Contemporary architecture
Contemporary architecture is definable broadly as the building style of the present day. Examples do not necessarily have similar or easily recognizable features, however, because the "style" is really quite varied and has a number of different influences. Even though a precise definition of the term is difficult to articulate, contemporary homes typically include an irregular or unusually shaped frame, an open floor plan, oversized windows, and the use of "green" and repurposed components. Such homes also often have an organic design, fitting into the surrounding space and meeting an immediate need in the area.
Prominent contemporary architects include Frank Gehry, who designed the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao; John Andrews, who designed the CN Tower in Toronto; and Jean Nouvel, who designed the Quai Branly Museum in Paris.
Blobitecture from blob architecture, blobism or blobismus are terms for a movement in architecture in which buildings have an organic, amoeba-shaped, building form. Though the term 'blob architecture' was in vogue already in the mid-1990s, the word blobitecture first appeared in print in 2002, in William Safire's "On Language" column in the New York Times Magazine in an article entitled Defenestration. Though intended in the article to have a derogatory meaning, the word stuck and is often used to describe buildings with curved and rounded shapes.
Critical regionalism is an approach to architecture that strives to counter the placelessness and lack of identity of the International Style (architecture), but also rejects the whimsical individualism and ornamentation of Postmodern architecture. The stylings of critical regionalism seeks to provide an architecture rooted in the modern tradition, but tied to geographical and cultural context. Critical regionalism is not simply regionalism in the sense of vernacular architecture. It is a progressive approach to design that seeks to mediate between the global and the local languages of architecture.
The phrase "critical regionalism" was first used by the architectural theorists Alexander Tzonis and Liane Lefaivre and, with a slightly different meaning, by the historian-theorist Kenneth Frampton.
Critical Regionalists thus hold that both modern and post-modern architecture are "deeply problematic".
High-tech architecture, also known as Late Modernism or Structural Expressionism, is an architectural style that emerged in the 1970s, incorporating elements of high-tech industry and technology into building design. High-tech architecture appeared as a revamped modernism, an extension of those previous ideas helped by even more technological advances. This category serves as a bridge between modernism and post-modernism; however, there remain gray areas as to where one category ends and the other begins. In the 1980s, high-tech architecture became more difficult to distinguish from post-modern architecture. Some of its themes and ideas were later absorbed into the style of Neo-Futurism art and architectural movement.
Like Brutalism, Structural Expressionist buildings reveal their structure on the outside as well as the inside, but with visual emphasis placed on the internal steel and/or concrete skeletal structure as opposed to exterior concrete walls. In buildings such as the Pompidou Centre, this idea of revealed structure is taken to the extreme, with apparently structural components serving little or no structural role. In this case, the use of "structural" steel is a stylistic or aesthetic matter.
Modern architecture or modernist architecture is a term applied to an overarching movement, with its exact definition and scope varying widely. The term is often applied to modernist movements at the turn of the 20th century, with efforts to reconcile the principles underlying architectural design with rapid technological advancement and themodernization of society. It would take the form of numerous movements, schools of design, and architectural styles, some in tension with one another, and often equally defying such classification. The term Modern architecture may be used to differentiate from Classical architecture following Vitruvian ideals, while it is also applied to variouscontemporary architecture styles such as Postmodern, High-tech or even New Classical, depending on the context. In art history, the revolutionary and neoclassical styles that evolved around 1800 are also called modern.
Neomodern architecture continues modernism as a dominant form of architecture in the 20th and 21st centuries, especially in corporate offices. It tends to be used for certain segments of buildings. Many residential houses tend to embrace postmodern, new classical and neo-eclectic styles, for instance, and major monuments today most often opt for starchitect inspired uniqueness.
Neomodern architecture shares many of the basic characteristics of modernism. Both reject classical ornamentation, decorations, and deliberate ambitions to continue pre-modernist traditions. Neomodernist buildings, like modernist ones, are designed to be largely monolithic and functional.
Neo-futurism is a late 20th-early 21st century movement in the arts, design, and architecture. It is a departure from the skeptical attitude of post-modernism connected with an idealistic belief in a better future and “a need to periodize the modern rapport with the technological”.
This avant-garde movement is a futuristic rethinking of the visual and functionality of the rapidly growing cities affected by a wide-scale urbanization. The swift industrialization that began to occur internationally following theSecond World War gave wind to new streams of thought in life, art and architecture that led to Postmodernism, Neomodernism and then Neo-Futurism. In the Western countries, Futurist architecture evolved into Art Deco, theGoogie movement and High-Tech Architecture and finally into Neo-Futurism. Neofuturistic urbanists, architects, designers and artists believe in cities releasing emotions, driven by eco-sustainability, ethical values and implementing new materials and new technologies to provide a better quality of life for city-dwellers.
New Classical architecture is a contemporary movement in architecture, that continues the practice f classical, historicist and traditional architecture. The construction of such styles never ceased during the twentieth century, even as modernist and other post-classical styles became more dominant.
Since New Classical is not a homogeneous architectural style and can appear in various forms, contemporary classical buildings might be also described with the terms Traditionalism,Neo-Historism (or Historicism/Revivalism), or simply Neoclassical Architecture as the most common continuation of a specific historical style. Some theorists also perceive it as a part of the Postmodern or New Urbanist movements, although these rather contributed to a general enthusiasm for new classical architecture.
Contemporary buildings that continue the language of early modern movements, such as Art Nouveau, Art Deco, Streamline Moderne and Expressionism, may also be described as New Classical.
New Urbanism is an urban design movement which promotes walkable neighborhoods containing a range of housing and job types. It arose in the United States in the early 1980s, and has gradually influenced many aspects of real estate development, urban planning, and municipal land-use strategies.
New Urbanism is strongly influenced by urban design practices that were prominent until the rise of the automobile prior to World War II; it encompasses principles such as traditional neighborhood design and transit-oriented development.It is also related to regionalism, environmentalism, and smart growth.
Postmodern architecture
Postmodern architecture began as an international style the first examples of which are generally cited as being from the 1950s, but did not become a movement until the late 1970s[1] and continues to influence present-day architecture. Postmodernity in architecture is said to be heralded by the return of "wit, ornament and reference" to architecture in response to the formalism of the International Style of modernism. As with many cultural movements, some of Postmodernism's most pronounced and visible ideas can be seen in architecture. The functional and formalized shapes and spaces of the modernist style are replaced by diverse aesthetics: styles collide, form is adopted for its own sake, and new ways of viewing familiar styles and space abound. Perhaps most obviously, architects rediscovered the expressive and symbolic value of architectural elements and forms that had evolved through centuries of building which had been abandoned by the modern style.
Sustainable architecture
Sustainable architecture is architecture that seeks to minimize the negative environmental impact of buildings by efficiency and moderation in the use of materials, energy, and development space. Sustainable architecture uses a conscious approach to energy and ecological conservation in the design of the built environment.
The idea of sustainability, or ecological design, is to ensure that our actions and decisions today do not inhibit the opportunities of future generations.