Postmodernism in architecture: Hans Hollein

The versatility of the talents of the representative of postmodernism in architecture, Hans Hollein, is amazing. Designer, philosopher, artist, theorist, he called architecture “control of body temperature,” “protective casing,” and “conditioning of the psychological state.”

Hollein passed away on April 24, 2014 at the age of 80. The legacy of the great master left to humanity are the best conceptual museums throughout Europe (Vienna, Tehran, Frankfurt, Auvergne, Salzburg, Berlin, Madrid), many shops and retail premises, concert halls, and residential buildings.

“I have many different positions not because I am looking for trouble. But architecture is not about sitting in a studio, architecture is life, and just try not to participate in it,” Hollein shared his thoughts in an interview.

The architect gained worldwide fame after the design and construction of the Viennese candle shop "Retti". The small building was assembled from mirrors and aluminum. It was the originality of the materials used that ensured the attention of the architectural community to Hollein’s personality. In 1983 he was awarded the highest state prize in Austria in the field visual arts. In 1985 he was awarded the Pritzker Prize.

Museum of Modern Art Frankfurt

Local residents nicknamed this building "a piece of cake." The construction of a new facility was determined by the need to create a place in the city that could turn into a cult place among Frankfurt residents and tourists. From a bird's eye view, the building resembles a ship that is cutting its way between urban buildings. Hollein designed the facility to resemble a spacious labyrinth with partitions in the most unexpected places. The museum's exhibition includes over 4,500 objects, including works by Andy Warhol, Roy Lichtenstein, George Segal, Gerhard Richter and other representatives of contemporary art. The museum building itself is no less interesting than the collection of paintings, sculptures, photographs, etc. housed in it.

“I developed a special architectural vocabulary in this project. The place where the museum is located is very small, and in projection it looks like a triangle. This is a prototype of a ship and an airplane at the same time. It was necessary to come up with many asymmetrical volumes with different elements - stairs, balconies, internal and external windows, which would correspond to the triangles, that is, to create many virtual and visual triangles. In addition, the project had to fit harmoniously into the center of old Frankfurt, without contradicting historical buildings, the cathedral and the historical landscape as a whole,” said the architect. Local authorities did not immediately approve the appearance of an avant-garde building in the city center. It took two years to get the project approved. The museum received its first visitors in 1991.

Shopping complex "Haas House"

Discussions about the construction of this facility were heated. The appearance of a building with pronounced postmodernist features opposite St. Stephen's Cathedral was not supported by all residents of Vienna. The site intended for its construction used to house a department store, which was destroyed during the Second World War. As a result, the Haas House complex was built in 1990 on St. Stephen's Square - in the very center of the Austrian capital.

The building is a reinforced concrete round frame, the surface of which is covered with stone and glass. The avant-garde object not only did not violate the historical architectural appearance center of the city, but also emphasized its beauty - the Gothic Cathedral of St. Stephen is reflected in the mirrors.

“When I built the Haas-House commercial center in Vienna, I ensured that this ultra-technological building was tolerant and friendly towards the main Viennese shrine - St. Stephen's Cathedral standing opposite. This polyphony, polyphony makes the city alive,” Hollein told reporters. The goal was undoubtedly achieved!

European Park and Museum of Volcanism “VULCANIA”

"VULCANIA" is a unique project built in Auvergne (France). This area used to be a concentration of volcanoes. The surrounding area resembles a set for filming films about Martian aliens. The object, designed by Hollein, fit into this cosmic landscape. The architect used the crater of an extinct volcano, fitting the building into it. Part of the building ends up underground, and the entire structure, as in the case of the museum in Frankfurt, turns into a play space for visitors - spacious rooms are replaced by narrow corridors, multi-stage staircases lead the visitor from the depths to the surface. The architect describes his idea as follows: “I made the entrance to the museum from two intersecting cones, which are lined with titanium plates inside and illuminated. It feels like you are moving inside a living volcano. The further path was inspired by the images of Dante's poem. Visitors walk along underground corridors, in the perspective of which a living mountain landscape suddenly appears. I strive for the image of “Total Architecture”, according to the laws of which the entire surrounding world is organized.”

The architectural world is a large, but not the only field creative activity Hollein. He adored the theater, willingly acted as a decorator and set designer, and staged performances himself. He was fascinated by interior design, creating decorative items, furniture, and dishes.

Hollein took part in the competition for the new building Mariinsky Theater in St. Petersburg. “The enormous cultural wealth of St. Petersburg, its architectural monuments turn the city itself into a piece of art. New theater I thought of it as a kind of center of dialogue between history and modernity. Both buildings of the complex - new and old - strive to each other, to unite into one whole. To personify this unity, both psychological bonds and material connections are created,” the master explained his interest in this project. Commenting on Russian architecture in general, Hollein noted the enormous contribution Soviet constructivism in the development of world architecture as a whole.

“For many decades now, I have believed that architecture should not focus on itself, and if it is good architecture, then it will certainly go beyond its own boundaries and influence a lot. It’s like, for example, with a museum: no one will force you to go there and look at the paintings, it’s up to you. But when a person simply walks down the street and sees the ingenious building of a museum, it simply stimulates him, and he can even begin to look at his life differently,” the architect noted in a conversation with a journalist from the Kommersant newspaper.

“Architecture is everything!” - Hans Hollein lived and created with such conviction.

Do you like terminological disputes? Many will agree that it is difficult to find a more boring activity. Therefore, this article will contain more examples than abstruse theoretical research. But the concept of “postmodernism in architecture” is still worth giving a definition. Let's start with the fact that postmodernism in most cases refers to similar cultural and social phenomena of the second half of the 20th century. In architecture, he expressed himself in amazing inventions, theatrical and playful principles and complex figurative associations. The language of architectural forms has become richer, and volumes and compositions have become more expressive. Simply put, supporters of postmodernism returned art to the architecture of that time. Now let's move on to examples.

"Dancing House"

The building in question is located in Prague. It was built during 1994-1996. designed by Vlad Milunovich and Postmodernism architecture was more than fully reflected in this building. The building was named dancing because the architects tried to depict a couple of famous dancers - F. Astaire and

The “Dancing House” consists of two towers - a curved one and a regular one. The glass part of the structure that faces the street is a woman in a flowing dress, while the part of the house facing the river is a man in a top hat. The atmosphere is enhanced by the jumping and dancing windows. The last architectural technique is directly related to the works of Mondrian, with his painting “Boogie-Woogie on Broadway.” Postmodernism in the architecture of the described building is noticeable in dynamic lines and asymmetrical transformations.

House piano with violin

In 2007, a house in the shape of a piano and violin was built in the Chinese city of Huainan. Many architects note that postmodernism is clearly expressed in this building. The architecture of the piano house is a modern outrageous thing. It was designed by students from Hefei University of Technology and the architectural studio Huainan Fangkai Decoration Project Co.

The architectural composition of the building includes 2 musical instruments, which are made on a scale of 1:50 and are copies of a grand piano and a violin. The forms chosen by the architects made it possible to combine symbolism with utilitarian functions. In particular, the shape of the piano made it possible to qualitatively distribute the space for the exhibition complex, while the shape of the violin made it possible to place a staircase to the halls in it. Combination of aesthetics with practical requirements- this is postmodernism in architecture.

"Brokeback House"

One of the most striking examples of postmodernism continues to be the “Brokeback House”, located in the Polish city of Sopot. is part of the shopping center and was built according to the design of Jacek Karnowski. Sketches for the future building were created by Pierre Dahlberg and Jan Chancer. The purpose of the building is quite banal - to attract new customers. At one time, the “Humpbacked House” received the title of the best architectural idea in Poland. main feature of the specified structure is the complete absence of straight lines and correct angles. Even its balconies are shaped. Seeing this fairytale house, you will immediately understand what postmodernism in architecture is.

In the second half of the twentieth century, the innovative spirit of modernism and the international style exhausted itself. The urban environment has become uncomfortable due to the cheap construction of houses designed in the spirit of pure rational functionalism, creating a feeling of despondency, monotony and monotony. In the 70s in the USA, as a reaction to this, huge buildings appeared, surpassing in scale the glass skyscrapers in the style of Mies van der Rohe. Their scale did not correspond in any way to the human body, and was more like some kind of cosmic level. The smooth glass surface of the buildings did not have a floor-by-floor horizontal division revealed from the outside, as was the case in the Mies skyscrapers, but with its entire “body” it reflected the sky and the surrounding space, entering into an irrational interaction with it.

The similar building, the Pacific Design Center in Los Angeles, built by Cesar Pelli from 1971-76, stands completely outside its urban context and sets its own standards of scale. This is a huge blue glass building local residents called the "blue whale". It stands among the chaos of its faceless surroundings as an anti-monument and, despite its gigantic size, gives the impression of a stranded sea monster with shiny wet blue skin, which inexplicably ended up in the human world. When one gets tired of the formalistic cold buildings of “white modernism”, the stingy forms of “minimal architecture” of functionalism, the cult of technology and “high-tech” structures, some architects make an attempt to change the formal language of architecture, returning to it forms from past centuries, ornaments excluded from the practice, color and other “extra” elements. But it would be wrong to limit the essence of the new movement to just a nostalgic appeal to the historical forms of the past, although it played a large role in the formation of a new style, called postmodernism by its theorists. The main thing that the architects of postmodernism tried to return to architecture is the imagery that was expelled from it many decades ago, making it not just a process of creating spatial structures, but a form of art.

Museum of Applied Arts,
Robert Mayer, 1980-1985
USA, Atlanta

Piazza d'Italia
Charles Moore, 1975-1980
USA, New Orleans

Center building
communications and mail
Canada, Toronto

Architects of postmodernism tried to introduce other laws into architecture, in addition to functional correspondence and maximum simplification of basic forms - fiction, fantasy, theatrical play, complex figurative associations. Another quality that distinguishes postmodern architecture, especially in European countries- this is a conscious desire to link new buildings with the historical urban environment, without spoiling it with new inclusions, to feel the urban context of future buildings. This direction of postmodernism is sometimes called contextualism. The appeal to historical forms in postmodernism is never of the nature of direct quotation; instead, there appears a game of allusions to prototypes, encrypted symbolism and complex associations.

In this sense, a typical example is the construction of Charles Moore, Piazza d'Italia in New Orleans, which caused a sensation in 1977, the place chosen by the Italian community of the city to hold its festivals. The desire of the customers - to create a material embodiment of nostalgia - the architect fulfilled in the form of a grotesque, creating a collage of classical European architectural motifs, which is located around a huge stone map of Italy. The very formulation of the problem here predetermined and justified the use of eclectic forms for the sake of creating an artistic image-association. Another example of a postmodernist non-linear interpretation of the forms and images of the architecture of the past is the project of the American Telegraph building. telephone campaign (ATT) in New York, completed by the famous American architect Philip Johnson in 1978, who previously worked in the international style with Mies.

Museum of Fine Arts,
Robert Mayer
USA, Georgia

Marriott Hotel,
San Francisco
California

Complex
corporate buildings
Skyline, Singapore

The huge skyscraper is divided in accordance with the laws of the classical order into base, body and crown. The proportions of the entire building, the condensation or sparseness of the mass correspond to the idea of ​​order architecture about the distribution and bearing of the load. The lower part – the “base” – is designed on a human scale, which makes it easier to perceive this skyscraper, the body is a glass prism framed in gray granite, and the crown, or “capital” is a huge pediment of a peculiar shape with a round gap in the middle. No part of the building reproduces to scale parts of a classical column. It would look monstrous. But at the level of the system of divisions and proportions, an image is created that hints at a calm and clear classic. Among the architects of European postmodernism, we should mention at least such masters as Aldo Rossi, who created an interesting project for a cemetery in Modena from the point of view of urban planning (1974), the Krie brothers with their urban planning projects, Mario Botta with his Swiss villas and the Austrian Hans Hollein - an amazing master of subtle style of small objects.

Complex of commercial buildings
center, Yamasaki and Roth,
USA, New York

Complex
corporate buildings,
Canada, Montreal

Complex
concert halls,
France Paris

Company
Pan Pacific,
Canada, Montreal

Building in style
space design
Canada, Montreal

The architect manages to create an atmosphere of something unknown, mysterious, full of anticipation of the upcoming trip and the discovery of some secrets. Often the architecture of postmodernism is criticized for the fact that instead of moving forward, it began to lead back into history, explaining this by fear of the future in conditions of global environmental disasters.
But the main merit of postmodernism is that the language of architectural forms has become incomparably richer, volumes and compositions have become more expressive, the concept of beauty and imagery has been rehabilitated even in relation to strictly functional buildings. Postmodern architects, showing respect for the historical and national heritage, have created many wonderful projects for the reconstruction of historical parts of cities, assimilating modern buildings into the historical fabric of the city without damage to the parties. But the main thing is that they returned architecture to the fold of art.

Historicism
Empire style

2.4.1. Typology of modern cities

We noted above that the question of the relationship between modernity and postmodernity is by no means completed. When considering urbanization trends in the postmodern era, it is important to realize that many cities are addressing the challenges of modernization.

Extrapolating Weber's theory to the realities of today, we can note the emergence of new, unknown due to historical reasons in previous centuries types of modern cities. To do this, it is worth looking at the city from slightly different points of view, which allows you to more realistically imagine the processes occurring in it and the social relations corresponding to them.

In some cases, an industrial center is simply a factory town. The core of their life is large-scale industrial production, production, and the rest of the infrastructure is subordinated and entirely dependent on the sphere of material production. The plant is in a fever, its products are not selling, a major accident - all this immediately negatively affects the social situation in the city. Separately, we should dwell on the phenomenon of the so-called “closed city,” that is, a factory city located away from busy highways, almost always military, with a throughput system for entry and exit, completely dependent on defense orders. Once these cities were considered prestigious: housing, supplies, material support, etc. were better, but with the beginning of the conversion and repurposing of defense industries, a sharp decrease in defense orders, or even simply a lack of money in the budget to pay for already completed products, such cities have essentially become hostages of the policies pursued by the state. There, social processes and the entire bouquet of social relations are aggravated to the limit.

The trading city is an area where fairs, exhibitions, and salons have traditionally been held for many years in a row. Just remember the Nizhny Novgorod fair or the fair in Sorochintsy, exhibition complexes in Leipzig, Plovdiv, Brno, salons in La Bourget, Zhukovsky, etc. This kind of city almost always lives in anticipation of trades, and is completely transformed during them (business program, accommodation of guests , their service, recreation and entertainment, conditions for negotiations and concluding deals and contracts, transport, communications and much more) and, having completed one fair and summed up its results, begins to prepare ahead of time for the next one.

A port city, examples of which are Amsterdam, Marseille, Odessa, Murmansk and many others, is a transshipment point for goods imported and exported from a country, region, with its own warehouse and transport infrastructure, repair base, population migration, cheap entertainment, a mixture of languages ​​and many others, emphasizing the uniqueness and originality of the port city.

A city-museum or tourist center is also a unique phenomenon in its essence. Venice, Rome, Pompeii, Athens, St. Petersburg - you never know there are such open-air museum cities that attract thousands of tourists from all over the world. In such cities, first of all, attention is paid to architectural complexes, museums, exhibitions, but at the same time - to hotel and transport services, shops, and recreational facilities.

A resort city is also a special type of modern city, since everything in it is subordinated to the rehabilitation and restoration of the health of visitors. Such cities include Karlovy Vary, Nice, Evpatoria. The balneological infrastructure and recreation industry prevails in such cities over all others. This leaves its mark on socio-economic relations and processes.

A scientific and cultural center can also be a distinctive feature of the city. Tartu, Cambridge, Oxford are primarily associated with the university on whose territory it is located. But these are also libraries, museums, printing and computer facilities, communications, hostels, etc. In such cities there is a special microclimate of relationships, and, as a consequence, unique social processes.

It is worth mentioning separately the city of entertainment, such as Las Vegas, Disney Land, etc., in which numerous shows and entertainment almost completely displace all other social relations of people,

A city can be a financial center of a huge region, or even of global importance, for example, Basel, Zurich, etc. It contains banks, insurance companies, communications, a business and hotel center, which have their own system of social relations and processes.

Finally, the city can perform capital, representative functions, locating on its territory ministries and departments, administrative centers, embassies and representative offices of foreign states, consulates, and offices of foreign companies.

2.4.2. Post-industrial era of urbanization

Megalopolization in highly developed countries reached its limit by the end of the twentieth century and this coincides with their transition to a new stage of development - post-industrial. The “principle of exhaustion” and the quantitative and spatial expansion of the largest Western agglomerations are clearly manifested. Post-industrial, i.e. scientific, technological and electronic information development, which is in full swing today in the West and directly or indirectly affects and connects the Non-West, has its own patterns and trends - economic, socio-cultural, territorial-spatial urban properties and order. The basic characteristics of development are not only high-tech and scientific-technical production, but also the production of electronic, computer systems and means of information and communication. Shifts from mass production of goods to equally mass production of all kinds of services, information, and knowledge are accompanied by the restructuring of economic sectors, the growth of the “service industry” and many non-productive areas related to scientific and artistic creativity - individual and collective. All these “shifts” give rise to the emergence of new spatial forms of settlement and new urban trends.

The latest technological and scientific innovations and discoveries have made it possible to reduce employment in material industries, especially in manufacturing (where it has stabilized like the agricultural sector) and create conditions for the development of the “tertiary” and the formation of the “quaternary” and “quinary” sectors of the economy, in which a huge role belongs to science, culture, education, healthcare, i.e. "anthropological imperative".

Information and knowledge previously, at all previous stages of urbanization, had a significant share of functions and responsibilities, participating in the production process. But in postmodern conditions they are understood not as a substance embodied in production processes or means of production, but as a direct productive force that becomes the most important factor in the modern economy. Industries producing knowledge and information products, traditionally classified as the “quaternary” or “quinary” sectors of the economy, are now becoming the primary sector, supplying the economy with the most significant and important resource of production.

The growth of fundamentally new sectors of the economy is observed in Western countries, both in large urban agglomerations that have long been formed, which in the past served as the support of industrial development, and in new technopolises and science cities. It is with the latter, with their functions, society - active creative individuals, that the post-industrial era is associated, and the main impetus for progress comes from such cities.

Unmodern industries and outdated technological production are being rebuilt, updated, transferred to new suburbs, cities and even rural areas, to other countries - mainly developing ones, or simply liquidated. On the site of old factories and workshops, modern buildings are being erected to house many offices, institutions, banks and other organizations.

The deconcentration and diversification of industry and its structural and sectoral reorientation resulted in a sharp reduction in the role of the city as a center of industrial production. In place of the lost functions and sectors of the economy, others have strengthened - financial, banking, management, research, educational, cultural, and recreational.

In the United States, which has been the most successful in restructuring old industries and redeveloping historical districts, new business districts in the city center have received special names - downtowns. These are huge concrete conglomerates of offices and shopping centers with various transitions between skyscrapers (underground and above ground), and an artificial climate inside. In American urbanism, a number of specific names have been developed and used for new spatial urban forms, for example, shopping centers, which, in addition to shops, have everything necessary for business meetings, recreation, entertainment, and also house libraries, churches, cinemas, banquet halls, legal offices, clinics, swimming pools and gyms are called malls. That is, these are unique mini-towns under one roof.

At the same time, in a number of cities various city associations are being created, the purpose of which is to preserve historical heritage. If possible, try to reconstruct, update, equip and fill old neighborhoods with new real functions and purposes. Or, in other words, “return the city to the person and the person to the city” - this is the thesis proposed back in the late 1970s by the UN Center for Human Settlements, which is aimed at creating favorable conditions in cities for general human life and the manifestation of the vitality of the individual. .

History seems to be repeating itself. At the end of the 19th century, the industrial boom and the “smoke of factory chimneys” gave rise to pessimism about urban development and the future of cities and at the same time contributed to the emergence of interesting theories and plans for the construction of garden cities. Nowadays, the modern, intensive urban process forces city planners and the urban public to pose and solve the problem of preserving “real cities”. Their Team work is aimed at ensuring that, while completing and rebuilding the urban space that has developed over many centuries, it does not suppress the existing one, and while promoting innovation, it does not destroy the main purpose of the city - to form, distribute and expand the socio-cultural space, urban culture, urban lifestyle.

Convenient as well as necessary, comfortably modern highways, suburbs with one- or two-story houses and landscaped areas, and even multifunctional “malls” that have appeared everywhere in recent decades are, of course, not real cities. They are just a continuation of a long-established city, in principle, a well-organized and self-regulating “urban territory” and “urban environment”, which becomes more and more extensive, capturing successively vast spaces. Their further development leads to the formation of huge continuous urbanized territories - new urban spatial forms of settlement. In the United States, suburbanization has acquired the largest scale and is now called “counter-urbanization.” In the suburbs, up to 50% of the population lives in single-family houses, which has given urbanists the basis to call the current stage of urbanization in the United States the formation of a “suburban civilization” with its own organization and self-identification, rules and norms of behavior and life.

In the West, the “spreading” of urbanism and the strengthening of its impact throughout the entire territory of highly developed countries is the most important indicator modern development. The rural component, having significantly decreased, no longer contradicts the city as a special, specific social phenomenon, because it is itself being rebuilt or has already been rebuilt in the image and likeness of the city. A change in the type of urbanization - the transition from the industrial to the post-industrial stage leads to the disappearance of “differences” in the development of the “city” and “non-urban periphery” and the removal of problems of the opposition between city and countryside.

Basic concepts of the content module “The place of the city in transition processes”

The image of a city is a general mental picture of the external physical world cities.

Urban systems are a subject of study that focuses on the relationship between a city and its surrounding region.

A primate urban system is an urban system where one city, usually the national capital, concentrates a disproportionately large volume of population and economic activity.

A balanced urban system is an urban system where each city in the urban hierarchy is relatively weaker than the one above it and relatively larger than the one above it.

A transnational urban system is an urban system defined by cities in different states linked by various economic ties, mainly in the services and financial sectors.

Conurbanization is a polycentric agglomeration with several equally powerful city centers.

Deurbanization (counter-urbanization) is the process of erosion, reduction in the number of cities (the opposite process of urbanization).

Suburbanization is the process of growth and development of the suburban area of ​​large cities (derived from suburb (English - subarb).

Megalopolis is the largest urban settlement that emerged as a result of the expansion of suburban areas and the merging of a significant number of neighboring urban agglomerations.

Global cities are the world's largest centers, places of concentration of the most important economic, financial, political functions, occupying strategic places in the world economy. They concentrate command functions and high-level service firms focused on worldwide markets.

Technopolis is a type of city with a high concentration of high-tech industries and information technologies.

A technology park is a type of city with a high degree of concentration of production facilities, the industrial growth of which is due to increased labor productivity and turnover of production assets.

Science city is a type of city with a high degree of concentration of highly specialized academic science.

Test questions for self-study on the content module “The place of the city in transition processes”

Expand the relationship between the concepts “way of life”, “standard of living”, “quality of life”, “lifestyle”.

Whose name is associated with the emergence of the scientific study of “city images”? Describe the main features of this scientific concept.

What are the main differences between the “city as a machine” and the “city of the organism”, the “city-bazaar” and the “city-jungle”?

Name the main types of the modern city system.

What are the distinctive features of “global cities”?

Which Ukrainian cities can claim the “title” of a global city? Justify your point of view.

How is the trend of “globalization” of the world’s largest cities reflected in your hometown?

What is a “technopolis”? Describe this form of a modern city.

What is the specificity of the urban interaction space?

Indicate options for relating to the city

The image of the city as a subjective picture

Uncover the functions of the city image

What is the essence of the city as a product of communication?

Indicate the subjects of urban communication.

Expand the concept of “global city”

Indicate the reasons for the emergence of “global cities”

List the features of the “global city” lifestyle

Describe the types of “information city”: technopolis, science city, technopark

ESSAY TOPICS

My personal urban space: where would I take my guests to introduce them to the city and tell them about myself?

My home: its significance (meaning) and meaning (function) in my life

Positive and negative feelings that the city awakens in me

What does a country house mean to me?

My dream city

The city is my interlocutor: what and in what language am I talking to the city?

How does the city affect my behavior and relationships with other people?

Factors of spatial mobility or what makes me visit these places?

My neighbors: what do I know about them, how and why do I relate to them?

What meaning does the expression have for me: “It makes the air of the city free?”

The language of my subculture: what and how do I talk about with those who are close to me “in spirit”?

What problems of mine can I classify as “urban”?

ABSTRACT TOPICS

Images of cities in fine arts and fiction

Attitude to cities in history

Symbolism of urban architecture

Social problems of cities, or what citizens complain about

Attitudes towards the city of various status and ideological (cultural, educational, political, religious) groups

City and health: medical aspects of urban life

Ecology of the urban environment

Religious tolerance as a feature of city life

The image of the city in the Christian tradition

Urban folklore as a subject of sociological research

Published: December 6, 2007

Postmodernism

POSTMODERNISM(English) - direction in ARCHITECTURE and art of developed capitalist countries of the second half. 70s-early 80s XX century There is no single definition of postmodernism in our and foreign science. The most acceptable definition of postmodernism is as a movement that opposes itself to modernism and claims to replace it, which distinguishes Postmodernism from neo-avant-gardeism or late modernism, which exists simultaneously with it, which consistently develops modernist concepts; the term was first used in 1975 by C. Jencks, implying the opposition to modernism of “new” architecture.

City Hall building in Mississauga, Canada. Built in a post-modern style, it reveals the concept of a "futuristic farm". Photo: Montrealais ("GNU Free Documentation License")

Postmodernism is an international style in architecture. The first projects appeared in 1950. Postmodernism continues to influence architecture today. Postmodernism in architecture is seen as a return to "wit, ornament and sign". This is a response to the formalism of the international style. The most frequently proclaimed ideas of the postmodern movement can be traced in architecture. The functional and formative spaces of modernism are replaced by aesthetic diversity: styles collide, form for the sake of form, and new views on familiar styles and spaces around.

Classic examples of modernist architecture are: Liver House Gordon Bunshaft or Seagram Building Mies van de Rooye, as well as buildings Le Corbusier or projects by representatives of the Bauhaus movement. Transitional examples of postmodern architecture are Michael Graves' Portland Building in Portland, Oregon and Philip Johnson's Sony Building (originally the AT&T Building) in New York, which borrowed elements and signs from the past, and again added color and symbolism to the architecture. Postmodern architecture is inspired by the Las Vegas Strip. Robert Venturi And Denise Scott Brown studied the architecture of this area, and in their book “Lessons Learned in Las Vegas”, published the results of their research, where they noted the commonality and universality of the architecture.

Postmodern architecture is also called neo-eclecticism, where ornament returned to facades, replacing the aggressive, unadorned modernism. This eclecticism is often combined with the use of oblique angles and unusual surfaces; The most famous buildings built in this style are the Stuttgart State Gallery (New State Gallery Building) and Charles Willard Moore's Piazza D'Italia, as well as the Scottish Parliament in Edinburgh.

Modernist architects considered postmodern buildings vulgar and haphazardly decorated with knick-knacks. Postmodern architects called modernist buildings soulless and tasteless. The goal of modernism is the minimal and natural use of material, the absence of ornament, while postmodernism is a rejection of the strict rules established by the first modernists, an abundance in the use of construction technologies, angles and stylistic signs.

Connection with other styles.

Seagram Building, photo from website
www.archpaper.com

San Antonio Library, Texas, photo: Zereshk- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Zereshk, ("GNU Free Documentation License")

In the last quarter of the 20th century, new directions appeared, as architects began to move away from architecture, which was quite boring, some even considered it unpleasant. These architects looked to the past, using old techniques of building design, combining them together (even sometimes quite disharmoniously) in order to create new techniques for designing buildings. Postmodernism did not simply bring back columns and other elements of pre-modern design, as was done in neo classical architecture while adapting classical Greek and Romanesque elements. In modernism, as a design element, it was replaced console, or completely disguised by hanging translucent facade structures. The revival of the column took place more for aesthetic reasons than due to technological necessity. Modernist multi-story buildings became largely monolithic, with a variety of design elements from the foundation to the roof, and in most cases, a free-standing metal stamp rising straight out of the ground, with no visual horizontal elements. For example, the design of the World Trade Center buildings by Minoru Yamasaki.

We see a return to “wit, ornament and sign” in old buildings with terracotta decorative facades, bronze or steel decorative elements of the Beaux Arts and Art Deco periods. In postmodern designs there is a contradictory combination of elements various styles a lot.

Contextualism- a direction in philosophy at the end of the 20th century, which had a great influence on the ideology of postmodernism as a whole. Contextualism states that all knowledge is sensitive to context. This idea was developed further - knowledge cannot be realized without taking into account the context. These principles influenced postmodern architecture.

Postmodernism

City Hall building in Mississauga, Canada. Built in a post-modern style, it reveals the concept of a “futuristic farm”.

Postmodern movement began in America in the 1960s and 1970s and then spread throughout Europe and the rest of the world. Postmodernism or, as it is also called “late modernism,” appeared as a reaction to modernism. Sometimes postmodernism tries to quote old architectural styles, often a lot at once. Unlike modernism, postmodernism creates buildings taking into account the context in which they are built.

Postmodernism emerged as a result of the failures of modernist architecture. Her fascination with functionalism and economical buildings entailed the abandonment of decorative elements, and consequently the buildings were completely bare. Postmodernists understood that buildings did not meet people's needs for comfort, both physically and visually.

He did not take into account people's desire for beauty. The problem arose when several monotonous residential areas simply turned into slums. And postmodernism sought a remedy to cure this through the use of ornament and decoration. The form is already determined not only by its functional requirements, but also by the wishes of the architect.

Robert Venturi

Robert Venturi was at the origins of this movement. His book Complexities and Contradictions in Architecture (published 1966) was a textbook for the postmodernist movement in architecture, and was a serious critique of the then dominant functional modernism.

The famous aphorism “Less is more” Venturi changed it: “If less, then more sad.”

Together with the postmodernists, he sought an opportunity to bring decoration back into building design. He explained this and his criticism of modernism in his work Complexities and Contradictions: Architects may mourn them or try to ignore them (meaning decorations on a building) or even try to abolish them, but they will not go away. They won't be gone for long because architects have nothing to replace them with.

Robert Venturi was at the forefront of resistance to modernist architecture. His two books, Complexities and Contradictions in Architecture (1966) and Lessons from Las Vegas (1972), perfectly demonstrated the goals of postmodernism. He co-authored the latest book with his wife Denise Scott Brown and Stephen Izenour.

While the author of Lessons from Las Vegas states that decorative elements "adapted to existing demands for diversity and socialization," Venturi notes the importance of a building responding to people's needs (including non-functional elements of the building). Pluralism in architecture should reflect this nature of modern society. Pluralism echoes in the work of postmodern architects, who strive for diversity in their designs. Venturi reminisces in his essay “View from the Campidoglio”: When I was young outstanding architects highlighted the logic and originality of their work... today this is not the case. Where modernists are strong in logic, we are strong in diversity.

Postmodernism with its diversity is sensitive to the building's context and history, as well as to the client's requirements. Postmodern architects take into account the general requirements for urban buildings and their surroundings when working on a project. For example, Frank Gehry's beach house in Venice, the surrounding houses have the same bright color. This sensitivity is clearly visible in postmodernist buildings.

Goals and characteristics

Goals of Postmodernism, including dealing with the problems of modernism, relating meaning to ambiguity and sensitivity to the building's context, are remarkably unified for a group of buildings designed by architects who never collaborated with each other. The goal, however, is to create space for different incarnations, as has been illustrated by the numerous buildings built in this style.

Characteristics of Postmodernism are expressed differently. These include the use of sculptural forms, ornaments, anthropomorphism and materials that create optical illusions. These physical characteristics are combined with the conceptual characteristics of meaning. These characteristics of meaning include: pluralism, double coding, aerial supports and high ceilings, irony and paradox, and contextualism.

Abteiberg Museum

Sculptural forms, not necessarily organic, were created with great passion. This can be seen in the example of the Abteiberg Museum, architect Hans Hollein (1972-1982). This is a complex of buildings, completely different. The shape of each building has nothing in common with the rigid forms of modernism. These forms are sculptural, sometimes even playful. These forms are not reduced to the minimum, they are built and created for the sake of the form itself. The elements of the building combine very organically with each other, which only enhances the effect.

Public reception building in Portland, photo: http://www.flickr.com/photos/dff/101905086/ |Date=Uploaded to flickr on March 21, 2006 |Author= |Permission=Creative Commons Attribution ShareAlike 2.0 License)

Robinson's General Store, Fashion Island (William Pereira, 1967), an example of Spanish postmodernism.

After many years of oblivion, decor has made a comeback in building design. House Frank Gehry in Venice (1986) is decorated with a large number of different elements that in modernism would be considered superfluous and unnecessary. Logs are mainly used for decoration. The logs on top are not there to support the window. However, the fact that they could be replaced with almost invisible nails makes their presence even more decorative.

The decor of the public reception building in Portland (1980) is even more striking. The two protruding triangular shapes are very beautiful, they exist for aesthetics.

Postmodernism, with its reverent attitude to the context of the building, takes into account the requirements of man to the building. As an example, the Brion Vega cemetery (1970-72) by Carlo Scarpa.

Requirements for such a building- this is a solemn and serious atmosphere, but not oppressive in any way. Scarpa's design achieves solemnity through gray walls, clearly defined shapes, and bright green grass to keep the surrounding atmosphere from looking gloomy.
The design of postmodern buildings sometimes uses trompe d'oeil techniques to create the illusion of shape or depth that does not exist in reality, as artists did back in the Renaissance. The public reception building in Portland has columns on the side of the building that are not actually there. exists.

The Hood Museum of Art (1981-1983) has a symmetrical façade typical of all postmodernist buildings.

Bath Venturi House(mother of the architect) (1962-64) architect Roberta Venturi demonstrates one of the principles of postmodernism: the combination of meaning and characteristics of symbolism. The facade, according to Venturi, is a symbolic picture of the house. This is achieved in part through the use of symmetry and an arch over the entrance.

Piazza Italia by Charles Willard Moore, New Orleans.
Perhaps one of the best examples of irony in postmodern buildings (1978, photo: Walt Lockley ("GNU Free Documentation License")

Moore echoes elements of the Italian Renaissance and antiquity. However, it makes it very interesting. The irony is that the columns are covered with steel sheets. This is also paradoxical because he quotes Italian antiquity in New Orleans, very far from Italy.
Dual coding means that buildings hide multiple meanings simultaneously in their design. Sony building in New York, for example. The design of the skyscraper uses modern technologies. And the top clashes with the design of the rest of the building. Top part The Sony Building hides elements of classical antiquity. This is double coding - distinguishing feature postmodernism.

Prominent postmodern architects

• · Ricardo Bofill (Ricardo Bofill)
• · John Burgee (John Burgee)
• · Terry Farrell (Terry Farrell)
• Helmut Jahn
• · Jon Jerde (John Jerde)
• · Philip Johnson (Philip Johnson)
• · Ricardo Legorreta (Ricardo Legoretta)
• · Charles Willard Moore (Charles Willard Moore)
• · William Pereira (William Pereira)
• · Cesar Pelli (Cesar Pelli)
• · Antoine Predock (Antoine Predo)
• Robert A.M. Stern (Robert Stern)
• · James Stirling (James Stirling)
• · Robert Venturi
• · Peter Eisenman (Peter Eisenman)

Postmodernism in Europe

1. New City Gallery in Stuttgart, Germany, designed by James Stirling (1977-1983);

2. The Clore Gallery of the Tate Gallery in London, designed by James Stirling (1980-1986);

3. No 1 Poultry, an office and retail building in London designed by James Stirling (completed 1997);

4. Sainsbury Wing at London's National Gallery, designed by Robert Venturi (1991);

5. Abteiberg Museum in Mönchengladbach, designed by Hans Hollein (1972-1982);

6. Messeturm in Frankfurt, Germany, designed by Helmut Jahn (completed 1991);

7. Roof of the Messeturm in Frankfurt, Germany, designed by Helmut Jahn (1991);

8. Secret Intelligence Service Building in London, UK, designed by Terry Farrell (1994);

9. Mangkha Museum Japanese art and machinery in Krakow, Poland, designed by Arata Isozaki and Krzysztof Ingarden (1994);

10. Bonnefanten Museum in Maastricht, the Netherlands, designed by Aldo Rossi (1995);

11. Apartment house"Red Wall" (Muralla Roja) in Calpe, Spain, designed by Ricardo Bofiille (1973).

While postmodernism was better known as an American style, notable examples also appeared in Europe. In 1991, Robert Venturi completed the Sainsbury wing of the National Gallery in London, which was modern but harmonized with the neoclassical architecture of the Trafalgar Square and around it. German architect Helmut Jahn built the Messeturm skyscraper in Frankfurt, Germany, the skyscraper is decorated with the sharp spire of a medieval tower.

One of the first postmodern architects in Europe was James Stirling (1926-1992). He was the first critic of modernist architecture, blaming modernism for the destruction of British cities in the years after the Second World War. He designed colorful social housing projects in a postmodern style, as well as the New City Gallery in Stuttgart, Germany (1977-1983) and the Chamber Theater in Stuttgart (1977-1982), and the Arthur Sackler Museum at Harvard University in the United States.

One of the most notable examples of postmodern style in Europe is the Secret Intelligence Service building in London, designed by Terry Farrell (1994). The building, next to the Thames, is the headquarters of British secret intelligence. Critic Dejan Sudjic in The Guardian in 1992 described it as "an epitaph for eighties architecture.... It is a project that combines high seriousness in its classical composition with perhaps an unintentional sense of humor." The building could be interpreted equally plausibly as a Mayan temple or an Art Deco clanking machine piece.”

Italian architect Aldo Rossi (1931-1997) was known for his postmodernist work in Europe, with the Bonnefanten Museum in Maastricht, the Netherlands, completed in 1995. Rossi became the first Italian to receive architecture's most prestigious award, the Pritzker Prize, in 1990. He was noted for combining strict and pure forms with expressive and symbolic elements taken from classical architecture.

Spanish architect Ricardo Bofill is also known for his early postmodern work, including the red-walled castle-style residential complex at Calpe on the Spanish coast (1973).

Postmodernism in Japan

1. Church of Light in Osaka, designed by Tadao Ando (1987-1989);

2. Wood Culture Museum designed by Tadao Ando (1995);

3. Benesse House Museum in Naoshima, Kagawa County, Japan, designed by Tadao Ando;

4. Art Tower in Mito, Ibaraki Prefecture, designed by Isozaki Arata (1986-1990);

5. Museum of Contemporary Art in Nagi, Okayama Prefecture, designed by Isozaki Arata (1994);

6. Kyoto Concert Hall, Japan, designed by Isozaki Arata (1995);

7. Railroad station Kyoto, designed by Hiroshi Hara (1991-1997).

Japanese architects Tadao Ando (born 1941) and Isozaki Arata (born 1931) introduced the ideas of the postmodern movement in Japan. Before opening his studio in Osaka in 1969, Ando traveled widely in North America, Africa and Europe, absorbing European and American styles, and had no formal training in architecture, although he later taught at Yale University (1987), Columbia University (1988) and Harvard University (1990). Most of his buildings were built of raw concrete in cubic forms, but had wide windows that brought in light and views of the nature outside. From the 1990s, he began to use wood as a building material and introduced elements of traditional Japanese architecture, notably in his project for the Wood Culture Museum (1995). His "Bennesse House" in Naoshima, Kagawa County, has elements of classical Japanese architecture and a plan that subtly introduces the house into natural landscape. He won the Pritzker Prize, architecture's most prestigious award, in 1995.

Isozaki Arata worked in Kenzo Tange's studio for two years before opening his own firm in Tokyo in 1963. His Nagi Museum of Contemporary Art skillfully combined wood, stone and metal, and combined three geometric shapes: a cylinder, a half-cylinder and an enlarged cube, to present three different artists in different environments. His Art Tower in Mito, Japan (1986-1990) featured a postmodern aluminum tower that rotated on its own axis. In addition to museums and cultural centers in Japan, he created the Museum of Contemporary Art Los Angeles (MOCA), (1981-1986) and the COSI Science Museum and Research Center in Columbus, Ohio.

Concert halls: Sydney Opera House and Berlin Philharmonic

1. Sydney Opera House, designed by Jorn Utzon (1957-1973);

2. Facade of the Berlin Philharmonic, designed by Hans Scharoun (1963);

3. Vineyard style: the orchestra is surrounded by the audience at the Berlin Philharmonic.

The Opera House in Sydney, Australia, designed by Danish architect Jorn Utzon (1918-2008) is one of the most recognizable of all works of post-war architecture and spans the transition from modernism to postmodernism. Construction began in 1957, but it was not completed until 1973 due to difficult technical problems and rising costs. Giant concrete shells float above the platforms that form the roof of the hall itself. The architect resigned before the building was completed, and the interior was designed largely after he left the project. Sydney influence opera house can be seen in later concert halls with high roofs made of corrugated stainless steel.

One of the most influential buildings of the postmodern period was the Berlin Philharmonic, designed by Hans Scharoun (1893-1972) and completed in 1963. The exterior, with its sloping roofs and flowing façade, was a clear break from earlier, more austere modernist concert halls. The real revolution took place inside, where Scharoun placed the orchestra in the center and the audience sat on the terraces around it. He described it this way: “The form given to the hall is inspired by the landscape; in the center there is a valley, at the bottom of which there is an orchestra. Around it, terraces rise on all sides, like vineyards. Similar to the earthly landscape, the upper ceiling looks like the sky. Following his description, future concert halls such as the Frank Gehry-designed Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles and Jean Nouvel's Philharmonie de Paris (2015) used the term "vineyard style" and placed the orchestra in the center rather than on a stage at the back of the hall.

Character traits

1. Complexity and contradiction. New City Gallery designed by James Stirling in Stuttgart, Germany (1977-1984);

2. Slanted forms. The Church of Banley Sainte-Bernadette in Nevers, France, designed by Claude Parent, inspired by a sloping German blockhouse on the French coast (1968);

3. Color. Interior of Cambridge University Business School, UK, by John Urtham (1995);

4. Humor. Binocular-shaped building in the Los Angeles neighborhood of Venice, designed by Frank Gehry and sculptor Claes Oldenberg (1991-2001);

5. Fragmentation. Wexner Center for the Arts, designed by Peter Eisenman (1989);

6. Camp. Dolphin Hotel, Michael Graves, Walt Disney World Resort, Florida (1987).

Complexity and contradiction

Postmodern architecture first emerged as a reaction to the principles of modern architecture expressed by modernist architects, including Le Corbusier and Ludwig Mies van der Rohe. Instead of the modernist principles of simplicity expressed by Mies in his famous "Less is more", functionality, "Form is the derivative of function" and Le Corbusier's principle that "A house is a machine for living in", postmodernism, in the words of Robert Venturi, suggested complexity and contradiction. Postmodern buildings had curved shapes, decorative elements, asymmetry, bright colors and features often borrowed from more early periods. The colors and textures were not related to the structure of the building's function. Rejecting the "puritanism" of modernism, he called for a return to ornament and the accumulation of references and collages borrowed from past styles. He borrowed freely from classical architecture, Rococo, Neoclassical architecture, the Viennese Secession, the British Arts and Crafts movement, and German Art Nouveau.

Postmodern buildings often combined surprising new forms and features with seemingly contradictory elements of classicism. James Stirling, architect of the New City Gallery in Stuttgart, Germany (1984), described the style as "representation and abstraction, monumental and informal, traditional and high-tech."

Fragmentation

Postmodern architecture often breaks large buildings into several different structures and forms, sometimes presenting varied functions for these parts of the building. Due to the use different materials and styles one building can appear as Small town or village. An example is the City Museum designed by Hans Hollein in Munich (1972-1974).

Asymmetrical and oblique shapes

Asymmetrical forms are one of the hallmarks of postmodernism. In 1968, French architect Claude Parent and philosopher Paul Virilio designed the Church of St. Bernadette in Nevers, France, as a massive concrete block leaning to one side. Describing the shape, they wrote: "The diagonal line on the white page can be a hill, a mountain or a slope, an ascent or a descent." The parent buildings were partly inspired by the concrete German blockhouses he discovered on the French coast, which sloped down the cliffs but were completely intact with leaning walls and gently sloping floors. Postmodernist compositions are rarely symmetrical, balanced and orderly. Characteristic are ordinary buildings that lean, lean and seem to fall.

Color

Color is an important element in many postmodern buildings; colored glass, ceramic tiles or stone are sometimes used to add variety and personality to the facades. Mexican architect Luis Barragán's buildings offer bright, sunny colors that bring life to the forms.

Humor and "camp"

Humor is a feature of many postmodern buildings, especially in the United States. An example is the Binoculars Building in the Venice area of ​​Los Angeles, designed by Frank Gehry in collaboration with sculptor Claes Oldenberg (1991-2001). The entrance to the building is made in the form of a huge binocular; cars drive into the garage, passing under binoculars. "Camp" humor was popular during the postmodern period; it was ironic humor, based on the premise that something can seem as bad as it is good (for example, a building that looks like it's about to collapse). American critic Susan Sontag in 1964 defined camp as a style that emphasized texture, surface and style at the expense of substance, which adored exaggeration, and things that were not what they seemed. Postmodern architecture sometimes used the same sense of theatricality, a sense of absurdity and exaggeration of form.

The goals of postmodernism, which include solving the problems of modernism, communicating meanings with uncertainty, and sensitivity to the building's context, are surprisingly uniform throughout the period of the building's design by architects who largely never collaborated with each other. However, these goals leave room for a variety of implementations, which can be demonstrated by the many buildings created during the movement.

Theories of postmodern architecture

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

Sculptural forms, not necessarily organic, were created with great zeal. This can be seen in the Abteiberg Museum by Hans Hollein (1972-1982). The building consists of several building blocks, all very different. The form of each building is no different from the rigid statements of modernism. All forms of the building are sculptural and somewhat playful. These forms are not reduced to an absolute minimum; they are built and shaped for themselves. All the buildings come together in a very organic way, which enhances the effect of the forms themselves.

After many years of oblivion, ornament has returned. Frank Gehry's Venice Beach home, built in 1986, is dotted with small ornate details that would be considered excessive and unnecessary in modernism. The house on Venice Beach is built in a circle from logs, which are mainly for decorative purposes. The logs at the top have the minor purpose of supporting the window shutters. However, the fact that they could be replaced with a virtually invisible nail makes their exaggerated existence largely decorative. Ornament is even more pronounced in the Portland Municipal Building, designed by Michael Graves (1980). The two prominent triangular shapes are primarily decorative. They exist for an aesthetic or personal purpose.

Postmodernism, with its sensitivity to the context of the building, did not eliminate the needs of people from the building. This is confirmed by the Brion tomb, designed by Carlo Scarpa (1970-1972). The human requirements of a tomb are that it should have a solemn character, but should not cause the visitor to become depressed. Scarpa's tomb provides a solemn mood with dull gray wall colors and well-defined shapes, but the vibrant green grass prevents it from being too overwhelming.

Postmodern buildings sometimes use trompe l'oeil, creating the illusion of space and depth where nothing really exists, as artists have done since the time of the Romans. The Portland Municipal Building (1980) has columns featured on one side of the building that appear to be real to a certain extent, but are not.

The Hood Museum of Art (1981-1983) has the typical symmetrical façade that was common in all postmodern buildings at the time.

The Venna Venturi House, designed by Robert Venturi (1962-1964), exemplifies the postmodernist desire to convey the meaning and characteristics of symbolism. The facade, according to Venturi, symbolizes the idea of ​​a house looking back to the 18th century. This is achieved in part through the use of symmetry and arches over the entrance.

Maybe, best example An irony in postmodern buildings is Charles Moore's Place d'Italia (1978). Moore cites (architecturally) elements from the Italian Renaissance and Roman antiquity. However, he does it with a twist. The irony comes when it becomes noticeable that the columns are covered with steel. The paradox also lies in the way he quotes Italian antiquity away from the original in New Orleans.

Dual coding meant that buildings conveyed many meanings simultaneously. Sony Tower in New York does this very well. The building is a tall skyscraper, which is given a very modern meaning through dual coding technology. However, the top contrasts with it. The upper section conveys elements of classical antiquity. This double coding is a common feature of postmodernism.

The features of postmodernism have been highly unified, given their varied manifestations. The most noticeable features are the playfully extravagant forms and the humorous meaning that the buildings conveyed.

Postmodern architecture as an international style, the first examples of which are commonly cited from the 1950s but did not become a movement until the late 1970s, continues to influence modern architecture. Postmodernism in architecture is said to herald a 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 the most expressed and visible ideas of postmodernism can be seen in architecture. The functional and stylized forms and spaces of modernism have been replaced by a varied aesthetic: styles clash, form is embraced for its own sake, and new ways of representing familiar styles and spaces abound. Perhaps most obviously, the architects rediscovered architectural ornament and forms that had been abstracted by modernist architects.

Postmodern architecture has also been described as neo-eclectic, where reference and ornament returned to the façade, replacing the highly unornamented modern styles. This eclecticism is often combined with the use of oblique angles and unusual surfaces, best known in State Gallery Stuttgart by James, designed by Stirling and Place d'Italie, designed by Charles Moore. The Scottish Parliament building in Edinburgh has also been mentioned as a post-modern fashion.

Modernist architects consider postmodernist buildings vulgar, associated with a populist ethic and using uniform design elements with shopping malls, cluttered with "knick-knacks". Postmodern architects view many modern buildings as soulless and bland, overly simplistic and abstract. This contrast was illustrated in the juxtaposition of the "whites" with the "grays", in which the "whites" sought to continue (or revive) the modernist tradition of purism and clarity, while the "grays" embraced the more multifaceted cultural vision represented in Robert Venturi's statement, rejecting the “black or white” view of modernism in favor of “black and white and sometimes grey.” The difference of opinion comes down to a difference in goals: modernism is rooted in the minimal and true use of material, as well as the absence of ornament, while postmodernism is a rejection of the strict rules established by the early modernists and the search for meaning and expression in the use of construction methods, form and stylistic references.

One building form that symbolizes postmodernism's exploration is the traditional gable roof, instead of the iconic flat roof of modernism. By channeling water away from the center of the building, this roof form has always had functional value in climates with rain and snow and was a logical way to achieve larger spans with fewer structural parts, but it was quite rare in modernist buildings. (These were primarily "machines for habitation", in Le Corbusier's words, and the cars usually did not have peaked roofs.) However, the modernist roots of postmodernism appear in some interesting examples of "reclaimed" roofs. For example, the Vanna Ventura House, designed by Robert Venturi, splits the gable in the middle, denying the functionality of the form, and the building at 1001 Fifth Avenue in Manhattan, designed by Philip Johnson (not to be confused with the Portland Convention Center, once mentioned due to the same name) does the emphasis is on the mansard-shaped roof as a clearly flat, false façade. Another alternative to modernism's flat roofs exaggerates the traditional roof to draw even more attention to it, as is the case with the Cullman McKinnell and Wood American Academy of Arts and Sciences in Cambridge, Massachusetts, which forms a three-tier low roof for a dramatic shelter accent.

Relationship to previous styles

1. San Antonio Public Library, Texas;

2. Ancient symbol"Rhuyi" decorating Taipei 101, Taiwan.

New trend became evident in the last quarter of the 20th century as some architects began to turn away from modern functionalism, which they found boring and some part of society unacceptable and even distasteful. These architects looked to the past, citing past elements of various buildings and combining them (even sometimes with unkindness) to create new way building design. A prime example of this new approach was that postmodernism saw the return of columns and other elements of pre-modern 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 seen as a cylindrical tube shape, replaced by other technological means such as cantilevers, or completely disguised by curtain wall facades. The revival of columns was an aesthetic rather than a technological need. Modernist high-rise buildings have become monolithic in most cases, rejecting the concept of a bunch of different design elements from the same terminology from ground to roof, in the most extreme cases even using the same load-bearing supports (no tapering or "wedding cake" design), with the building sometimes even suggesting the possibility a single extrusion of metal directly from the ground, largely by eliminating visual horizontal elements, as seen most clearly in Minoru Yamasaki's World Trade Center buildings.

Another return was the "wit, ornament and reference" seen in old buildings in the decorative facades of terracotta and bronze or stainless steel decoration of the Beaux Arts and Art Deco eras. In postmodern buildings, this was often achieved by placing conflicting references to previous styles next to each other and even using stylistic references to furniture on an enormous scale.

Contextualism, a late 20th century thinking trend that influenced the ideology of the postmodern movement as a whole. Contextualism is based on the belief that all knowledge is “context-sensitive.” This idea has even been further developed to say that knowledge cannot be understood without considering its context. While interesting examples of modern architecture responded subtly and precisely to their physical context (analyzed by Thomas Schumacher in The Contextualism of Urban Ideals and Distortions and by Colin Rowe and Fred Koetter in The Collage City), postmodern architecture often addressed context in terms of materials, shapes and details of the buildings around it - cultural context.

The roots of postmodernism

1. London Wall 125 (1992), designed by Terry Farrell and Associates, aimed to "regenerate the urban fabric" of an area dominated by post-Blitz modernist schemes.

The postmodern movement is often considered (especially in the US) to be an American movement that began in America around the 1960s and 1970s and then spread to Europe and the rest of the world, continuing until the present day. However, in 1966, the architectural historian Sir Nikolaus Pevsner spoke of a revived expressionism as "a new style, the successor to my international contemporary of the 1930s, the postmodern style" and included as examples the work of Le Corbusier at the Ronchamp Chapel and Chandigarh, Denis Lasdun at King's College doctors in London, Richard Sheppard at Churchill College, Cambridge, James Stirling and James Govan at the University of Leicester Engineering, and the Philip Johnson Guest House in New Canaan, Connecticut. Pevsner disapproved of these buildings for their self-expression and irrationalism, but he recognized them as a "legitimate style of the 1950s and 1960s" and identified their features. The work of defining postmodernism was subsequently passed on to a younger generation who welcomed rather than rejected what they saw and, in the case of Robert Venturi, contributed to it.

The goals of postmodernism or late modernism begin with its reaction to modernism; he tries to address the limitations of his predecessor. The list of goals is expanded to include ideas of communicating with the public, often then in a humorous or witty way. Often the communication is completed with many references from the past architectural styles, usually a lot at once. Moving away from modernism, he also strives to construct buildings that are sensitive to the context within which they are built.

Postmodernism has its origins in the perceived incapacity of modern architecture. His passion for functionalism and economical construction meant that ornament was done away with, and buildings were hidden behind a blank, rational appearance. Many believed that buildings were unable to satisfy human needs for comfort, both body and eye, that modernism did not take into account the desire for beauty. The problem worsened when some monotonous apartment buildings became slums. In response, architects sought to reintroduce ornament, color, decoration, and human scale into buildings. Form was no longer determined solely by its functional requirements or minimal appearance.

Changing pedagogy

Critics of modernism's reductionism have often noted the failure to teach architectural history as a causal factor. The fact that a number of the major players in the transition from modernism were trained at Princeton University's School of Architecture, where reference to history continued to be part of design education in the 1940s and 1950s, was significant. The growing interest in history had a profound impact on architectural education. History courses have become more traditional and streamlined. Driven by the need for professors knowledgeable in architectural history, several PhD programs in schools of architecture have emerged to separate them from art history PhD programs that have previously trained architectural historians. In the US, MIT and Cornell University were the first, established in the mid-1970s, followed by Columbia University, UC Berkeley and Princeton University. The creators of new architectural history programs included Bruno Zavi at the Institute of Architectural History in Venice, Stanford Anderson and Henry Millon at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Alexander Tsonis at the Architectural Association, Anthony Vidler at Princeton University, Manfredo Tafuri at the University of Venice, Kenneth Frampton at Columbia University , Werner Oechslin and Kurt Forster at ETH Zurich.

In parallel with the creation of these programs, schools of architecture hired professionally trained historians in the 1970s: Margaret Crawford (Ph.D., UCLA) at the Southern California Institute of Architecture; Elizabeth Grossman (PhD, Brown University) at the Rhode Island School of Design; Christian Otto (PhD, Columbia University) at Cornell University; Richard Chafee (PhD, Courtauld Institute) to Roger Williams University; and Howard Burns (M.A., King's College) at Harvard University are just a few examples. Then a second generation of scientists appeared who began to increase these efforts towards what is now called "theory": Kenneth Michael Hayes (PhD, Massachusetts Institute of Technology) at Harvard University, Mark Wigley (PhD, Oakland University) at Princeton University ( now at Columbia University) and Beatriz Colomina (PhD, School of Architecture, Barcelona) at Princeton University; Mark Jarzombek (PhD, MIT) at Cornell University (now at MIT), Jennifer Bloomer (PhD, Georgia Tech) at Iowa State University, and Katherine Ingram (PhD, Johns Hopkins University) currently at Pratt Institute.

Postmodernism, with its diversity, is sensitive to the context and history of the building, as well as the requirements of the client. Postmodern architects often considered the general requirements of city buildings and their surroundings during the construction of a building. For example, in Frank Gehry's Venice Beach house, neighboring houses have a similar bright, even color. This linguistic sensitivity manifests itself frequently, but in other cases the designs are in keeping with their more upscale neighbors. The Arthur Sackler Museum at Harvard University, designed by James Stirling, has a rounded corner and striped brick pattern that matches the shape and decoration of the multicolored Victorian memorial hall across the street, although it is in no way imitative or historicist.

Subsequent movements

Following postmodernism's counterattack to modernism, various trends were created in architecture, which, however, did not necessarily follow the principles of postmodernism. At the same time, the recent movements of New Urbanism and New Classical Architecture encourage a sustainable approach to building that values ​​and develops smart growth theory, architectural traditions and classical design. This contrasts with modernist and globally unified architecture, and also draws on individual neighborhoods and suburban developments. Both trends began in the 1980s. The Driehaus Architecture Prize is an award that recognizes efforts in New Urbanism and New Classical architecture and awards prize money twice as large as the modernist Pritzker Prize. Some postmodern architects such as Robert Stern and Albert, Reiter and Tittman moved from postmodern design to new interpretations traditional architecture.

Postmodern architects

The most famous and influential architects in the postmodern style are:

• Joel Bergman
• Barbara Bielecka
• Ricardo Bofill
• Mario Botta
• John Burgee
• Charles Correa
• Peter Eisenman
• Terry Farrell
• Frank Gehry
• James Gowan
• Michael Graves
• Hans Hollein
• Arata Isozaki
• Helmut Jahn
• Jon Jerde
• Philip Johnson
• Edward Jones
• Hans Kollhoff
• Ricardo Legorreta
• Ernst Lohse
• Charles Moore
• William Pedersen
• Cesar Pelli
• Boris Podrecca
• John Calvin Portman Jr.
• Paolo Portoghesi
• Antoine Predock

Postmodernism in architecture

Postmodern architecture is a style or movement that emerged in the 1960s as a reaction to the austerity, formality and lack of diversity of modern architecture, especially the International Style championed by Le Corbusier and Ludwig Mies van der Rohe. The principles of the movement were outlined in the 1966 book Complexity and Contradiction in Architecture by architect and architectural theorist Robert Venturi. The style flourished from the 1980s to the 1990s, especially in the work of Venturi, Philip Johnson, Charles Moore and Michael Graves. In the late 1990s, it split into many new movements, including high-tech architecture, neoclassicism and deconstructivism.

“I'm talking about a complex and contradictory architecture based on the richness and ambiguity of modern experience, including the experience that is inherent in art. ... I welcome challenges and embrace uncertainty. ... I like elements that are hybrid rather than pure, compromising rather than pure, ... compromising rather than exclusive. … I am for disorderly liveliness, not obvious unity. ... I prefer “as and” instead of “either...or”, black and white, and sometimes gray with black or white. ... Architecture

complexity and contradiction must embody a complex unity of inclusion, and not a simple unity of exclusion.”

Instead of the functional doctrines of modernism, Venturi proposed a focus on the facade, incorporating historical elements, subtle use of unusual materials and historical allusions, and the use of fragmentation and modulation to make the building interesting. Venturi's second book, Lessons from Las Vegas (1972), co-authored with his wife Denise Scott Brown and Stephen Isenour, developed his argument against modernism. He urged architects to consider and welcome existing architecture on the ground rather than try to impose an imaginary utopia from their own fantasies. He argued that ornamental and decorative elements "accommodate existing needs for variety and intercourse." He was instrumental in opening the eyes of readers to a new philosophy of buildings, as it was drawn from the whole history of architecture - both high style and vernacular, both historical and modern - and in response to Miss Van der Rohe's famous principle " "Less is better," Venturi said, "Less is more boring." Venturi cited examples of his own buildings, the Guild House in Philadelphia, as examples of the new style, which welcomed diverse and historical references without reverting to academic revivals of older styles.

In Italy around the same time, the architect Aldo Rossi began a similar rebellion against strict modernism, he criticized the rebuilding of Italian cities and buildings destroyed during the war in a modernist style that was contrary to the history of architecture, the original street plans or the culture of the cities. Rossi insisted that cities be rebuilt in a way that preserved their historical structure and local traditions. Similar ideas existed, and projects were put forward at the Venice Biennale in 1980. The call for a postmodern style was joined by Christian de Portzamparc in France and Ricardo Bofill in Spain, and in Japan by Arata Isozaki.