Introduction to House Architectural Styles

Learn what Scale, Proportion and Pattern mean and how to use this knowledge to identify home styles!

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What style is my house? That’s a common question asked by homeowners wishing to better understand the style of the home they live in. It’s a simple enough question, but as with most simple things it becomes more complex the more you learn.

This video introduces some key terms we use when discussing architectural design: Scale, proportion and pattern.
Scale. How the size of a building or building elements relate to a person. This could also mean how the size of a building relates to a neighborhood or a surrounding area.
Proportion. Proportion is used to describe how the size of the elements within a design relate to each other. Large objects may be out of scale when compared to a person, but still work within the context of a design because they’re in proportion to one another. Think about the columns at the parthenon.
Pattern. Pattern describes the arrangement of the building’s features, as viewed from the street. How the rhythm of elements such as windows, columns, material changes and accent features such as brackets are used. People are pattern seekers and symmetry is a pleasing and easily distinguishable base to a pattern.

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