POSTMODERNIS

M
LATE 1970-1990
• INTERNATIONAL ARCHITECTURAL MOVEMENT
THAT EMERGED IN THE 1960s, BECAME
PROMINENT IN THE LATE 1970s AND 80s, AND
REMAINED A DOMINANT FORCE IN THE 1990s.
• POSTMODERNIST MOVEMENT IS OFTEN SEEN AS
AN AMERICAN MOVEMENT, STARTING IN USA
AROUND THE 1960s-1970s AND THEN SPREADING
TO EUROPE AND THE REST OF THE WORLD.
• THE MOVEMENT LARGELY HAS A REACTION
AGAINST THE AUSTERITY, SIMPLICITY AND
FUNCTIONAL DESIGN APPROACH OF THE MODERN
ARCHITECTURE / INTERNATIONAL STYLE.
• REJECTION OF STRICT RULES SET BY THE EARLY
MODERNISTS AND SEEKS HIGH SPIRITS IN THE USE
OF BUILDING TECHNIQUES, ANGLES AND STYLISTIC
REFERENCES.
AIMS OF POSTMODERNISM
• The aims of Postmodernism or Late-modernism begin with its reaction
to Modernism; it tries to address the limitations of its predecessor.
• The list of aims is extended to include communicating ideas with the
public often in a witty way.
• The communication is done by quoting extensively from past
architectural styles, often many at once.
• In breaking away from modernism, it also strives to produce buildings
that are sensitive to the context within which they are built.
• Postmodernism has its origins in the perceived failure of Modern
Architecture; its preoccupation with functionalism and economical
building which failed to meet the human need for comfort both for body
and for the eye.
• In response, postmodern architects sought to reintroduce ornament,
color, decoration and human scale to buildings. Form was no longer to
be defined solely by its functional requirements or minimal appearance.
CHARACTERISTICS OF POSTMODERNISM
• Postmodern Architecture rejects the notion of
“pure” or “perfect” form, instead it draws
from: all methods, materials, forms, & colors
available to architects.
• Moves away from the neutral white colors
seen in modernism.
• the return of "wit, ornament and reference" to
architecture.
• Took past components of different styles and
melded them together to create new means of
design. It is known for the re-emergence of
surface ornament, reference to its surrounding
buildings, and historical references.
• revival of traditional elements and
techniques. Post modernists looked
into past architecture in order to
learn from it.
• Classical designs such as pillars,
arches, and domes used in new,
almost humorous ways, just to send
a message to the modernist people.
It favored personal preferences and
variety over objective truths and
principles.
• sensitivity to the building’s context,
history and the client’s
requirements
• physical characteristics- the use of
sculptural forms, ornaments and
anthropomorphism
• conceptual characteristics -
pluralism, double coding, high
ceilings, irony, paradox &
contextualism
ROBERT VENTURI
BORN IN PHILADELPHIA AND ATTENDED SCHOOL AT THE
EPISCOPAL ACADEMY, PENNSYLVANIA

GRADUATED FROM PRINCETON UNIVERSITY IN 1947 AND

ALSO WON DÁMATO PRIZE IN ARCHITECTURE

1951 – BRIEFLY WORKED UNDER EERO SAARINEN AND LATER

LOUIS KAHN

1954-1964 HELD TEACHING POSITIONS AT THE UNIVERSITY

OF PENNSYLVANIA, WHERE HE ASSISTED AS AN ASSISTANT,
INSTRUCTOR AND ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR.

TAUGHT A VISITING FACULTY AT YALE SCHOOL OF

ARCHITECTURE.
AT & T Building
Phillip Johnson

Phillip Johnson helped Mies

van der Rohe design the
Seagram Building in the
1950s, but in the ’70s he did
the opposite with the AT&T
Building (now called the
Sony Building)

Phillip Johnson in 1978 with

model of AT&T building
 Instead of a building made of sleek
glass and metal, this building is
predominantly masonry (only 30% of
the outside is glass) and revives a
classical architectural vocabulary

Johnson & his associates

divided the building into
three parts, reminiscent of
the three elevations of a
Greek temple – base, column
and pediment.

Phillip Johnson, the AT&T Building

(New York), 1984. POSTMODERN
 The top slopes down like a
pediment, including a space in
the middle known as an
orbiculum (similar to the look of
18th century dressers)

Thin strips of masonry that

make up the center resembles
the fluting of columns

Phillip Johnson, the AT&T Building

(New York), 1984. POSTMODERN
 The entrance includes a
massive round arch,
similar to a triumphal arch
or a Romanesque portal.
(Please note the modern-
day looking ‘coffers’ and
‘rose window’)

Phillip Johnson, the AT&T Building

(New York), 1984. POSTMODERN
Frank Gehry, Guggenheim Museum,
Bilbao, 1997. DECONSTRUCTIVISM
Frank Gehry used
titanium on the
outside to imply fish
scales since fishing is
a part of bilbao’s
economy. (Note the
long ship-like form of
the building, too.)
This type of work is
often considered
deconstructivist since
it’s goal is to
eliminate continuous
lines and normal
shapes.
 BIBLIOGRAPHY
• https://www.slideshare.net/rohitarora7798/postmodern-architecture-and-the-archite
cts-involoved-in-it
• https://www.slideshare.net/alexwaktola/post-modern-architecture-59810410
• https://www.slideshare.net/CarlaFaner/post-modern-architecture
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