HIR - Architectural Styles Guide

Having a strong design concept makes a statement about the values your building represents (e.g. cooperation, sustainability, creativity) and gives an opportunity to showcase the mission statement of your firm and show clients that your company is the right place for them to realize their vision. It also provides guiding principles as the building develops over the course of the semester. This guide introduces multiple architectural styles and their associated philosophies to help scaffold your personal style.

Good architecture considers many aspects beyond pure aesthetic, such as the flow of foot traffic in and around the building, the views and skylines affected by the building, the incorporation of sunlight and greenspaces, and the way a building compliments its surrounding neighbors. It often helps to draw on both recent trends and older styles, even if they fell out of vogue hundreds of years ago. (For a building that did not respect its surroundings, see the Salesforce Tower in San Francisco.)

This guide is by no means comprehensive; architecture spans thousands of years of human history across the globe, the ones chosen here are merely a sampling platter.