On the basic architectural styles, directions, and style flows for shells and shell structures

It was ascertained that investigations on classification of architectural styles for shells and shell structures are absent. Only one published paper is available where architectural styles with indication of dates of appearance of the styles and dates of attenuation of their application are presented and the names of their founders are given. Now, the interest for the design, analysis, and building of thin-walled shells and shell structures is rising. There are no countries without erected shell structures. Hence, it is necessary to make more exact the classification of these erections and the distribution of them into groups. An aim of this work is collection of information about all known architectural styles as applied to shells and shell structures, and grouping of them due to characteristic traits and indications. All architectural styles were divided into five groups, i.e. avant-gardism, art deco style, modernism, ecotech style, and the newest styles. A special scheme, where distribution of architectural styles on these groups is applied to the examined structures, is given. Mutual influence of styles was revealed and presence of architectural directions and style flows in several styles was shown. The conclusions presented in this paper can demand the future accurate definitions and developments because specialists do not have common views to the list of architectural styles and to their classifications.