Architectural History Theory and Criticism - Essay Example

ARCHITECTURAL HISTORY THEORY AND CRITICISM by Introduction Postmodernism is a concept that has been employed widely in various disciplines, such as art, architecture, music, literature, film and technology. ‘Post’ represents those periods after industrial era, modernism refers to an esthetic movement of visual arts, literature, drama and music. Modernity, on the other hand, refers to a set of ideas, which provides the aspects of modernism. This paper aims at explaining the historical background of postmodernism and perception from various people’s. Postmodernism has been a subject of discussion when it comes to its definition. Charles Jencks in his book, What is Postmodernism? Provides his definition of postmodernism. He defines it as a double coding where architects combine modern techniques with something else to make architecture communicate with the public and some minorities concerned (Jencks, 2012, p. 46). In relation to design study, postmodernism presents a culture whose consideration is valuable in the process of producing architectural designs. The art of designing dates back from periods of modernization or the industrial revolution. In architects’ culture, the work of historians is essential to the success of architects’ works. Historically, the word Modernus according to Charles Jencks, were used by Christians in the 3rd century to show their superiority against the rising pagans. These Christians had a perception that they were cleaner than the pagans whose soul would be immortalized in Rome while theirs will be eternal in heaven. The term from then has undergone various changes in the different field. Post-modern on the other hand was introduced in 1875 and later had a minor description in 1934 from within modernist of Spanish Poetry. In 1947, in “A Study of History” by Arnold Toynbee, the term was used to describe a new history circle perceived to have begun in 1875. It was the formulation of the end of the western dominance, capitalism, decline of individualism and Christianity and rise in powers of non-western cultures. The term post was first used positively by Leslie Friedler, a writer in 1965. Postmodernism started in the United States around 1960 to 1970 and later spread to Europe and then to the rest of the world. The rise of postmodernism began as a way filling the gap left by modernism. It began as a way of fulfilling the limitations of modernism; it is predecessor. These limitations extend to communication purposes offered by modernism. Its origin is perceived to come as a result of the failure of the former. Many felt that the building of the modernism era had failed to meet some of the requirements for people. For example, the need for the eye and body comfort that were never provided by modernism (Jencks, 2012, p. 25). During the period of modernism, constructed buildings degenerated faster, and their conditions worsen. Therefore, in creating a response to these conditions, architects decided to use ornaments, human scale and decorations to buildings. Jean-Francois Lyotard while answering the question, What is Postmodernism, describes a post-modern writer who is in the position of a philosopher. The post-modern writer from the work he produces, are not guided by preestablished rules. A writer allows the unpresentable to be realistic. By representing the facts without any reference, thereby bringing the future closer. Considering the technological aspect, the world is currently on a digital platform compared to those ages when communication was based on radio only. Nowadays, the internet rules the world. Google is an information hub in which a greater percentage of people can access around the world. Therefore, communication has drastically changed in terms of transmission and accessibility. A world where everyone holds a PC, a smartphone, tablets and many others with everything almost computerized is almost to perfection. Take yourself back to those ages, around 1960s, when people thought that the industrial revolution was the ultimate time of all innovations. Almost all these that were better then have low performance or rendered obsolete with respect to the current times. One of the aspects of post-modern is surrealism. This is a subject of the 20th century. From the name itself, surrealism is an expression that surpasses the real and is more of a dream. Construction of objects with symbolic meaning or function requires complete understanding of the culture, background and attitude of the surrounding people. Although the interpretation depends on the imagination of individuals, complete understanding is based on the functionality intended by the designers. Rem Koolhaas becomes fascinated by the notion of the street of Strada Novissima especially with the title ‘the presence of the past’ as soon as he arrives in Venice Biennale. He decides to produce a facade that is slightly similar to Modernist revival. These presents some difficulties in the design of the facade. The work of Wallace Harrison in the design of UN building, as explained by Charles Jencks, also presents lots of surreal moments. An important aspect to consider in post-modern discussion is capitalism and socialism. Socialism in comparison to capitalism is more post-modern. The new production mode is based on street peddlers workers’ cooperatives small traders and small businesses who operate in an informal economy. The diversification of activities performed by the discarded sector of the economy and the underemployed will grow to importance in a socialism society. Charles Jencks tours along the post-modern landscape briefly. Touring the political landscape, for example, He finds that America still adopts the hard power incarnate while Europe the embodiment of soft power. The military capability of America is second to none. The sum of United States budget is ultimately very high, an estimate of about twenty countries budget; not considering the growth it experiences with time. They think far more in military issues than their counterparts in Europe does. In contrast to the American case, the European Union has no army. They rely on the rule of law and negotiation as a way for peaceful co-existence. The model seems as soft power compared to the US ruling. From the definition of power, it is realistic that hard power is a thing of the past. Joseph Nye differentiates hard verses soft power by definition. He defines hard power as the ability to find outcomes needed while soft power as the ability to obtain an outcome through persuasion and attraction rather than coercion. This kind of power can produce influence without the use of force, payments and threat. Europe is likely to be in the post-modern times. He also argues that much of the world has reached the level of advanced democracy, and therefore transformation of power is limited. The book, “Breaking of Nations” by Robert Cooper brings a different view of Europe. Robert Cooper Breaking of Nations, calls the Euna voluntary empire. He provides three divisions in political formation. These include the pre-modern or the failed states, modern states, the very modern states like America and the postmodern as the Europe. A modern state is characterized by the hard power with the biggest armies and other defense systems and centralized production. Cooper describes the Mark Leonard metaphor describing European Union as being like a Visa card. The 27 nations join hands voluntarily making Europe a corporative empire. They create unity by adopting several rules. Postmodernists do not follow modernist but rather criticize them. For instance, modernist neglects the past and tries to concentrate on individual innovations in the process of art making. Postmodernists try to blend the old information in order to create and bring new meaning to artistic work. Modernists try to imagine themselves and the art apart from the day’s ordinary events. In contrast, postmodernists are always doubtful and critical of their times and some are politically and socially active by expression of their artistic works. Postmodernists concentrates on issues of race, gender, sex, class, empire, region, nature and nation. The stylistic principles of architectural work were developed in the mid-1970s. The architectural language was more oriented to providing some meaning rather than function only. Fictional elements were then included in buildings, for instance, the Gothic architecture regarded an image of heavenly Jerusalem. Though a new concept was brought, redesigning of the buildings before modernization was a subject of interest. An instance of a historic building that was redesigned and reopened in 1986 is the Gare d’Orsay in Paris. To avoid the development of new historicism, the ironic approach was expressed. Such historical structure had considerable influence in the architectural language. A significant rise in postmodernism, especially in the field of museum architecture which took place in between 1980 and 1990. Some of the highly regarded products of postmodernism include Stirling’s Staatsgalerie and Hans Hollein. In recent years, the focus has shifted to stage scenarios as opposed to the previous meditative experience. Iconic buildings are like metaphors, an important part of their definition. Being a metaphor is one of the reasons why its use is still in the growth and will probably not go away. They have replaced the old monuments of ancient times and replaced them with enticing and strangely coded objects. The buildings of ancient times had meanings related to tradition, nation, Christianity, and politics. The symbols gave creativity and strength to both architects and the societies. In the discussion between Charles Jencks and Rem Koolhaas, the rebranding of EU is explicitly highlighted. In an attempt to make the EU project more attractive, Rem Koolhaas investigates the iconographic deficit to try and find a language that explains rebranding. He is considering working with icons and shapes to explain the rebranding phenomenon. In order to carry out this process, viewing of EU from outside is necessary. Koolhaas collects evidence from sources like Kishore Mahbubani and Singapore diplomat whom he considers critics of Europe. This is to make an observation that is of great importance as far as the entire EU is to be analyzed. One of the great iconic design is the Casa da Muasca in Porto. These are regarded as a symbol of the city of Porto. The metaphorical representation of the building, ‘a fallen diamond from the sky’, won the city competition in Porto. Taking Roschamp and Saarinen’s TWA Terminal as an example proves that iconic building is not a thing of the 20th century only but rather dates long before the current time (Jencks & Koolhaas, 2003, p. 4). Rem Koolhaas on the realization that iconic is important in designing work, he works with a large team of cultural personalities during the design of the Hong Kong project. One of his cultural personality aids is Hans Ulrich Obrist, a curator of the Serpentine Gallery. Other examples of present spectacular iconic buildings includes Portland Building completed in 1982, Bank of America Centre completed in 1983, Sun Trust Tower completed in 1989, Bank of America Tower completed in 1990, Harold Washington completed in 1991, Said Business School completed in 2001, MI6 Building completed in 1994 and Wells Fargo Centre completed in 1988. Double coding, pluralism, conceptualism, irony, and paradox are characteristic meanings that post-modern structures displays. Take, for example, Hans Hollein’s Abteiberg Museum, the building, is made of several units that are different in one way or the other. These forms are playful and sculptural in nature. Postmodernism did not underestimate the human needs for buildings. The Carlo Scarpa Brion Cemetery is a representation of sensitivity to the context of building. The Cemetery had its wall painted with dull gray colors to welcome the solemn mood and avoids making the visitor depressed. Also realized are the cinematic possibilities of postmodernist architecture. Published in 1978, ‘retroactive manifesto’ in the book Delirious New York, illustrated by Madelon, provided an anthropomorphic imagination of skyscrapers cavorting in bed. Moreover, considering the story of the pool offered by Koolhaas having its setting in Moscow is more of a postmodern parable. The story starts with a description of a student who is inspired by the works of architecture and decides to bring forth his design of a floating swimming pool. Architects discover that the pool can easily be propelled backward that can make it travel anywhere through the water in synchronized lap. This idea came during 1930s when the Soviet Union had a worse political situation. The pool was used by the architects as a means of escape, by unison swimming to America while dreaming of airships and future skyscrapers. In 1976, they reached Manhattan where they were able to see the skyscrapers. On seeing the arrival of these architects, New York becomes reluctant in accepting these constructivists. In comparison with the presence of the past, the United States, in this case, represents the history while the swimmers are the architects of modernism. The airships and skycrapers are post-modern elements. Charles Jencks considers Barth as his ideal post-modernist. Barth in his architectural work, Literature of Replenishment, is concerned with making clear relationships of the past, present and future. He also identifies the discontinuity presented by modernism today especially on its later phase. Based on economic changes, the consumption of works also changes. These results into loss of cultural continuity, one of the setbacks of modernism. The architectural theory defines the necessities for the creation of an architectural work and makes it possible to provide a quality estimate of the solution. It gives a theoretical background to the architectural research, checking out its problem and providing a presentable result (Crinson & Zimmerman, 2010, p. 69). The creation process of architectural work relies heavily on both analytical and theoretical aspects. Complexity is one of the component of history that unites post-modernism and modernism. Rossi, for instance, was elegiac in his representation of the approach to the city. He says the city grows upon itself with time and acquire its memory and consciousness. He provided a view of post-war destruction and reconstruction in which there are persistent recognizable fragments which he says are landmark evidence of urban experience. He also provided archetypes and topological language that gave a reflection of the theory and attempting to reinvest in the construction of destructed city. Rossi extended the use of primary forms, arcades, cones, column, and cubes were a suggestion of a language without historicism resource (Ionides & Howell, 2005, p. 213). The Tafuri perspective of the Marxist about the death of modern architecture is significant in understanding modern and post- modern architectural design. Tafuri in his analysis confidently criticizes the reliance of post-modern designs on modern architecture. Historian Colin Rowe and Vincent Scully are some of the writers with the intent of modernism to history. They drew comparisons to classical precedents and the 20th century figures, for instance, the Le Corbusier and Mies van de Rohe. The essay that Rowe wrote in 1947 was to have a great influence in the revival of formalism in the 1970s architecture (Davies, 2011, p. 74). Bringing architectural historians into closer contacts with practicing design, paves the way for architects to convert to being historians and theoreticians. The architecture of the city by Aldo Rossi was an influential study of conceptualism and urbanism. Communication as an aim of postmodernism is illustrated by Robert Venturi, the façade. According to Venturi, the façade is a symbolic picture of a house that looks back to the 18th century. It is achieved by the use of the arch and symmetry over the entrance. Finally, double coding has the building conveying many meanings. An example is the Sony Building in New York. This is a tall skyscraper with connotations of very modern building. The top, on the other hand, contradicts with its top section conveying elements of antiquity. Conclusively, the knowledge of the post-modern time is very important in architectural studies with its combination of the past to understand the present. It binds architecture to the interpretation of history in relation to building that is very important for architects. Throughout the paper, it is realized that successful architect can merge the past with the present to come up with properly designs structures. Understanding postmodernism and its influence are therefore a necessity, a view that I strongly hold to be true to architects after a thorough analysis of literature. While it stands to be true that the profession relies on design, a good background in language is a challenge that many upcoming architects face. A strong background in linguistic enables full expression both on paper and vocally. That defines the ‘post-modern time’ where full expression is relevant as opposed to the material time. The challenge of the creation of new products was the issue during modernization that does not conform well to the traditions and culture of people in the past. We need to preserve the past. Postmodernism has enabled architects to overcome the challenge by combinations of the past and present to come up with a blend that is far more convenient than those of modern times. As an architectural student, I have fully understood the times we live in and the historical background to this time as far as postmodernism is concerned. List of References Crinson, M. & Zimmerman, C., 2010. Neo-avant-garde and postmodern:post war architecture in britain and beyond. s.l.:Yale University Press. Davies, C., 2011. Thinking About Architecture: An Introduction to Architectural Theory. s.l.:Laurence King Publishing. Forty, A., 2004. Words and Buildings: A Vocabulary of Modern Architecture. s.l.:Thames & Hudson. Francis, H. & Goodman, D., 2011. An Introduction to Architectural Theory: 1968 to the Present. s.l.:John Wiley & Sons. Haverkamp, M., 2013. Synesthetic Design: Handbook for a Multi-Sensory Approach. s.l.:Actar-D. Hays, M., 2000. Architecture theory since 1968. s.l.:MIT Press. Ionides, J. & Howell, P., 2005. Another Eyesight: Multi-sensory Design in Context. s.l.:Dog Rose Press. Jencks, C., 2012. The Story of Post-Modernism: Five Decades of the Ironic, Iconic and Critical in Architecture. s.l.:John Wiley & Sons. Jencks, C. & Koolhaas, R., 2003. Radical post-modernism and content. s.l.:s.n. Pallasmaa, J., 2011. The Embodied Image: Imagination and Imagery in Architecture. s.l.:Wiley Press. Read More