The Postmodern Architecture

The Postmodern Architecture

Wan-Yun Chang

COMPOSITION (2)

Professor Aiden Yeh

23 April 2015

Outline

THESIS: It is very difficult to give postmodern architecture a particular and precise definition, but its diversity is the core of this doctrine.

1. The introduction of postmodern architecture.

1. The background of postmodern architecture.
2. Less is bore.
3. The death of Modern architecture.

1. The six major tendencies of postmodern architecture recognized by Charles Jencks.

1. Historicism.
2. Straight Revivalism.
3. Neo-Vernacular.
4. Ad-Hoc Urbanism.
5. Metaphor and Metaphysics.
6. Postmodern Space.

1. The representative works of postmodern architecture.

1. The Vanna Venturi House
2. The Piazza d'Italia

The Postmodern Architecture

Postmodern architecture is a very well-known word that we hear about it frequently nowadays, even if we have no ideas what it is really talking about. It is a new style of construction, which focuses on both appearance and the functionality. It is very difficult to give postmodern architecture a particular and precise definition, but its diversity is the core of this doctrine. This essay is going to talk about the introduction of postmodern architecture, the six major tendencies and the representative works.

The postmodernist movement began in America, and then spread to Europe and the rest of the world, continuing through to the present day (Herpacio). It was born with the failure of modern architecture. The basic tenet of modernism emphasizes function and utility. Ludwig Mies van der Roche, an architect who designed the skyscrapers, believed "less is more", which became a guiding principle for architects in the mid-twentieth century. In the 1960's and 1970's, architects began to reject the pure, hard lines and impersonality of modernism. These architects were concerned with environmental issues, the recovery of historical forms and the pursuit of humor and surprise (Herpacio). Instead of Mies van der Roche’s “less is more”, Robert Venturi, one of the major architectural figures of postmodern architecture, teasingly answered “less is a bore” in his book “Complexity and Contradiction in Architecture” in 1966. His opinion on postmodern architecture opened a new path for the form of architecture. The precise date of Modern architecture’s death was announced by Charles Jencks in his book “The Language of Post-modern Architecture”. Jencks is a well-known architecture critic who first defined postmodern architecture. “Modern Architecture died in St. Louis, Missouri on July 15, 1972 at 3.32 pm (or thereabouts) when the infamous Pruitt Igoe scheme, or rather several of its slab blocks, were given the final coup de grâce by dynamite” (Jencks 23). The scheme was laid out by Minoru Yamasaki, who designed Pruitt-Igoe according to the best principles of modern architecture. By the time they were destroyed, the blocks were notorious for violence, vandalism, chaos and squalor (Moore). Pruitt Igoe seems to prove the negative aspects of modern architecture. Therefore, the era of postmodern architecture began to write its prologue.

There is not a particular definition or classification of postmodern architecture; therefore, to talk about the tendencies, this essay will emphasize “The Language of Post-modern Architecture” by Charles Jencks in this paragraph. Jencks categorized the different forms of postmodern buildings into six tendencies including historicism, straight revivalism, neo-vernacular, ad hoc urbanist, metaphor and metaphysics and postmodern space. Firstly, Jencks considered historicism as the beginning of postmodern architecture while the modernists were lack of cultural significance. It means the architectural style during the most glorious period of a nation would be simplified to the postmodernist. In the 1950s’, double-coding became a characteristic of postmodern architecture, which means establishing links of the present with the past, of new techniques with old patterns, of the elite with the popular (Raaij).

Here is the schizophrenic cross between two codes that is characteristic of Post-Modernism: the enveloping, sweeping curves of the Baroque, the overlap of space, the various foci of space interfering with each other and the Brutalist treatment, the expression of concrete block, rugged joinery and the guitar-shapes of modernism. (Jencks 65)

Secondly, straight revivalism buildings have an overall appearance similar to a historic or traditional model, but the materials and assembly are up-to-date. However, the design of revivalism fits the clients' tastes, but not necessarily appropriate for the location and does not reflect the general attitudes and opinions. According to Jencks, the revivalists are often "insensitive to the nuance of time and context”, like the modernists. Thirdly, neo-vernacular, as Jencks described, is a hybrid of popular architectural elements. The continuous language or dialect of local building make Jencks consider neo-vernacular was appeared to be an attempt to create contextual architecture which communicate with local traditions, and therefore it was considered a form of Postmodernism. Next, ad hoc urbanist, which was explained by Jencks as “Adhocism + Urbanist = Contextual”. The support of modernist movement on urbanization and redevelopment schemes make it became a destroyer; however, the postmodernist have a totally different perspective on the urban life, and have emphasized on the importance of the connection with environment and the activities of residents. In other words, pieces of history in the neighborhood and the surrounding architecture or landscape are applied to a new and contextual format. The goal of ad hoc urbanist is to mix up the structure by carrying elements of familiar architecture or by being built of materials common to the area, which was considered to be contextual. The fifth category within Jencks' definition of postmodernism is metaphor and metaphysics. Metaphor can be defined as a straightforward comparison between two or more different and unrelated subjects (Abdel-moniem El-Shorbagy). Architects are not only playing with visual images of the form, but also playing with hidden messages which contain perspectives of their spiritual realm. Metaphysics is simultaneously expressed by explicit or ambiguous metaphor, and the metaphor is referred to the form of architecture. The last tendency is postmodern space, Jencks described it as “historically specific, rooted in conventions, unlimited or ambiguous in zoning and irrational or transformational in its relation of parts to whole” (96). The border of postmodern space is ambiguous, and the space can be extended unlimited. Jencks thought that the arrangement of postmodern space is similar to traditional Chinese garden, but without its implied philosophy.