Minimalism and Regionalism

Abstract

Minimalism is a design approach that relies on simple and unadorned shapes, or the repetition of a limited formal vocabulary and palette of materials and colours, to emphasise perceptions of lightness, spaciousness, order or purity. Regionalism is an architectural movement that advocates using local materials and tectonic practices in combination with building forms that are attuned to immediate environmental conditions, to create a contemporary, but still recognisably vernacular architecture. While there are clear differences between Minimalism and Regionalism, the two design strategies often result in the production of visually restrained and formally refined buildings that evoke poetic or phenomenal responses to materials or settings. Minimalism is a design approach that relies on simple and unadorned shapes, or the repetition of a limited formal vocabulary and palette of materials and colours, to emphasise perceptions of lightness, spaciousness, order or purity. Regionalism is an architectural movement that advocates using local materials and tectonic practices in combination with building forms that are attuned to immediate environmental conditions, to create a contemporary, but still recognisably vernacular architecture. While there are clear differences between Minimalism and Regionalism, the two design strategies often result in the production of visually restrained and formally refined buildings that evoke poetic or phenomenal responses to materials or settings.