What style is it? This is a common initial question people ask to learn more about a building. For architects, this seems like a poor entry point and the initiating question can seem naive and trivial. This varying degree of attentiveness to a building’s style leads to an impasse between the public—that wants to understand the built environment—and architects eager to share the nuances of their discipline.
One of the more powerful aspects of the concept of style is its embodiment of two concepts simultaneously, as Eugène Viollet-le-Duc’s famous definition, “there is style, and there are the styles.” The singular is the manner in which something is done and describes the creative act. The plural is a categorization system that groups buildings together according to common characteristics that developed over time. This video explores the complex nature of building style in the hopes to offer a language that can bridge the divide between the public and others more entrenched in the field of architecture.
