# What kind of architecture is this? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [September 10, 2004, 5:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kind-of-architecture-is-this/263880 "2004-09-10T05:44:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Mesquite-oh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a183cd/32.png) [@Mesquite-oh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mesquite-oh)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2004, 5:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kind-of-architecture-is-this/263880/1 "2004-09-10T05:44:00Z")
The buildings have many features of warehouses or barns. They often have a corrugated metal curving roof, heavy grates suspended by wires sticking out over the windows, pipes exposed and or sticking out, and high windows between the top of the walls and the beginning of the roof. Here is a pic of the arena where the San Antonio Spurs play , it is a good example: [SBC Center](http://www.wayholding.com/wayeng/Images/projects/majorprojects/entertainment-hospitality/SBC%20Spurs%20Arena%20-%20AR1%20(cropped).jpg) Some other local examples: [Convention Center](http://office.tmea.org/convention_cart/default.htm) [Library Branch](http://www.sanantonio.gov/library/branch/greatnorthwest.asp) [The International Center](http://www.sigmadesign.com/IABC2002/events.html) It seems that 50% of the new buildings in San Antonio during the past 3-5 years are being done in this architectural style. It is really popular to build new banks, post offices, schools, and medical offices in this way. Is this a regional thing (Lake/Flato Architects) or are there buildings like this all over (I am already tired of it!). ---
**Author:** ![Squink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2004, 6:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kind-of-architecture-is-this/263880/2 "2004-09-10T06:47:14Z")
[SBC center](http://www.sportsvenue-technology.com/projects/sbc/): > [@](#): > > The design is a blend of South Texas culture and regional architecture with beautiful outdoor plazas, generous ranch porches and overhangs. There are five levels in the SBC Center: Event Level, Charter Level, Plaza Level, Terrace Level and Balcony Level. Fans enter the building on the Plaza Level. Multiple elevators and escalators provide direct access from the Plaza Level to the Balcony Level. > > US architects, Ellerbe Beckett, have designed the SBC Center as an entertainment complex for all of the family with an interactive entertainment area located on the Balcony Level along with a merchandise shop and several restaurants featuring a variety of dining choices. > > KellMunoz and Lake-Flato, two local San Antonio architectural firms, have partnered with Ellerbe Becket and given the building its unique South Texas flair. Looks to me like a postmodern [Quonset hut](http://www.uh.edu/engines/epi1278.htm). ---
**Author:** ![lissener](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lissener/32/6139_2.png) [@lissener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lissener)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2004, 7:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kind-of-architecture-is-this/263880/3 "2004-09-10T07:01:52Z")
The common roofline is, not, I think, of a particular style. But most of the buildings you show are pretty postmodern; a style that’s looked down on nowadays by most of the architects that I know: too explicitly referential to date well. There are also some elements of deconstructionism (visible structural supports, etc.), but it’s been pretty dumbed down, or malled up. ---
**Author:** ![antechinus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/fbc32d/32.png) [@antechinus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/antechinus)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2004, 7:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kind-of-architecture-is-this/263880/4 "2004-09-10T07:37:12Z")
You are referring to the curved roof profile in particular? Curved steel roofs have been very popular in Australia over the last 10-15 years. They are cheap, strong and aestheticly appealing (IMPHO). The steel can be [‘sprung curved’ or factory pre-formed.](http://www.bluescopesteel.com.au/au/index.cfm/objectID.FF74EF47-003C-11D4-89ED00C04FCF6B8F) Some examples from the BlueScope Steel website: [Equestrian center](http://www.bluescopesteel.com.au/au/index.cfm/objectID.F350AE07-E4A5-4CC3-B261DD07A91AE507) [Airport](http://www.bluescopesteel.com.au/au/index.cfm/objectID.080254FF-9B27-4B26-A4C8D56BA8F6BB62) [Dunny](http://www.bluescopesteel.com.au/au/index.cfm/OBJECTID.9F9EFEEB-5FB1-4EEF-940039701955C47C) ---
**Author:** ![Philster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/13edae/32.png) [@Philster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Philster)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2004, 12:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kind-of-architecture-is-this/263880/5 "2004-09-10T12:56:02Z")
Get used to metal/steel in buildings, for additions, roofs, walls, style, etc. You will even see places of worship going the same route, because it is becoming faster/cheaper/easier to build from metal products. Metal as a structure and finishing material is making more economic sense now, and metal lends itself to a different aesthetic approach. Even when it does the same things as wood, it doesn’t look quite the same. Additionally, there are certain issues of spanning, support, and other factors that encourage the designer to do different things (such as curves), with metal versus wood. ---
**Author:** ![GorillaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/50afbb/32.png) [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2004, 1:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kind-of-architecture-is-this/263880/6 "2004-09-10T13:07:41Z")
Maybe this is just an Old World perspectie 😉 , but such roof styles seem to me either to refer to Victorian constructions (particularly railway stations, with the irony of [Manchester’s Central Station](http://abc.net.au/commonwealthgames/galleries/manchester/pages/G_Mex.htm) being reused in an identical way to such modern buildings), or to be derivative of postwar postmodernism and brutalism, such as the [Festiva Hall](http://www.london-photo-tour.co.uk/display_image.asp?file=riv05.jpg&type=L&name=Royal%20Festival%20Hall) in London (dating from the 1940s).