ARCHITECTURAL STYLES

DECONSTRUCTIVISM:

The Deconstructivist style designs buildings in parts. It is as if it is done in bits and parts, in a haphazard manner. It reflects discordant pieces joined together to form unrelated abstract forms. [1]

Imperial War Museum by Daniel Libeskind

Vitra Design Museum by Frank Ghery

BLOB ARCHITECTURE/ BLOBITECTURE:

 In Blobitecture style, the buildings have an organic, amoeba-shaped bulging form. [2]

The Sage Gateshead by Norman Foster

Experience Music Project and Science Fiction Museum and Hall of Fame by Frank Ghery

MINIMALISM:

The design of the building is very basic where the work is stripped down to its most fundamental features. [3]

Church of Light by Tadao Ando

Barcelona Pavilion by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe

HIGH-TECH ARCHITECTURE:

High-tech architecture style incorporates elements of high-tech industry and technology into building design. [4]

HSBC Main Building by Norman Foster

Lloyd's Building by Richard Rogers

BRUTALIST ARCHITECTURE:

Brutalist buildings usually are formed with striking repetitive angular geometries, and, where concrete is used, often revealing the texture of the wooden forms used for the in-situ casting. [5]

Birmingham Central Library by John Madin

Trellick Tower by Erno Goldfinger

GREEN ARCHITECTURE/ SUSTAINABLE ARCHITECTURE:

Green architecture, or green design, is an approach to building that minimizes harmful effects on human health and the environment. [6]

Fallingwater by Frank Llyod Wright

SKYSCRAPER:

A skyscraper is a tall, continuously habitable building. It protrudes above its built environment and changes the overall skyline. [7]

Burj Khalifa by Adrian Smith

Taipei 101 by C.Y. Lee

MODERN ARCHITECTURE:

The characteristics of this style are:
          -simplicity and clarity of forms and elimination of "unnecessary detail"
          -visual expression of structure (as opposed to the hiding of structural elements)
          -use of industrially-produced materials; adoption of the machine aesthetic
          -particularly in International Style modernism, a visual emphasis on horizontal and vertical lines [8]

Salk Institute by Louis Kahn

Robie House by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe

POSTMODERN ARCHITECTURE:

Characteristics include the use of sculptural forms, ornaments, anthropomorphism and materials which perform trompe l'oeil. These physical characteristics are combined with conceptual characteristics of meaning. These characteristics of meaning include pluralism, double coding, flying buttresses and high ceilings, irony and paradox, and contextualism. [9]

Bank of America Center by John Burgee

Gare do Oriente by Calatrava

ORGANIC ARCHITECTURE:

Aphilosophy of architecture which promotes harmony between human habitation and the natural world through design approaches so sympathetic and well integrated with its site that buildings, furnishings, and surroundings become part of a unified, interrelated composition. [10]

Sagrada Familia by Antonio Gaudi

CRITICAL REGIONALISM:

An approach to architecture that strives to counter placelessness and lack of identity in Modern Architecture by utilizing the building's geographical context. [11]

Bagsvaerd Church by Jørn Utzon

Saynatsalo Town Hall by Alvar Aalto

BIOMORPHIC ARCHITECTURE:

Biomorphic architecture attempts to morph artistic design elements into naturally occurring shapes, or patterns reminisent of nature. [12]



Foot notes:
[1] http://www.brighthub.com/engineering/civil/articles/66988.aspx
[2] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blob_architecture
[3] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minimalist_architecture#Minimalist_design
[4] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High-tech_architecture
[5] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brutalist_architecture
[6] http://architecture.about.com/od/greenconcepts/g/green.htm
[7] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skyscraper
[8] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Modern_architecture#Characteristics
[9] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Postmodern_architecture#Aims_and_characteristics
[10] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Organic_architecture
[11] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Critical_Regionalism
[12] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biomorphic_Art