Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Style Approached from the Design Process

  • Chapter
  • First Online:
Style and Creativity in Design

Part of the book series: Studies in Applied Philosophy, Epistemology and Rational Ethics ((SAPERE,volume 17))

  • 1591 Accesses

Abstract

Studies of style can be approached from two directions: the end and the means. From the end point of view, a style is a cluster of features present in artifacts; scholars usually classify the features in products to differentiate styles (Newton 1957; Finch 1974; Scott 1980; Smithies 1981; Chan 1994, 2000). Similar approaches used to examine features for further exploring the nature of style, the degree between styles, and the systematic measurement within style were extensively covered in Chap. 3. From the means point of view, a style is a mode by which designers’ personal and professional preferences are expressed, and studies attempt to deliberate the mode of expression to mark styles (Torossian 1937; Evans 1982; Cleaver 1985). Although most style researchers have studied both directions, their efforts cannot provide clear explanations of how a style is generated. That is because not enough research has been devoted to the study of the means used that create a style. This chapter begins to explore, through a case study, the aspects of style creation and the forces that generate a style (Chan 1995, 2001). Studies of style approached from the means point of view conducted in various fields and the factors determining the generation of style are reviewed first.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
eBook
USD 16.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 109.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD 109.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Notes

  1. 1.

    Articulation can be seen as certain specific and unique expressions shown in form, which could be specially arranged patterns or structural features.

  2. 2.

    Wright once reported his design processes for Unity Temple (1904) in the first edition of his autobiography of 1932. But this description was written some 18 years later, and cannot be regarded as a reflection of the real thinking processes that occurred while he was designing the Temple. Instead, it is a retrospection of what may be logically related events in design. Thus, this information is used as data for reference rather than for analysis.

  3. 3.

    According to Einbinder, the solution locating stairs in the corners first appeared in the design of the Larkin Building. It is the result of a design constraint – escaping fire (Einbinder 1986).

  4. 4.

    Blossom House of 1892 is the only one without a polygonal shape. The other one of MacHarg House (1891) cannot be judged because no information is available.

References

  • Ackerman JS (1963) Style. In: Ackerman JS, Carpenter R (eds) Art and archaeology. Prentice-Hall, Englewood Cliffs, pp 174–186

    Google Scholar 

  • Ackerman JS (1967) A theory of style. In: Beardsley MC, Schueller HM (eds) Aesthetic inquiry: essays on art criticism and the philosophy of art. Dickenson, Delmont, pp 54–66

    Google Scholar 

  • Akin O (1986) Psychology of architectural design. Pion, London

    Google Scholar 

  • Blake P (1960) The master builders. Norton, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Brooks HA (1984) Frank Lloyd Wright and the prairie school. George Braziller, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Buffon MD (1923) Discourse on style. In: Cooper L (ed) Theories of style. Macmillan, New York, pp 169–179

    Google Scholar 

  • Chan CS (1989) Cognition in design process. In: Proceedings of the 11th annual conference of the Cognitive Science Society. Lawrence Erlbaum, Hillsdale, pp 291–298

    Google Scholar 

  • Chan CS (1990a) Psychology of style in design. Dissertation. Carnegie Mellon University

    Google Scholar 

  • Chan CS (1990b) Cognitive processes in architectural design problem solving. Des Stud 11(2):60–80

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Chan CS (1992) Exploring individual style through Wright’s design. J Architect Plan Res 9(3):207–238

    Google Scholar 

  • Chan CS (1994) Operational definition of style. Environ Plan B Plan Des 21(2):223–246

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Chan CS (1995) A cognitive theory of style. Environ Plan B Plan Des 22(4):461–474

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Chan CS (2000) Can style be measured? Des Stud 21(3):277–291

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Chan CS (2001) An examination of the forces that generate a style. Des Stud 22(4):319–346

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Chan CS (2008) Design cognition: cognitive science in design. China Architecture & Building Press, Beijing

    Google Scholar 

  • Cleaver DG (1985) Art: an introduction. Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, San Diego

    Google Scholar 

  • Connors J (1984) The Robie House of Frank Lloyd Wright. The University of Chicago Press, Chicago

    Google Scholar 

  • Einbinder H (1986) An American genius: Frank Lloyd Wright. Philosophical Library, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Evans HM (1982) An invitation to design. Macmillan, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Finch M (1974) Style in art history. Scarecrow Press, Metuchen

    Google Scholar 

  • Foz ATK (1972) Observations on designer behavior in the parti. Master’s thesis, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

    Google Scholar 

  • Goldstein KM, Blackman S (1978) Cognitive style: five approaches and relevant research. Wiley, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Gombrich EH (1960) Art and illusion: a study in the psychology of pictorial representation. Pantheon, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Gombrich EH (1968) Style. In: Sills DL (ed) International encyclopedia of the social sciences. Macmillan, New York, pp 352–361

    Google Scholar 

  • Gombrich EH (1971) Meditations on a hobby horse. Phaidon, Oxford

    Google Scholar 

  • Gombrich EH (1982) The image and the eye. Phaidon, Oxford

    Google Scholar 

  • Hitchcock H (1942) In the nature of materials. Duell/Sloan and Pearce, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Kroeber A (1963) An anthropologist looks at history. University of California Press, Berkeley

    Google Scholar 

  • Kubler G (1979) Towards a reductive theory of visual style. In: Lang B (ed) The concept of style. University of Pennsylvania Press, Philadelphia, pp 119–127

    Google Scholar 

  • LaRue J (1970) Guidelines for style analysis. W. W. Norton, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Lipman J (1986) Frank Lloyd Wright and the Johnson Wax Buildings. Rizzoli, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • MacCormac RC (1968) The anatomy of Wright’s aesthetic. Architect Rev 143:143–146

    Google Scholar 

  • MacCormac RC (1974) Froebel’s kindergarten gifts and the early work of Frank Lloyd Wright. Environ Plan B Plan Des 1:29–50

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Manson GC (1953) Wright in the nursery; the influence of Froebel education on his work. Architect Rev 113:349–351

    Google Scholar 

  • Manson GC (1958) Frank Lloyd Wright to 1910. Van Nostrand Reinhold, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Messick S (1976) Personality consistencies in cognition and creativity. In: Messick S et al (eds) Individuality in learning. Jossey-Bass, San Francisco, pp 4–22

    Google Scholar 

  • Meyer LB (1979) Toward a theory of style. In: Lang B (ed) The concept of style. University of Pennsylvania Press, Philadelphia, pp 3–44

    Google Scholar 

  • Newton E (1957) Style and vision in art. Listener 57:467–469

    Google Scholar 

  • Rapoport A (1969) House form and culture. Prentice-Hall, Englewood Cliffs

    Google Scholar 

  • Rorick H (1975) The Frank Lloyd Wrighter. In: Negroponte N (ed) Reflections on computer aids to design and architecture. Petrocelli, New York, pp 49–60

    Google Scholar 

  • Schapiro M (1962) Style. In: Tax S (ed) Anthropology today: selections. University of Chicago Press, Chicago, pp 278–303

    Google Scholar 

  • Scott G (1980) The architecture of humanism. The Architecture Press, London

    Google Scholar 

  • Scully VJ (1960) Frank Lloyd Wright. George Braziller, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Simon HA (1975) Style in design. In: Archea J, Eastman C (eds) Proceedings of the 2nd annual Environmental Design Research Association conference. Dowden/Hutchinson & Ross, Stroudsburg, pp 1–10

    Google Scholar 

  • Smithies KM (1981) Principles of design in architecture. Van Nostrand Reinhold, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Sparshott F (1965) The structure of aesthetics. University of Toronto Press, Toronto

    Google Scholar 

  • Steiner FH (1982) Frank Lloyd Wright in Oak Park and River Forest. Sigma Press, Chicago

    Google Scholar 

  • Storrer WA (1978) The architecture of Frank Lloyd Wright. MIT Press, Cambridge, MA

    Google Scholar 

  • Streich ER (1972) An original-owner interview survey of Frank Lloyd Wright’s residential architecture. EDRA 3/AR8 conference, 2(13.10):1–8

    Google Scholar 

  • Suedfeld P (1971) Information processing as a personality model. In: Schroder HM, Suedfeld P (eds) Personality theory and information processing. Ronald Press, New York, pp 3–14

    Google Scholar 

  • Torossian A (1937) A guide to aesthetics. Stanford University Press, Stanford

    Google Scholar 

  • Twombly RC (1979) Frank Lloyd Wright, his life and his architecture. Wiley, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Van Zanten D (1988) Schooling the Prairie School: Wright’s early style as a communicable system. In: Bolon CR, Nelson RS, Seidel L (eds) The nature of Frank Lloyd Wright. University of Chicago Press, Chicago, pp 70–84

    Google Scholar 

  • Wackernagel W (1923) Poetics, rhetoric, and the theory of style. In: Cooper L (ed) Theories of style. Macmillan, New York, pp 1–22

    Google Scholar 

  • Weitz M (1970) Problems in aesthetics. Macmillan, London

    Google Scholar 

  • White CEJ (1971) Letters from the studio of Frank Lloyd Wright. J Architect Educ 25:104–112

    Google Scholar 

  • Whyte LL (1961) A scientific view of the creative energy of man. In: Philipson M (ed) Aesthetics today. World Publishing, Cleveland, pp 349–374

    Google Scholar 

  • Wils J (1985) Frank Lloyd Wright. In: Brooks HA (ed) Writings on Wright. MIT Press, Cambridge, pp 139–145

    Google Scholar 

  • Wollheim R (1979) Pictorial style: two views. In: Lang B (ed) The concept of style. University of Pennsylvania Press, Philadelphia, pp 129–145

    Google Scholar 

  • Wright FL (1908) In the cause of architecture. Archit Rec 23:155–221

    Google Scholar 

  • Wright FL (1925) Frank Lloyd Wright: the life work of the American architect. Wendingen, Santpoort

    Google Scholar 

  • Wright FL (1928) In the cause of architecture. Archit Rec 63:49–57

    Google Scholar 

  • Wright FL (1931) Modern architecture.…Kahn lectures for 1930. Princeton University Press, Princeton

    Google Scholar 

  • Wright FL (1941) Studies and executed buildings. In: Gutheim FA (ed) Frank Lloyd Wright on architecture. Duell/Sloan and Pearce, New York, pp 59–76

    Google Scholar 

  • Wright FL (1943) An autobiography. Duell/Sloan & Pearce, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Wright FL (1953) The future of architecture. Horizon, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Wright FL (1954) The natural house. Horizon, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Wright FL (1966) Frank Lloyd Wright, his life, his work, his words. Horizontal, New York

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Architecture Department, Iowa State University, Ames, Iowa, USA

    Chiu-Shui Chan

Authors
  1. Chiu-Shui Chan
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2015 Springer International Publishing Switzerland

About this chapter

Cite this chapter

Chan, CS. (2015). Style Approached from the Design Process. In: Style and Creativity in Design. Studies in Applied Philosophy, Epistemology and Rational Ethics, vol 17. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-14017-9_5

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-14017-9_5

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-14016-2

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-14017-9

  • eBook Packages: EngineeringEngineering (R0)

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation