Neo-eclectic architecture

Neo-eclectic architecture is a name for an architectural style that has influenced residential building construction in North America in the later part of the 20th century and early part of the 21st. It is a contemporary version of Architectural Revivalism that has perennially occurred since Neoclassical architecture developed in the mid 18th century.

In contrast to the occasionally faux and low-budget neo-eclectic detached homesteads, the term New Classical Architecture identifies contemporary buildings that stick to the basic ideals, proportions, materials and craftsmanship of traditional architecture.

It represented a rejection of the simplest and most stripped-down architectural styles, such as ranch house, which had its peak in US homes in the decades after World War II. Neoeclecticism is considered a detachment of postmodern architecture, differentiating itself from that in which it does not seek to experiment.

The neoecléctico style is characteristic of the type of residences that in the United States has been contemptuously called McMansions (McMansiones, in reference to the chain of fast food McDonalds ); although it has also been applied to all types of housing. 1 In North America it can be said that most of the suburban neighborhoods created in the last decades are characterized by neo-eclectic architecture.

Some constructions of this style come to combine several historical currents in a single building. In this way, a home can add elements characteristic of the architecture of Cape Cod (see Cape Cod (house) ), the Mission style, the Tudor and even the French provinces at the same time. In some cases, the homes are focused on a single style, or even the interior environments are designed almost thematically.

Different historical styles predominate in different regions. In California, the Spanish Neocolonial style is popular, while in New England it is the North American Neocolonial.

In any case, historicist elements in neo-eclectic constructions are limited to decorative surface details, such as windows or cladding. Strictly speaking, the constructive style of the neocolonial dwellings has not represented any change with respect to previous ones even to the ranch home.

But an important development has influenced the neoeclecticismo: the SATE, a system of isolation of simple application, that in addition allows to be molded and colored so that it seems to be other materials such as stucco or rock.

In the rest of America, neoeclecticism has been consistently adopted by the middle and upper classes in the design of their homes in closed neighborhoods. In the case of Argentina, coincided with the apogee of the so-called countries, where these social classes moved to live permanently after the economic crisis of 2001. He also had several notable cases of large scale. The most notable: the two Chateau towers and the Grand Bourg building (in Buenos Aires ) and the Barrancas al Río complex (in San Isidro ), three projects that took elements of the academicist language to dress buildings of modern design.

Characteristics
Neo-eclectic architecture combines a wide array of decorative techniques taken from an assortment of different house styles. It is a response to the clean unadorned modernist styles, such as the Mid-Century modern and Ranch-style house that dominated North American residential design and construction in the first decades after the Second World War. It is an outgrowth of postmodern architecture. It differs from postmodernism in that it is not creatively experimental.

Applications
Some neo-eclectic buildings will combine an array of different historical styles in a single building. A house so designed may have Cape Cod, Mission Revival, Tudor Revival, or Châteauesque and French Provincial elements all at the same time. Often houses, or whole subdivisions, will focus on one revival style. Different historical styles predominated in different regions. In California elements from the Mediterranean Revival and Spanish Colonial Revival Style continue to be a regional vernacular and popular. In New England and the Mid-Atlantic the Colonial Revival Style and Georgian Revival architecture combinations are common.

In neo-eclectic architecture the revival elements are almost always decorative, consisting of surface elements such as claddings and windows. The basic construction of neo-eclectic houses is unchanged from previous house styles such as the ranch-style house. An important development leading to the modern neo-eclectic style is the popularity of EIFS, a form of external insulation that is easy to apply and can be coloured and shaped to appear like an array of different materials such as stucco and stone.

Critiques
Neo-eclectic architecture is most prominent in what are pejoratively known as McMansions, but it has been embraced by almost all residential builders. Across North America most suburbs built in the last three decades can largely be described as neo-eclectic.

Critics of Neo-eclectic architecture see the style as pretentious, wasteful and/or garish, and unoriginal.

Source From Wikipedia