HIGH TECH

ARCHITECTURE
A.K.A L ATE MODERNISM/STRUCTURAL EXPRESSIONISM
BRIEF HISTORY
High-tech architecture, also known asLate ModernismorStructural
Expressionism, is anarchitectural stylethat emerged in the 1970s,
incorporating elements of high-tech industry and technology into building
design. High-tech architecture appeared as revampedmodernism, an
extension of those previous ideas helped by even more technological
advances. This category serves as a bridge between modernism andpost-
modernism; however, there remain gray areas as to where one category ends
and the other begins. In the 1980s, high-tech architecture became more
difficult to distinguish from post-modern architecture. Some of its themes and
ideas were later absorbed into the style ofNeo-Futurismart and architectural
movement.
DESCRIPTION
High Tech was a development of BritishModernistarchitecture from the late
1960s and was a concept, rather than a style. Based on engineering and
construction and other aspects such as the manipulation of space, High Tech
was marked by a preference for lightweight materials and sheer surfaces, a
readiness to adopt new techniques from engineering and other technologies,
and the celebratory display of a buildings construction and services.
5 THINGS YOU
NEED TO KNOW
1. MATERIALS
USUALLY BUILT USING STEEL+GLASS PREFABRICATED MATERIALS
2. CONCEPT
A SYMBIOSIS OF TECHNOLOGY AND ARCHITECTURE

LIGHTNESS
REFLECTED SURFACES
ECOLOGICAL
3. REVEALED STRUCTURE
CONCEPT
A REVEALED STRUCTURE CCONCEPT
BOWELLISM
4. ARCHITECTS
The Centre Georges Pompidoum (Paris,
France)
By RenzoPiano & Richard Rogers
BANK OF CHINA (Hong kong)
By I.M Pei
THE GERKIN (London)
By Normal Foster
HSBC HONGKONG HEADQUARTERS (HONG
KONG)
By Norman Foster
BURJ AL ARAB JUMIERAH (DUBAI)
By Tom Wright & Carlos Ott
Marquette Plaza (Minneapolis, Minnesota
USA)
By Gunnar Birkerts