This paper claims that style, in addition to being identified by
common visible physical characteristics of form, can be thought of in
terms of a set of common abstract characteristics. A prototype
computational design support tool is described that explores this idea in
the domain of architecture. The Architect's Collaborator (TAC)
supports articulation and evaluation of abstract characteristics of style
(e.g., experiential characteristics such as privacy and shelter) and does
so by mapping abstract characteristics to details of physical form. The
implementation of TAC is described and successful experiments are reported
in which abstract characteristics of Frank Lloyd Wright's Prairie
houses were mapped to physical form characteristics and used to evaluate
Prairie and non-Prairie houses.