Class 6 introduction to post modernist architecture

post modernism

1. POST MODERNISM “ I speak of a complex and contradictory architecture based on the richness and ambiguity of modern experience, including that experience which is inherent in art. … I welcome the problems and exploit the uncertainties. … I like elements which are hybrid rather than "pure", compromising rather than "clean", … accommodating rather than excluding. … I am for messy vitality over obvious unity. … I prefer "both-and" to "either-or", black and white, and sometimes gray, to black or white. … An architecture of complexity and contradiction must embody the difficult unity of inclusion rather than the easy unity of exclusion .”

2. Sydney Opera House, Sydney by Jorn Utzon (1957-1973)

3. 550 Madison Avenue, Manhattan-Philip Johnson, (1982)

4. Glass house Pavilion for the Glass House in Connecticut -Philip Johnson (1995)

5. Manggha Museum of Japanese Art and Technology in Cracow, Poland, by Arata Isozaki and Krzysztof Ingarden (1994)

6. Vanna Venturi House, Philadelphia by Robert Venturi (1964)

7. Portland Building , Oregon, Michael Graves-1982

8. Beverly Hills Civic Center, California by Charles Moore (1990)

9. Norton Beach House, Venice, California by Frank Gehry (1983 )

10. History Faculty Library, Cambridge-James Stirling (1968)

11. Bonnefantenmuseum, Netherlands- A ldo Rossi-1995

12. About Postmodern architecture is a style or movement which emerged in the 1960s as a reaction against the austerity, formality, and lack of variety of modern architecture, particularly in the international style. The style flourished from the 1980s through the 1990s, particularly in the work of Venturi, Philip Johnson, Charles Moore and Michael Graves. In the late 1990s it divided into a multitude of new tendencies, including high-tech architecture, neo-classicism and deconstructivism. Postmodern architecture emerged in the 1960s as a reaction against the perceived shortcomings of modern architecture, particularly its rigid doctrines, its uniformity, its lack of ornament, and its habit of ignoring the history and culture of the cities where it appeared. The architect and architectural historian Robert Venturi led the attack in 1966 in his book, Complexity and Contradiction in Architecture. Created out of a wholesale rethink of core modernist values, Postmodern  architecture came as part of a philosophical shift that was just as all-encompassing as the Modernism it sought to replace; aiming to revive historical or traditional ideas and bring a more contextual approach to design.

13. Characteristics-Complexity and Contradiction In place of the modernist doctrines of simplicity as expressed by Mies in his famous "less is more;" and functionality, "form follows function" and the doctrine of Le Corbusier that "a house is a machine to live in," postmodernism, in the words Robert Venturi, offered complexity and contradiction . Postmodern buildings had curved forms, decorative elements, asymmetry, bright colors, and features often borrowed from earlier periods. Colors and textures unrelated to the structure of function of the building. It called for a return to ornament, and an accumulation of citations and collages borrowed from past styles. It borrowed freely from classical architecture, rococo, neoclassical architecture, the Viennese secession, the British arts and crafts movement, the German Jugendstil . James Stirling the architect of the Neue Staatsgalerie in Stuttgart, Germany (1984), described the style as "representation and abstraction, monumental and informal, traditional and high-tech ."

14. The Neue Staatsgalerie by James Stirling in Stuttgart, Germany (1977-84)

15. Characteristics- Fragmentation Postmodern architecture often breaks large buildings into several different structures and forms, sometimes representing different functions of those parts of the building. With the use of different materials and styles, a single building can appear like a small town or village. An example is the Staditsches Museum by Hans Hollein in Munich (1972–74 ).

16. Museum Abteiberg , Germany by Hans Hollein (1972–82)

17. Wexner Center of Arts, Ohio by Peter Eisenman (1989)

18. Characteristics- Asymmetrical and Oblique Forms Asymmetrical forms are one of the trademarks of postmodernism. In 1968 the French architect Claude Parent and philosopher Paul Virilio designed a church, Saint-Bernadette-du- Banlay in Nevers, France, in the form of a massive block of concrete leaning to one side. Describing the form, they wrote: "a diagonal line on a white page can be a hill, or a mountain, or slope, an ascent, or a descent." Parent's buildings were inspired in part by concrete German blockhouses he discovered on the French coast which had slid down the cliffs, but were perfectly intact, with leaning walls and sloping floors. Postmodernist compositions are rarely symmetrical, balanced and orderly. Oblique buildings which tilt, lean, and seem about to fall over are common

19. The Church of Banlay -Sainte-Bernadette in Nevers, France, by Claude Parent ( 1968)

20. Characteristics- Colour Colour is an important element in many postmodern buildings, to give the facades variety and personality sometimes colored glass is used, or ceramic tiles, or stone. The buildings of Mexican architect Luis Barragan offer bright sunlight colors that give life to the forms .

21. Interior of Cambridge Judge Business School in Cambridge, UK by John Outram (1995)

22. Characteristics- Humour and Camp Humour is a particular feature of many postmodern buildings, particularly in the United States. An example is the Binoculars Building in the Venice neighborhood of Los Angeles, designed by Frank Gehry in collaboration with the sculptor Claes Oldenberg (1991–2001). The gateway of the building is in the form of an enormous pair of binoculars; cars enter the garage passing under the binoculars. "Camp" humour was popular during the postmodern period; it was an ironic humor based on the premise that something could appear so bad (such as a building that appeared about to collapse) that it was good . The American critic Susan Sontag in 1964 defined camp as a style which put its accent on the texture, the surface, and style to the detriment of the content, which adored exaggeration, and things which were not what they seemed. Postmodern architecture sometimes used the same sense of theatricality, sense of the absurd and exaggeration of forms

23. Humor. Binoculars Building, Los Angeles by Frank Gehry and sculptor Claes Oldenberg (1991-2001)

24. Theories The characteristics of postmodernism allow its aim to be expressed in diverse ways. These characteristics include the use of sculptural forms, ornaments, anthropomorphism. These physical characteristics are combined with conceptual characteristics of meaning. These characteristics of meaning include pluralism, flying buttresses and high ceilings, irony and paradox, and contextualism . Postmodern architecture as an international style – the first examples of which are generally cited as being from the 1950s – but did not become a movement until the late 1970s and continues to influence present-day architecture. Postmodernity in architecture is said to be heralded by the return of "wit, ornament and reference" to architecture in response to the formalism of the International Style of modernism. As with many cultural movements, some of Postmodernism's most pronounced and visible ideas can be seen in architecture .

25. Theories The functional and formalized shapes and spaces of the modernist style are replaced by diverse aesthetics: styles collide, form is adopted for its own sake, and new ways of viewing familiar styles and space abound. Perhaps most obviously, architects rediscovered past architectural ornament and forms which had been abstracted by the Modernist architects . Postmodern architecture has also been described as neo-eclectic, where reference and ornament have returned to the facade, replacing the aggressively unornamented modern styles. This eclecticism is often combined with the use of non-orthogonal angles and unusual surfaces, most famously in the State Gallery of Stuttgart by James Stirling and the Piazza d'Italia by Charles Moore. The Scottish Parliament Building in Edinburgh has also been cited as being of postmodern vogue.

26. Some Postmodern Architects Charles Correa Peter Eisenman Frank Gehry Michael Graves Philip Johnson Charles Moore César Pelli Kevin Roche Aldo Rossi James Stirling Robert Venturi

27. AROUND THE GLOBE-BEYOND MODERNISM REGIONALISM

28. Luis Barragan- Casa Barragan, Mexico City, New Mexico 1947 MOOD

29. Oscar Neimeyer, Plaza of the Three Towers, Brasilia, Brazil 1958 INVENTIVE FORMS

30. Glenn Murcutt , Ball- Eastaway House, New Soth Wales, Australia (1980-1983) CLIMATE

31. Geoffrey Bawa , Parliament Building, Colombo, Sri Lanka 1980-83 IDENTITY

32. Raj Rewal , Asian Games Housing, New Delhi, India 1980-82 LOCAL TYPOLOGIES

33. DECONSTRUCTIVISM

34. Daniel Libeskind , Jewish Museum, Berlin (1989-96) METAPHOR

35. Frank Gehry , Guggenheim Museum, Bilbao, Spain, opened 1997 FRAGMENTATION

36. National Museum of the 21 st Century Arts, Rome, Opened 2010 FLOWING CURVES

37. ECO-ARCHITECTURE

38. Toyo Ito, Kaohsiung National Stadium, Taiwan, completed 2009 FLOWING CURVES

39. Edward Cullinan Architects, Download Gridshell , Weald and Download Museum, Sussex, England 1996-2007 TRADITIONAL MATERIALS

40. EXPRESSIVE RATIONALISM

41. Herzog and De Meuron , National Stadium, Beijing, 2003-2008 COMPLEXITY

42. OMA, Seattle Central Library 1999-2004 BIGNESS