**2.1 Prehistory**

The human being since its inception has sought to meet their basic survival needs, protection and habitat is one of them, for these purposes, adapted natural formations as shelters, the caves have shown the ingenuity of man and the intention to create habitat spaces, but how to analyze the ethics and esthetics in prehistory, possibly the menhirs and dolmens allow us to identify the first intentions of man in modeling the

**Figure 2.** *Schematization of authors of design methodologies.*

### *Architectural Trend and Style a Historical-Ethical-Esthetic Approach to Design Praxis DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.112331*

surrounding space, however the final objective, its functionality, is uncertain, for example Stonehenge is a megalithic monument type cromlech, which has impacted the scientific community by the magnitude and arrangement of its elements, many theories relate this construction with cosmic and astronomical aspects, however, nothing is scientifically proven; nothing is scientifically proven, it could be said that the beauty does not lie in the physical and tangible part of the element built by man, rather it is implicit in the enigma of its creation, both in the construction process and in its functionality. There is evidence from the Neolithic and primitive cultures in which the stars represent the deity, the sun, the moon, the stars and the constellations have their direct incidence on the daily chores, and the representative architecture of that time is based on it.

## **2.2 The ancient age**

With the development of man in the Neolithic and then in the age of metals, many cultures emerged, each one of them contributed to the progress of the ethyles, with architectural elements and constructive systems that transcended in time. The instinctive nature of protection produced the conquest of culture to culture of man by man, the protection of the strongest became the struggle for power, and at that crossroads, the ego overcame reason and humanity. The figure of representatives of gods on earth brought with it the slavery and supremacy between cultures; it is here that stand out monumental buildings representative of each culture, Mesopotamia with its ziggurats contributed with ramps, load-bearing walls, stepped pyramids, each king wanted to be more than a god, the mythical tower of Babylon is an example of the power that man wanted to achieve. The Egyptian culture shared great similarities and knowledge in the social, agricultural and construction systems, and the kings were replaced by pharaohs who maintained the vision of being Gods on earth; all the beauty of the architectural work is represented by their tombs or mastabas better known as pyramids monumental buildings that keep an enigma about its construction. Contemporary and then conquerors appeared the Greek culture, perhaps the best known for its styles and esthetic contributions of compositional principles in architecture, the detail of the ornaments on facades and columns of the temples dedicated to the gods still cause admiration among archeologists and architects who study their culture. Finally, the conquest of the Greek empire by the Romans allowed them to abstract the knowledge, transform and generate their own contributions to architecture, the semicircular arch, the barrel vault, the domes allowed the Romans to transcend in history, the beauty of the buildings were represented in the coliseums, theaters, and monuments representing the emperors of the time. It is unquestionable not to admire the beauty of the ziggurats, the pyramids, the temples, the coliseums of the analyzed cultures, for the monumentality, the details and constructive systems used; however, the question arises from the ethical point of view, is it conceivable to appreciate constructions that were the result of years of conquest, of slavery of several generations and peoples to represent the ego of the rulers of the time, or does the end justify the means, or does beauty always represent the good?

### **2.3 The middle age**

The representative buildings and architectural styles of the Prehistoric and Ancient Ages were created for the gods of each culture, with the arrival of Christ, the world had a turning point leading to basilicas, temples and Christian churches to have greater representativeness in architectural esthetics, the building is still monumental, abstracted scale of the gods of the ancient age. The Byzantine, Romanesque and Gothic styles were those that transcended in history the constructive system through semicircular arches, oval, vaults of spouts and cross vaults, domes, spires, stained glass rosettes, facades loaded with ornaments of sacred nature were the main esthetic characteristics that stood out in this age, the decoration of its interiors was also significant in these styles. It is easier now to understand the intentionality of man in this era, beauty is implicit in religion, it can be said that the incentive or motivation of esthetics was due to the faith professed by Christianity. Esthetics could be said to represent the good.

## **2.4 The modern age**

As Christianity was the turning point in the Middle Ages in the modern age, the Renaissance is the paradigm shift that society undergoes and changes the way of seeing the reality of the physical world and the metaphysical world, it is here where man puts is crisis the existence of a supreme being and its representativeness on earth and proposes to place the human being in the center of the physical earthly world and leave the gods in the metaphysical world. All fine arts including architecture now revolve around the human being; however, the scale abstracted by previous cultures is still maintained. The most representative architectural styles and trends are the baroque, rococo and neoclassical, the first two are based on the extreme ornamentation of the facades and interiors of basilicas and temples, esthetics outweighs the functionality of space, in the neoclassical considered as the recovery of classical Greek and Roman cultures presents a paradigm shift of the Renaissance representative buildings go from the religious and imperial to the public, for example, the Capitol in North America, is a world reference but no longer representative for kings or gods is for the common man, however, its scale is still in monumental proportions. How to analyze ethics and esthetics in this era, there is a more human intention to create architectural works placing man at the center of the world; however, there is still the manipulation of faith and monarchy in these built elements. Ethically the beautiful still fulfills its function of representing the good, discerning that now the good is centered on the human and not the divine.

### **2.5 The contemporary age**

Perhaps it is in this era where there is a transcendental leap for man, an unchecked evolution, that today we see its consequences, it could be said that in this era, there are two moments that changed the paradigm of man; one is rationalism, that is to think, if from the Renaissance man is the center of the world why is still working in architecture on a monumental scale, That is why the modulation of architectural elements on the scale of man began at this time, another historical moment is the industrial revolution, undoubtedly facilitated the life of societies by replacing the driving force of man by mechanics and steam, without considering that the CO2 product of this development would influence future generations, now called climate change. The industrial revolution brought with it unquestionable technological and economic development, but it marked a great social gap that still exists today between developed and developing countries. In the field of architecture, the systematization of processes, mass production, the production of materials such as concrete, iron and glass, together with rationalism, allowed the birth of the modern style of architecture. It is here that the representative buildings pass from the religious, imperial and

### *Architectural Trend and Style a Historical-Ethical-Esthetic Approach to Design Praxis DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.112331*

monarchical to express themselves on small scales as public buildings, skyscrapers and houses. The beauty of the architectural work passes from monumentality and ornamentation of facades to the simplicity of form and purity of the construction system and materials used. Little by little, the mechanical moved to the digital, the evolution of technological sciences allowed us to think of new styles or architectural trends such as organic architecture, high-tech, postmodern, contemporary, parametric and sustainable. Each of them responds to a need of the society of that time; however, there is no doubt that since the industrial revolution to the present, the meaning of human power has changed from the power of demand or manipulation to economic power regardless of the deterioration of the planet and the excessive consumption of nonrenewable resources, this is where the esthetics of architecture should take on a new dimension, we cannot base that the intentionality of the beauty of an architectural work represents only ornaments in facades or new constructive systems must go beyond thinking that the technological evolution must solve problems of the habitat now if as at the beginning of survival before an enemy of the man that is the same man. Can architectural ethics and esthetics in the 21st century reinvent its definition for true sustainable development?

### **2.6 At present and its prospective**

We are currently living with the consequence of the first industrial revolution, the indiscriminate use of nonrenewable natural resources and the high production of CO2 have caused climate change, architectural production has not been the exception, and it is of worldwide concern to seek strategies to mitigate these environmental problems, it is here where ethics plays a transcendental role. There is talk of sustainable projects, a term that involves economic, environmental and social responsibility. Here, a new concept of tectonic ethics is born. On the other hand, globalization and the fourth industrial revolution in which we live force us to project ourselves to design processes and construction processes based on current and future technology, for example nanotechnology or artificial intelligence will allow us to speed up and perfect design and construction processes, it is here where a new vision of the ethics of artificial intelligence arises, where man must program ethically so that the machine can do good and improve society, without prejudice to human activities. One of the characteristics of Modernity has been the advance of techno-sciences in almost all aspects of life. While before Modernity, techno-scientific knowledge found in nature a moral criterion for its interventions, Humea's criticism that linked a "naturalistic fallacy" allowed the separation between both fields, scientific and ethical [15]. However, doubt is born. A machine could replace the creative processes of an architect modeling the reality of society with better and more accurate concepts?
