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Postmodern architecture
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(August 2009)

The Harold
Washington Library
was modeled on
nearby buildings of
Chicago's downtown.

1000 de La
Gauchetière, in
Montréal, with
ornamented and
strongly defined top,
middle and bottom.
Contrast with the
modernist Seagram
Building.

Postmodern architecture began as an international style the first examples of which are generally cited as
being from the 1950s, but did not become a style until the late 1970s[1] 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 fashions, some of Postmodernism's most pronounced and visible ideas can be seen in architecture.
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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 the expressive and symbolic value of architectural
elements and forms that had evolved through centuries of building which had been abandoned by the
modern style.

Influential early large-scale examples of postmodern architecture are Michael Graves' Portland Building in
Portland, Oregon and Philip Johnson's Sony Building (originally AT&T Building) in New York City, which
borrows elements and references from the past and reintroduces color and symbolism to architecture.

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 (New wing of the Staatsgalerie Stuttgart) by James Stirling and the Piazza d'Italia by Charles
Moore. The Scottish Parliament buildings in Edinburgh have also been cited as being of postmodern
vogue.[citation needed]

Modernist architects may regard postmodern buildings as vulgar, associated with a populist ethic, and
sharing the design elements of shopping malls, cluttered with "gew-gaws". Postmodern architects may
regard many modern buildings as soulless and bland, overly simplistic and abstract. This contrast was
exemplified in the juxtaposition of the "whites" against the "grays," in which the "whites" were seeking to
continue (or revive) the modernist tradition of purism and clarity, while the "grays" were embracing a more
multifaceted cultural vision, seen in Robert Venturi's statement rejecting the "black or white" world view of
modernism in favor of "black and white and sometimes gray." The divergence in opinions comes down to a
difference in goals: modernism is rooted in minimal and true use of material as well as absence of
ornament, while postmodernism is a rejection of strict rules set by the early modernists and seeks meaning
and expression in the use of building techniques, forms, and stylistic references.

One building form that typifies the explorations of Postmodernism is the traditional gable roof, in place of the
iconic flat roof of modernism. Shedding water away from the center of the building, such a roof form always
served a functional purpose in climates with rain and snow, and was a logical way to achieve larger spans
with shorter structural members, but it was nevertheless relatively rare in modern houses. (These were, after
all, "machines for living," according to LeCorbusier, and machines did not usually have gabled roofs.)
However, Postmodernism's own modernist roots appear in some of the noteworthy examples of "reclaimed"
roofs. For instance, Robert Venturi's Vanna Venturi House breaks the gable in the middle, denying the
functionality of the form, and Philip Johnson's 1001 Fifth Avenue in Manhattan advertises a mansard roof
form as an obviously flat, false front. Another alternative to the flat roofs of modernism would exaggerate a
traditional roof to call even more attention to it, as when Kallmann McKinnell and Wood's American
Academy of Arts and Sciences in Cambridge, Massachusetts, layers three tiers of low hipped roof forms
one above another for an emphatic statement of shelter.

Contents
[hide]

1 Relationship to previous styles

2 Roots of Postmodernism
3 Robert Venturi
4 Aims and characteristics
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4 Aims and characteristics
5 Influential architects
6 Changing pedagogies
7 International examples of Postmodern architecture
8 See also
9 Notes
10 References
11 External links

[edit]Relationship to previous styles

San Antonio Public

Library, Texas.

Ancient ruyi symbol

adorning Taipei 101
(Taiwan)

New trends became evident in the last quarter of the 20th century as some architects started to turn away
from modern Functionalism which they viewed as boring, and which some of the public considered
unwelcoming and even unpleasant. These architects turned towards the past, quoting past aspects of
various buildings and melding them together (even sometimes in an inharmonious manner) to create a new
means of designing buildings. A vivid example of this new approach was that Postmodernism saw the
comeback of columns and other elements of premodern designs, sometimes adapting classical Greek and
Roman examples (but not simply recreating them, as was done in neoclassical architecture). In Modernism,
the traditional column (as a design feature) was treated as a cylindrical pipe form, replaced by other
technological means such as cantilevers, or masked completely by curtain wall façades. The revival of the
column was an aesthetic, rather than a technological, necessity. Modernist high-rise buildings had become
in most instances monolithic, rejecting the concept of a stack of varied design elements for a single
vocabulary from ground level to the top, in the most extreme cases even using a constant "footprint" (with no
tapering or "wedding cake" design), with the building sometimes even suggesting the possibility of a single
metallic extrusion directly from the ground, mostly by eliminating visual horizontal elements — this was seen
most strictly in Minoru Yamasaki's World Trade Center buildings.

Another return was that of the “wit, ornament and reference” seen in older buildings in terra cotta decorative
façades and bronze or stainless steel embellishments of the Beaux-Arts and Art Deco periods. In

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Postmodern structures this was often achieved by placing contradictory quotes of previous building styles
alongside each other, and even incorporating furniture stylistic references at a huge scale.

Contextualism, a trend in thinking in the later parts of 20th Century, influences the ideologies of the
postmodern movement in general. Contextualism is centered on the belief that all knowledge is “context-
sensitive”. This idea was even taken further to say that knowledge cannot be understood without considering
its context. While noteworthy examples of modern architecture responded both subtly and directly to their
physical context (analyzed by Thomas Schumacher in "Contextualism: Urban Ideals and Deformations," and
by Colin Rowe and Fred Koetter in Collage City), postmodern architecture often addressed the context in
terms of the materials, forms and details of the buildings around it—the cultural context.

[edit]Roots of Postmodernism

The interior of the

Basilica of Our Lady
of Licheń clearly
draws from classical
forms of Western
European church
architecture.

The Postmodernist movement began in America around the 1960s - 1970s and then it spread to Europe
and the rest of the world, to remain right through to the present. The aims of Postmodernism or Late-
modernism begin with its reaction to Modernism; it tries to address the limitations of its predecessor. The
list of aims is extended to include communicating ideas with the public often in a then humorous or witty way.
Often, the communication is done by quoting extensively from past architectural styles, often many at once. In
breaking away from modernism, it also strives to produce buildings that are sensitive to the context within
which they are built.

Postmodernism has its origins in the perceived failure of Modern Architecture. Its preoccupation with
functionalism and economical building meant that ornaments were done away with and the buildings were
cloaked in a stark rational appearance. Many felt the buildings failed to meet the human need for comfort
both for body and for the eye, that modernism did not account for the desire for beauty. The problem
worsened when some already monotonous apartment blocks degenerated into slums. In response,
architects sought to reintroduce ornament, color, decoration and human scale to buildings. Form was no
longer to be defined solely by its functional requirements or minimal appearance.

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Sainsbury Wing of the
National Gallery in
London by Robert
Venturi (1991).

[edit]Robert Venturi

Vanna Venturi House

with its split gable.

Robert Venturi was at the forefront of this movement. His book, Complexity and Contradiction in
Architecture (published in 1966), was instrumental in opening readers eyes to new ways of thinking about
buildings, as it drew from the entire history of architecture—both high-style and vernacular, both historic and
modern—and lambasted overly simplistic Functional Modernism. The move away from modernism’s
functionalism is well illustrated by Venturi’s adaptation of Mies van der Rohe’s famous maxim “Less is more”
to "Less is a bore." The book includes a number of the architect's own designs in the back, including
structures such as Guild House, in Philadelphia, that became major icons of postmodernism. He sought to
bring back ornament because of its necessity. He explains this and his criticism of Modernism in his
Complexity and Contradiction in Architecture by saying that:

Architects can bemoan or try to ignore them (referring to the ornamental and decorative
elements in buildings) or even try to abolish them, but they will not go away. Or they will not go
away for a long time, because architects do not have the power to replace them (nor do they
know what to replace them with).

Venturi's second book, Learning from Las Vegas (1972) further developed his take on modernism. Co-
authored with his wife, Denise Scott Brown, and Steven Izenour, Learning from Las Vegas argues that
ornamental and decorative elements “accommodate existing needs for variety and communication”. Here
Venturi stresses the importance of the building communicating a meaning to the public, a value shared by
postmodernists in general. This communication however is not intended to be a direct narration of the
meaning. Venturi goes on to explain that it is rather intended to be a communication that could be
interpreted in many ways. Each interpretation is more or less true for its moment because work of such
quality will have many dimensions and layers of meaning.

This pluralism of meaning is intended to mirror the similar nature of contemporary society. The pluralism in
meaning was also echoed in the Postmodern architects striving for variety in their buildings. Venturi
reminisces in one of his essays, A View from the Campidoglio, to that effect when he says that:

When [he] was young, a sure way to distinguish great architects was through the consistency and
originality of their work...This should no longer be the case. Where the Modern masters' strength
lay in consistency, ours should lie in diversity.

Postmodernism with its diversity possesses sensitivity to the building’s context and history, and the client’s

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requirements. The postmodernist architects often considered the general requirements of the urban
buildings and their surroundings during the building’s design. For example, in Frank Gehry's Venice Beach
House, the neighboring houses have a similar bright flat color. This vernacular sensitivity is often evident, but
other times the designs respond to more high-style neighbors. James Stirling's Arthur M. Sackler Museum
at Harvard University features a rounded corner and striped brick patterning that relate to the form and
decoration of the polychromatic Victorian Memorial Hall across the street, although in neither case is the
element imitative or historicist.

[edit]Aims and characteristics

The City Hall in

Mississauga, Canada
conveys a
Postmodern
architectural style
depicting the concept
of a "futuristic farm"

Hood Museum of Art

at the campus of
Dartmouth College in
Hanover, New
Hampshire (1983).

The aims of Postmodernism, including solving the problems of Modernism, communicating meanings with
ambiguity, and sensitivity for the building’s context, are surprisingly unified for a period of buildings designed
by architects who largely never collaborated with each other. The aims do, however, leave room for various
implementations as can be illustrated by the diverse buildings created during the movement.

The characteristics of postmodernism allow its aim to be expressed in diverse ways. These characteristics
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include the use of sculptural forms, ornaments, anthropomorphism and materials which perform trompe
l'oeil . These physical characteristics are combined with conceptual characteristics of meaning. These
characteristics of meaning include pluralism, double coding, flying buttresses and high ceilings, irony and
paradox, and contextualism.

The sculptural forms, not necessarily organic, were created with much ardor. These can be seen in Hans
Hollein’s Abteiberg Museum (1972–1982). The building is made up of several building units, all very
different. Each building’s forms are nothing like the conforming rigid ones of Modernism. These forms are
sculptural and are somewhat playful. These forms are not reduced to an absolute minimum; they are built
and shaped for their own sake. The building units all fit together in a very organic way, which enhances the
effect of the forms.

After many years of neglect, ornament returned. Frank Gehry’s Venice Beach house, built in 1986, is littered
with small ornamental details that would have been considered excessive and needless in Modernism. The
Venice Beach House has an assembly of circular logs which exist mostly for decoration. The logs on top do
have a minor purpose of holding up the window covers. However, the mere fact that they could have been
replaced with a practically invisible nail, makes their exaggerated existence largely ornamental. The
ornament in Michael Graves' Portland Municipal Services Building ("Portland Building") (1980) is even more
prominent. The two obtruding triangular forms are largely ornamental. They exist for aesthetic or their own
purpose.[citation needed]

Postmodernism, with its sensitivity to the building’s context, did not exclude the needs of humans from the
building. Carlo Scarpa's Brion Cemetery (1970–72) exemplifies this. The human requirements of a
cemetery is that it possesses a solemn nature, yet it must not cause the visitor to become depressed.
Scarpa’s cemetery achieves the solemn mood with the dull gray colors of the walls and neatly defined forms,
but the bright green grass prevents this from being too overwhelming.[citation needed]

Postmodern buildings sometimes utilize trompe l'oeil, creating the illusion of space or depths where none
actually exist, as has been done by painters since the Romans. The Portland Building (1980) has pillars
represented on the side of the building that to some extent appear to be real, yet they are not.[citation needed]

The Hood Museum of Art (1981–1983) has a typical symmetrical façade which was at the time prevalent
throughout Postmodern Buildings.[citation needed]

Robert Venturi’s Vanna Venturi House (1962–64) illustrates the Postmodernist aim of communicating a
meaning and the characteristic of symbolism. The façade is, according to Venturi, a symbolic picture of a
house, looking back to the 18th century. This is partly achieved through the use of symmetry and the arch
over the entrance.[citation needed]

Perhaps the best example of irony in Postmodern buildings is Charles Moore’s Piazza d'Italia (1978).
Moore quotes (architecturally) elements of Italian renaissance and Roman Antiquity. However, he does so
with a twist. The irony comes when it is noted that the pillars are covered with steel. It is also paradoxical in
the way he quotes Italian antiquity far away from the original in New Orleans.[citation needed]

Double coding meant the buildings convey many meanings simultaneously. The Sony Building in New York
does this very well. The building is a tall skyscraper which brings with it connotations of very modern
technology. Yet, the top contradicts this. The top section conveys elements of classical antiquity. This double
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coding is a prevalent trait of Postmodernism.[citation needed]

The characteristics of Postmodernism were rather unified given their diverse appearances. The most
notable among their characteristics is their playfully extravagant forms and the humour of the meanings the
buildings conveyed.[citation needed]

[edit]Influential architects

Gare do Oriente (Lisbon, Portugal),

designed by the Spanish architect
Santiago Calatrava.

Some of the best-known and influential architects in the Postmodern style are:

Aldo Rossi Charles Moore

Ricardo Bofill William Pereira
John Burgee Boris Podrecca
Santiago Calatrava Cesar Pelli
Terry Farrell Paolo Portoghesi
Michael Graves Antoine Predock
Helmut Jahn Tomás Taveira
Jon Jerde Robert A.M. Stern
Philip Johnson James Stirling
Ricardo Legorreta Robert Venturi
Frank Gehry Peter Eisenman
Mario Botta
James Wines and
Sculpture in the
Environment

[edit]Changing pedagogies

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Bank of America
Center in Houston by
John Burgee and
Philip Johnson. It
combines
architecture elements
of pre-WWII
skyscrapers with
elements of modern
aesthetics.

Critics of the reductionism of modernism often noted the abandonment of the teaching of architectural
history as a causal factor. The fact that a number of the major players in the shift away from modernism were
trained at Princeton University's School of Architecture, where recourse to history continued to be a part of
design training in the 1940s and 1950s, was not insignificant. The increasing rise of interest in history had a
profound impact on architectural education. History courses became more typical and regularized. With the
demand for professors knowledgeable in the history of architecture, several Ph.D. programs in schools of
architecture arose in order to differentiate themselves from art history Ph.D. programs, where architectural
historians had previously trained. In the US, MIT and Cornell were the first, created in the mid 1970s,
followed by Columbia, Berkeley, and Princeton. Among the founders of new architectural history programs
were Bruno Zevi at the Institute for the History of Architecture in Venice, Stanford Anderson and Henry Millon
at MIT, Alexander Tzonis at the Architectural Association, Anthony Vidler at Princeton, Manfredo Tafuri at the
University of Venice, Kenneth Frampton at Columbia University, and Werner Oechslin and Kurt Forster at
ETH Zürich.[2]

The creation of these programs was paralleled by the hiring, in the 1970s, of professionally trained
historians by schools of architecture: Margaret Crawford (with a Ph.D. from U.C.L.A) at SCI-Arc; Elisabeth
Grossman (Ph.D., Brown University) at Rhode Island School of Design; Christian Otto[3] (Ph.D., Columbia
University) at Cornell University; Richard Chafee (Ph.D., Courtauld Institute) at Roger Williams University;
and Howard Burns (M.A. Kings College) at Harvard, to name just a few examples. A second generation of
scholars then emerged that began to extend these efforts in the direction of what is now called “theory”: K.
Michael Hays (Ph.D., MIT) at Harvard, Mark Wigley (Ph.D., Auckland University) at Princeton (now at
Columbia University), and Beatriz Colomina (Ph.D., School of Architecture, Barcelona) at Princeton; Mark
Jarzombek (Ph.D. MIT) at Cornell (now at MIT), Jennifer Bloomer (Ph.D., Georgia Tech) at Iowa State and
Catherine Ingraham (Ph.D., Johns Hopkins) now at Pratt Institute.

[edit]International examples of Postmodern architecture

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Neue Staatsgalerie in
Stuttgart, Germany by
James Stirling and
Michael Wilford, 1984.

Wells Fargo Center in

Minneapolis by César
Pelli. Completed
1988.

Messeturm in
Frankfurt, Germany by
Helmut Jahn.
Completed 1991.

Auditorio de Tenerife
in Santa Cruz de
Tenerife by Santiago
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Calatrava. Completed
2003.

One Detroit Center in

Detroit by John
Burgee and Philip
Johnson, completed
1993.

RMIT Building 8.
Swanston Street in
Melbourne by Edmund
& Corrigan, 1993.

Kollhoff-Tower at
Potsdamer Platz in
Berlin by Hans
Kollhoff. Completed
1999.

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The McCormick
Tribune Campus
Center at Chicago's
IIT Campus by Rem
Koolhaas, 2003.

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