Question on genesis of Architectural styles

[Charlie_mta]

I’m wondering, how does culture influence architectural trends? I look at the 1980’s and see an ornate post-modern architectural style, and ornateness in clothing of that time as well. I look at today and see a sleek, minimalist, basically modern style reminiscent of the mid-century look. I also see that in clothing: skinny jeans, slim lapels and slim pants on suits, etc. What cause these trends?

I’m thinking that the sleek, minimalist, futuristic look in architecture today is influenced to an extent by the the high-tech digital environment we're immersed in.

Any thoughts on this, articles, books?

 

[cadetcarl]

This is...quite broad, and pretty much the main subject of architectural history and theory. I'm reluctant to reduce to a response here what is really and education's worth of an answer, but really (really really really) simplified: the styles we see are a result of the dialogue between broader cultural aspirations, the discourse within architecture itself, and what technology allows. So the post-modernism of the 80s can be seen as a direct response (a rejection) of the minimalism of the high modern preceding it, and the pendulum has swung the other way. Read Venturi and Scott Brown for this specific example. To use the word "cause" is probably to be too prescriptive; just like the rest of history there are threads which come together and unravel, flows in confluence and difluence.

But I think you understand how these things come to be. A building or building style is subject to similar cultural forces as, say, the iPhone. That product arose from the condition of technological possibility and an aesthetic distaste for the experience of using computers in the conventional way that companies like Microsoft was offering. And in that same environment you have (or had) companies like Vertu, which made products for people who didn't care for the sleek, stripped-down thing that Apple was going for.

 

[Charlie_mta]

Thank you for the response. As you say, "cause" is too blunt of a word. There are a lot of interactions and threads between the culture(s) and architecture.