Table Of ContentOWEN HOPKINS
Architectural Styles
A Visual Guide
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Published in 2014 FRONT COVER
by Laurence King Publishing Ltd
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Design © 2014 Laurence King Publishing
Text and photography © 2014 Owen Hopkins
BACK COVER
Owen Hopkins has asserted his right under
the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 Top left Richard Rogers and Renzo Piano,
to be identifi ed as the Author of this Work. Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris, France,
1977 (see High-Tech, page 192)
All rights reserved. No part of this publication
may be reproduced or transmitted in any Top right Pont du Gard, near Nîmes, France,
form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, ca. fi rst century CE (see Ancient Roman,
including photocopy, recording or any page 13)
information storage and retrieval system,
without prior permission in writing from Bottom left Oscar Niemeyer, Plaza of
the publisher. the Three Powers, Brasília, Brazil, 1958
(see Regionalism, page 197)
A catalogue record for this book is available
from the British Library. Bottom right Giacomo Leoni, Clandon Park,
Surrey, England, 1730–33 (see Palladianism,
ISBN 978 178067 163 5 page 101)
Designed by Rose-Innes Associates
Printed in China
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Contents
Introduction 5 French Baroque 84 After Modernism 194
English Baroque 88 Regionalism 196
Rococo 92 Postmodernism 200
Deconstructivism 204
Classical 6 Neoclassicism 96 Eco-architecture 208
Ancient Greek 8 Palladianism 98 Expressive Rationalism 212
Ancient Roman 12 Classical Revival 102 Contextualism 216
Greek Revival 106
Early Christian 16 Empire Style 110
Byzantine 18 Picturesque 114
Romanesque 22 Sublime 118 Postscript 221
Gothic and Medieval 26 Eclecticism 122 Further reading 222
Early Gothic 28 Gothic Revival 124
High Gothic 32 Orientalism 128 Glossary 224
Late Gothic 36 Beaux-Arts 132
Venetian Gothic 40 Arts and Crafts 136 Index 233
Secular Gothic 44 Art Nouveau 140
Castle 48 Art Deco 144 Picture credits 239
Renaissance and Mannerism 52 Modernism 148 Acknowledgements 240
Early Renaissance 54 Chicago School 150
High Renaissance 58 Expressionism 154
Northern Renaissance 62 New Objectivity 158
Mannerism 66 International Style 162
Functionalism 166
Baroque and Rococo 70 Constructivism 170
Italian Baroque 72 Totalitarian Reactions 174
German and Eastern European Essentialism 178
Baroque 76 Brutalism 182
Spanish and Latin American Metabolism 186
Baroque 80 High-Tech 190
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Introduction
The very notion of architectural ‘style’ is largely a one ‘style’ or another, no matter how one conceives it.
creation of the nineteenth century, and, indeed, of the Moreover, when drawing together works of architecture
discipline of architectural history itself. The fi gure with that exhibit certain shared ‘stylistic’ characteristics one
whom the concept of ‘style’ is mostly closely associated is necessarily excluding others that do not. Shaped by
during this period was the Swiss architectural historian individual minds and hands as much as broad trends,
Heinrich Wölffl in. A student of the infl uential German architecture of all periods demonstrates more variety
cultural historian Jacob Burkhardt, Wölffl in established than any ‘stylistic’ category could hope contain. ‘Style’
an almost scientifi cally rigorous method for architectural is therefore considered here in a broad sense; in
history in charting what he described as the ‘problem some instances the term is used to group and analyze
of the development of style’. He established fi ve pairs buildings according to very particular traits, and in others
of opposing concepts: linear/painterly; plane/recession; to highlight cultural trends or particular architectural
closed form/open form; multiplicity/unity; and absolute strategies that bring together works that superfi cially
clarity/relative clarity. Armed with this framework, any might appear unrelated. Even in cases when architects
architectural historian with the necessary visual education came together to defi ne their own movements, if not
would be able to ascertain the ‘style’ of a particular work ‘styles’, in the twentieth century especially, one has
of architecture and chart its progression over time. to be highly aware of particular motives behind such
Wölffl in’s method was criticized from different associations. Individual architects’ work does not
quarters. Some took issue with the way in which his necessarily remain consistent over their career; they may
apparent reduction of the experience of a work of art or begin their career working in one ‘style’ and end it in quite
architecture to a discrete set of parameters negated a another, and there are, of course, the architects whose
subjective, intuitive or emotional response. Moreover, work evades categorization altogether.
his theory tended to overlook content in favour of form, The book’s nine chapters generally follow established
while ignoring the social, economic or material factors periods or bodies of architecture. Within them each
that determined the creation of a building or a work of individual ‘style’ is conceived according to shared
art. In Wölffl in’s essentially Hegelian conception, ‘style’ formal characteristics, geography, broad cultural trends,
had its own life and its own trajectory, with artists and movements or ideologies – or any combination thereof.
architects relegated to mere actors performing from a The focus is predominantly visual; while each ‘style’
script pre-ordained by the zeitgeist. In some ways these receives a short introduction, six key characteristics are
criticisms tended towards a caricature of Wölffl in’s theory identifi ed through captioned photographs. These range
and method. Nevertheless, they have decisively shaped from the use of a distinctive window type or decorative
attitudes to ‘style’, especially among historians taking moulding to materials or the particular ideas underlying
a social-historical perspective, for whom ‘style’ is often the conception of a ‘style’. In this way the book acts
perceived as determinist and elitist. as both a reference point and something that is more
Thus in conceiving a book such as this, one is met instructive. While the notion of ‘style’ can be restrictive
with both conceptual and practical diffi culties, not to or exclusive, through its inherent processes of association
mention historical ones; only since the nineteenth century and grouping, it has the power to uncover and elevate
have architects considered themselves proponents of the overlooked.
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Classical
Since the advent of the Classical Age in Athens, in the were the defi ning components. While at a practical level
fi fth century , the classical language has been deeply the orders were clearly load-bearing, their proportional
woven into Western understandings of architecture and, rules and symbolic allusions – the Doric represented
indeed, of civilization itself. Its fundamental principle a man; the Ionic, a matronly woman; the Corinthian,
of imbuing architectural forms with the proportions the fi gure of a young girl – governed the composition
and vitality of human ones has had lasting signifi cance. of whole temples.
However, despite the universal aspirations sometimes The triglyph and metope forms of the Doric
claimed for it, classical architecture was born from a order alluded to its earlier timber incarnations, and
very particular set of conditions and circumstances. in early temples the Doric is more rudimentary
and massive. It reached its apogee in the Parthenon,
Origins Athens (447–438 ), the greatest emblem of Greek
Several important Egyptian monuments, such as the architecture, which has drawn admirers including the
Mortuary Temple of Queen Hatshepsut at Deïr-el- nineteenth-century writer and poet Lord Byron and the
Bahari (mid fi fteenth century ) and the Amun Modernist architect Le Corbusier. The Parthenon was
Temple at Karnak (1530–323 ), had made use of soon joined on the Acropolis by the Ionic Temple of
essentially columnar systems. However, the Minoan Athena Nike (427–424 ) and the Erechtheion
civilization on the island of Crete, which maintained (421–405 ). The Corinthian order was usually
links with Egypt, has increasingly been seen as reserved for interiors until the Hellenistic period
important for developments on mainland Greece. which began after the death of Alexander the Great
Minoan architectural survivals, either excavated or in in 323 . Historically associated with the decline
ruins, are mainly palace complexes in which can be seen of Greek civilization, and freer, lighter and more
the beginnings of the trabeation that defi ned classical sculptural, Hellenistic culture gave rise to some of the
architecture centuries later. While not unsophisticated, greatest accomplishments of antiquity, among them the
especially in their water management systems, early-second-century Great Altar of Zeus at Pergamon,
the Minoans were little interested in architectural in present-day Turkey. The Altar is now partially
articulation, instead devoting most attention to wall reconstructed at the Pergamon Museum in Berlin.
paintings. However, the Mycenaean civilization
(ca. 1600 –1100 ), whose prominence coincided Roman Innovation
with the period illustrated in Homer’s epics The Iliad The Hellenistic period continued until the advent of
and The Odyssey, began, primitively at fi rst, to integrate the Roman Empire with the reign of Augustus as the
decoration and structure in a way that prefi gured fi rst emperor from 27 to 14 . Roman art and
classical architecture. An interesting example is the Lion architecture were heavily dependent on Hellenistic
Gate in Mycenae (ca. 1250 ): two jambs support precedents, but developed to refl ect quite different
a rectangular lintel, above which sits an ornamented circumstances, as well as the requirements of managing
triangular stone that in some ways can be seen as a and administering a huge empire. The fundamental
primitive pediment. divergences were the move away from Greek and
Hellenistic architecture’s reliance on columns, and the
The Orders emergence of structural and material innovations –
Classical architecture, which emerged in ancient Greece the arch, vault and later dome; and new types of brick
in the seventh century , in the form of the fi rst Doric and concrete – that facilitated the creation of some
temples, forged the columnar and trabeated systems into of antiquity’s most enduring monuments, physically
a coherent language of architecture in which the orders and conceptually.
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Classical
Ancient Greek
Ancient Roman
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Classical > Ancient Greek
Region: Greece and its Mediterranean colonies
Period: Seventh century to fi rst century BCE
Characteristics: Trabeated system; Orders; Peristasis; Isolated temple; Proportion; Sculpture
The Parthenon in Athens represents the top of the cella, showed a Panathenaic
apotheosis of what is generally identifi ed procession in honour of Athena. The
as the Classical Age, the period during naturalism of the Parthenon’s sculpture,
the fi fth and fourth centuries BCE in which is thought to have been painted
which culture, learning and democratic in rich colours, stood in stark contrast
politics coalesced to inaugurate Western to the stiff fi gures of the earlier Archaic
civilization. Under the direction of the period (ca. 700–480 BCE). Phidias’s work
great statesman and military commander marked a golden age of Greek culture.
Pericles, the architects Ictinus and Sculptors such as Polyclitus, Praxiteles,
Callicrates and the sculptor Phidias Lysippos and Myron produced some
were charged with the creation of a new of antiquity’s greatest works of art
Parthenon, dedicated to the patron deity (though now known only through
of Athens, Athena (the previous temple Roman copies), while the tragedies of
having been destroyed by the Persians, Aeschylus, Sophocles and Euripides
ca. 480 BCE). A huge three-stepped base similarly created new paradigms in the
was created on which was constructed dramatic arts.
a rectangular temple of seventeen What gives the Parthenon the vitality
columns on the north and south sides of a work of architecture, as opposed to
and eight on the east and west. Inside, a geometrical experiment, are a number
the cella (the central room of a temple) of subtle devices moulding its otherwise
contained a colossal golden statue of rigid order to human eyes. The ends of
Athena by Phidias, now long lost. its base and entablature curve upwards
Phidias also oversaw the creation slightly; the corner columns are slightly
of sculpture that was integrated into thicker than the others; and all its
the building itself: pedimental groups columns make use of entasis to mitigate
depicted Athena’s birth and her tussle the illusion of concavity created by an
with the god Poseidon; in the metopes exactly parallel shaft. The geometric
were scenes of battles, between the principles and human spirit inaugurated
gods and the giants, and between in the Parthenon would decisively shape
Greeks, Centaurs and Amazons; and Greek architecture as it moved from the
the famous frieze, which ran around the Classical Age into the Hellenistic period.
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Classical > Ancient Greek
Trabeated system
Composed from a series of vertical posts
and horizontal transfer beams, ancient
Greek architecture is at its root a trabeated
system. Its key difference in that regard
from Egyptian, Minoan or Mycenaean
prototypes is its architectural articulation,
which emerges as a symbolic language
integrated with a building’s proportional
(and structural) logic.
Temple of Hera, Paestum, Italy,
mid sixth century BCE
Orders
The most signifi cant innovation of ancient
Greek architecture and the principal
components of a classical building,
the orders are formed of a base, shaft,
capital and entablature. Each of the
Doric, Ionic and Corinthian orders has its
own proportional system and symbolic
attributes. The fi rst two appeared in all
periods of ancient Greek architecture, while
the Corinthian became more prevalent
during the Hellenistic period, notably in
the Choragic Monument of Lysicrates.
Choragic Monument of Lysicrates,
Athens, Greece, 334 BCE
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