedly more bureaucratic, sombre and monumental fashion.

Modernism under communism

New Tradition

Post-War

1945-

Other 20th century

Post-Modernism and the 21st century

Vernacular styles

Generic methods

European

North American

Native American

South American

African

  • Central and South African countries - Rondavel

Asian

Australasian

  • English-speaking Australasia (Australia, New Zealand) - Slab hut
  • Australia - Aborigine Humpy

Alphabetical listing

See also

References

  1. ^ Great Mosque of Kairouan (Qantara Mediterranean Heritage)
  2. ^ John Stothoff Badeau and John Richard Hayes, The Genius of Arab civilization: source of Renaissance. Taylor & Francis. 1983. p. 104
  3. ^ Robert Stuart (1854), Cyclopedia of architecture: historical, descriptive, typographical, decorative, theoretical and mechanical, alphabetically arranged, familiarly explained, and adapted to the comprehension of workmen, A. S. Barnes & Co, p. 75
  4. ^ Gerald Leinwand, The pageant of world history, Prentice-Hall, 1990, page 330
  • White, Norval; Elliott Willensky (2000). AIA Guide to New York (4th ed.). New York: Random House. ISBN 0-8129-3107-6. 
  • Lewis, Philippa; Gillian Darley (1986). Dictionary of Ornament, NY: Pantheon
  • Baker, John Milnes, AIA (1994) American House Styles, NY: Norton

Further reading

  • Hamlin Alfred Dwight Foster, History of Architectural Styles, BiblioBazaar, 2009
  • Carson Dunlop, Architectural Styles, Dearborn Real Estate, 2003

External links