Has globalization put an end to regional, and national architectural styles?

[Capsicum]

Traditionally, countries had cities, buildings and architectural styles that differed because of geographical isolation and local adaptations. This developed over centuries, if not millennia, so that parts of the world had distinctive styles, say Japanese architecture and French architecture.

However, nowadays with globalization architecture is less like this. Towers that are of the same glassy appearance pop up in Canada, as in Latin America in similar ways they do in China. There still are regional and national influences present -- for example, certain buildings in Saudi Arabia can be recognizable as Middle Eastern-influenced in style, even if new. Are we still going to have distinctive national styles in the near future? Is there a chance regional/national differences can make a comeback?

Will we be able to point to examples in the 21st century and say "this is quintessentially the Chinese architectural style" or "this is Italian architecture" the way we could for say the 19th century?

[llamaorama]

Yes and no. Skyscrapers and major buildings designed by 'fancy' architects might converge into one global modern style.

But I think for small, common buildings, different regions of the world will always have distinct vernacular architecture whose form is dictated by local economic and cultural norms. Even in different regions of the same country you can often notice slight variations in how homes or small commercial buildings are designed. For example, suburbs in the US and Europe look different and if I had to guess that's because of differences in building materials, building codes, the different markets, something like that. Likewise there aren't as many slab towers or multi tower apartment buildings in the US as there are in Asia. Also given time this vernacular becomes so associated with a place that buildings that don't need to look that way still do because its a cultural design language at that point.

[JManc]

Originally Posted by llamaorama

For example, suburbs in the US and Europe look different and if I had to guess that's because of differences in building materials, building codes, the different markets, something like that.

Despite regional climate constraints, suburban Houston looks like suburban Chicago, LA, St. Louis, Vegas, Philly and so on. Same cookie cutter retail, office parks and so on. Perhaps some areas may have tighter deed restrictions and mandate aesthetics be a certain style but suburbs have long since homogenized here in the US.

[Obadno]

I would say yes to a degree but there is more of a desire for historic preservation and local styles now than in say 1960 when it was basically "TEAR IT ALL DOWN AND BUILD MODERN"

Even the Nazis built their civil buildings in a sort of modernist international style and they were pretty obsessed with cultural heritage