Home & Building Architect describes Storybook Style Architecture... For years, quaint European village architecture has captured the imaginations of many. This fascination eventually transformed into influence and style, as shown by the common ‘Storybook Style Architecture’ threads weaving their ways into our daily experiences. Even in Santa Clarita, simple ‘Storybook Style’ attractiveness partially embeds itself into the city’s design guidelines and seems to be everywhere. But where does it come from? And with current environmental concerns, where is it going? To begin, the differences between fashion and style must be understood. Fashion concerns that which is currently popular. Conversely, Style describes the characteristics of the way things are designed. So, fashion has style, but style may or may not be fashionable.
Styles contain at least two categories: methodology (the way) and typology (the kind). “Storybook Style Architecture,” (SSA) is not merely a fashion but a style. Historically, SSA has been known by different names, including French Provincialism, Cotswold, Hansel and Gretel, Queen Anne and Tudor to name a few. SSA Threads are seen in a distilled form in theme park fantasy areas, communities and cottages such as those seen in Kincade’s early paintings. Of those mentioned, the better SSA renditions include a contemplative consideration of the parts and the whole. Thinking that the individual ‘elements’ of a style (the kind) are the style (the way), architects and planners have at times made unfortunate choices resulting in an overall diminished aesthetic value. Just as walking into a garage doesn’t change one into a car, adding shutters to windows doesn’t fix the overall look of a poorly designed building. As we will see in the months to come, a carefully considered transformation of a building to a distinct style and thoughtful consideration from the first steps of planning for new construction can insure a final higher value by avoiding bad design.
Home & Building Architect describes Storybook Style Architecture... For years, quaint European village architecture has captured the imaginations of many. This fascination eventually transformed into influence and style, as shown by the common ‘Storybook Style Architecture’ threads weaving their ways into our daily experiences. Even in Santa Clarita, simple ‘Storybook Style’ attractiveness partially embeds itself into the city’s design guidelines and seems to be everywhere. But where does it come from? And with current environmental concerns, where is it going? To begin, the differences between fashion and style must be understood. Fashion concerns that which is currently popular. Conversely, Style describes the characteristics of the way things are designed. So, fashion has style, but style may or may not be fashionable. 
Styles contain at least two categories: methodology (the way) and typology (the kind). “Storybook Style Architecture,” (SSA) is not merely a fashion but a style. Historically, SSA has been known by different names, including French Provincialism, Cotswold, Hansel and Gretel, Queen Anne and Tudor to name a few. SSA Threads are seen in a distilled form in theme park fantasy areas, communities and cottages such as those seen in Kincade’s early paintings. Of those mentioned, the better SSA renditions include a contemplative consideration of the parts and the whole. Thinking that the individual ‘elements’ of a style (the kind) are the style (the way), architects and planners have at times made unfortunate choices resulting in an overall diminished aesthetic value. Just as walking into a garage doesn’t change one into a car, adding shutters to windows doesn’t fix the overall look of a poorly designed building. As we will see in the months to come, a carefully considered transformation of a building to a distinct style and thoughtful consideration from the first steps of planning for new construction can insure a final higher value by avoiding bad design.
