The Regionalization of Forms in Architecture – A Use, An Adaptation, A Change, A Repulsion

Abstract

Architecture as a whole is a peculiar phenomenon. Territories with poly- or mono-ethnic populations have repeatedly been involved in major political conflicts and economic cataclysms over the centuries, alternating with periods of relatively uniform development. This naturally affected the pace of formation and transformation of the environment for life. The specificity of this process was determined by the factors of natural-climatic and engineering-geological conditions of a particular part of the territory having varying degrees of stability, the availability of local or delivered construction materials, the level of development of productive forces, the peculiarities of economic activity, the way of life and worldview of local residents who have different periods of residence in a given area, as well as administrative-territorial divisions of emerging and disintegrating state entities. The combination of these factors gave features of originality to the architecture of each region in different periods. It is the interaction of these factors that defines the concept of regionalism of architectural shaping. The value of accentuating or masking certain features of regionalism is perceived differently in different periods, depending on the dominant ideological orientations in this period. The comprehension and structuring of the process of regional shaping is of particular scientific interest. The adaptation of architectural order themes in the USA and Kazakhstan can serve as an illustration of the uniqueness of the process.