Building typology
Building typology refers to the classification and documentation of buildings according to shared characteristics. In architectural discourse, typological classification commonly focuses on building function, building form, or architectural style.
A functional typology groups buildings by use, such as houses, hospitals, schools, or shopping centers. A formal typology groups buildings according to spatial and morphological characteristics, including shape, scale, plan arrangement, and relationship to the site. Formal building typology is related to architectural morphology and, at the urban scale, to urban morphology. A stylistic typology classifies buildings according to historically identifiable features associated with an architectural style, such as Gothic, Baroque, the International Style, or Postmodern architecture.
The three typological practices are interlinked. Each functional type may include several formal types. For example, residential buildings may be divided into formal categories such as the high-rise building, single-family detached home, duplex, or townhouse. Similarly, while stylistic traits may be distinct from a formal building type, style and form are often related, since the political, economic, and technological conditions that give rise to stylistic traits may also encourage particular forms. In all three cases, typology provides a framework for comparing buildings by shared characteristics while distinguishing those characteristics from the individual and contingent features of a specific building.
Typological and morphological analysis may also be used in architectural design methods. In this context, building types are not treated only as fixed categories, but as formal and spatial arrangements that can be analysed, compared, and transformed. Such approaches relate typology to the study of architectural form and to design procedures based on operations such as addition, subtraction, repetition, rotation, and deformation.