Anarchitectural style is characterised by the features that make a building or other structure notable and historically identifiable. A style may include such elements asform, method ofconstruction,building materials, and regional character. Mostarchitecture can be classified as a chronology of styles which change over time reflecting changing fashions, beliefs and religions, or the emergence of new ideas, technology, or materials which make new styles possible.
Styles therefore emerge from the history of a society and are documented in the subject ofarchitectural history. At any time several styles may be fashionable, and when a style changes it usually does so gradually, as architects learn and adapt to new ideas. Styles often spread to other places, so that the style at its source continues to develop in new ways while other countries follow with their own twist. A style may also spread throughcolonialism, either by foreign colonies learning from their home country, or by settlers moving to a new land. After a style has gone out of fashion, there are often revivals and re-interpretations. For instance,classicism has been revived many times and found new life asneoclassicism. Each time it is revived, it is different.
Vernacular architecture, or simply the vernacular, unliketraditional architecture is not designed by architects. It represents a native method of construction used by local people, usually using labour-intensive methods and local materials, and usually for small structures such as rural cottages. It varies from region to region even within a country, and takes little account of national styles or technology. As construction technology developed, vernacular styles have often become outmoded by new technology and national building standards.
Earlycivilizations 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. Impressively, massive stone structures have survived for years.
The architecture ofAncient Greece andAncient Rome, derived from the ancient Mediterranean civilizations such as atKnossos on Crete. They developed highly refined systems for proportions and style, using mathematics and geometry.
The European Early Middle Ages are generally taken to run from the end of theRoman Empire, around 400 AD, to around 1000 AD. During this period, Christianity made a significant impact on European culture.
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 religious carvings.[2]
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.[5] 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.[6]
1720–1837 and onward. 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.
Late 19th and early 20th centuries. 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 United States. Architecturally, they were revivalists who modified old styles to suit new purposes.
1880 onwards. The Industrial Revolution had brought steel, plate glass, and mass-produced components. These enabled structural frames with clean lines and plain or shiny surfaces. In the early stages, a popular motto was "decoration is a crime". In theEastern Bloc the Communists rejected theWestern Bloc's 'decadent' ways, and modernism developed in a markedly more bureaucratic, sombre, and monumental fashion.
^abReally, Mudéjar style had phases according to the general European styles, there was Romanesque Mudéjar, Gothic Mudéjar and even Renaissance Mudéjar.
^Gerald Leinwand,The pageant of world history, Prentice-Hall, 1990, page 330
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