Design History

Design in Prehistoric Times

• Pre-3000 BC• Before recorded history, humans

constructed stone circles, megaliths, and other structures.

Stonehenge & AveburyEngland

Ancient Design

• 3000 BC to 337 BC• In ancient Egypt, Greece, and

Rome, civilizations built enormous temples and shrines.

Giza Pyramids, Parthenon, Pantheon, King

Nebuchadnezzar’s Palace Ancient Memphis, Athens, Rome, Babylon

Early Christian and Medieval

• 373 to 500 AD• European architecture moved from

the rectangular basilica forms to the classically inspired Byzantine style.

Tower of London & Westminster Hall

London

Romanesque

• 500 to 1200 AD• As Rome spread across Europe,

heavier, stocky Romanesque architecture with rounded arches emerged.

Cathedral of Pisa & Orvieto Cathedral

Pisa & Orvieto

Gothic Design

• 1200 to 1400 AD• Innovative builders created the

great cathedrals of Europe.

Notre Dame & Salisbury Cathedrals

Paris & Salisbury

Renaissance Design

• 1400 to 1600 AD• A return to classical ideas ushered

an "age of "awakening" in Italy, France, and England.

The Louve & Florence CathedralParis & Florence

American Colonial Design

• 1600 to 1780 AD• European settlers in the New World

borrowed ideas from their homelands to create their own breed of architecture.

Independence Hall, City Hall, & Congress Hall

Philadelphia

Baroque Design

• 1600 to 1700 AD• In Italy, the Baroque style is reflected in

opulent and dramatic churches with irregular shapes and extravagant ornamentation. In France, the highly ornamented Baroque style combines with Classical restraint. Russian aristocrats were impressed by Versailles in France, and incorporated Baroque ideas in the building of St. Petersburg. Elements of the elaborate Baroque style are found throughout Europe.

Piazza NavonaRome

Rococo Design

• 1650 to 1790 AD• During the last phase of the

Baroque period, builders constructed elegant white buildings with sweeping curves.

Bavarian HomesOberammergau

Georgian Design

• 1720 to 1800 AD• Georgian was a stately,

symmetrical style that dominated in Great Britain and Ireland and influenced building styles in the American colonies

The White House, Monticello, & Mount

VernonWashington, Charlottesville, & Mount Vernon

                      

Neoclassical / Federalist / Idealist

• 1750 to 1880 AD• A renewed interest in ideas of

Renaissance architect Andrea Palladio inspired a return of classical shapes in Europe, Great Britain and the United States.

U.S. Capital, Mosque of Sultan Ahmed, & Circus at

BathWashington, Istanbul, & Bath

Greek Revival Design

• 1790 to 1850 AD• These classical buildings and

homes often feature columns, pediments and other details inspired by Greek forms. Antebellum homes in the American south were often built in the Greek Revival style.

Belle Meade Plantation & Boothie’s Dryed Goods

StoreNashville & Peninsula

Victorian Design

• 1840 to 1900 AD• Industrialization brought many

innovations in architecture. Victorian styles include Gothic Revival, Italianate, Stick, Eastlake, Queen Anne, Romanesque and Second Empire.

Eiffel Tower, Tower Bridge, & O’Hara

Paris, London, & Chicago

Arts and Crafts Movement in Design

• 1860 to 1900 AD• Arts and Crafts was a late 19th-century

backlash against the forces of industrialization. The Arts and Crafts movement revived an interest in handicrafts and sought a spiritual connection with the surrounding environment, both natural and manmade. The Craftsman Bungalow evolved from the Arts and Crafts movement.

Gamble House & Davis House

Pasadena, California & Eugene, Oregon

Art Nouveau Design

• 1890 to 1905 AD• Known as the New Style, Art Nouveau

was first expressed in fabrics and graphic design. The style spread to architecture and furniture in the 1890s. Art Nouveau buildings often have asymmetrical shapes, arches and decorative surfaces with curved, plant-like designs.

Behrens House & Casa Mila

Darmstadt, Germany & Barcelona, Spain

Art Deco Design

• 1925 to 1935 AD• Zigzag patterns and vertical lines

create dramatic effect on jazz-age, Art Deco buildings.

Chrysler & Empire State Building

New York

20th Century Trends in Design

• 1900 to Present• The century has seen dramatic

changes and astonishing diversity. Twentieth century trends include Art Moderne and the Bauhaus school coined by Walter Gropius, Deconstructivism, Formalism, Modernism, Structuralism and Postmodernism.

Maison a Bordeaux, Harkness Commons,

Kunsthal, Seattle Library, & AT&T

Bordeaux, Harvard, Rotterdam, Seattle, & New York

Resources

• http://www.greatbuildings.com/types/styles/

• http://architecture.about.com/cs/historicperiods/a/timeline.htm