9. Postmodern Architecture & Theatre

POSTMODERN ARCHITECTURE

What could this space be?

What could this space be?

What could this space be?

Westin Bonaventure Hotel, Los Angeles

Fredrick Jameson, Postmodernism or, The Cultural Logic of Late Capitalism (1991)

p. 39

The Westin Bonaventure Hotel (1974–76), Los Angeles architect John Portman

Fredrick Jameson, Postmodernism or, The Cultural Logic of Late Capitalism (1991) p. 39

Hôtel Ritz Paris(15 Place Vendôme)

The Ritz London (150 Piccadilly)

Istanbul

Fredrick Jameson, Postmodernism or, The Cultural Logic of Late Capitalism (1991)

pp. 39-40

Fredrick Jameson, Postmodernism or, The Cultural Logic of Late Capitalism (1991)

pp. 41-2

The Westin Bonaventure Hotel (1974–76), Los Angeles architect John Portman

Bonaventure Hotel seen from the platform of 444 South Flower St.

Downtown Los Angeles seen from South Figueroa St.

[right: Bonaventure Hotel 404 Figueroa St. entrance]

The Westin Bonaventure Hotel as a ‘miniature city’ / ‘minicity’ = ‘a total space’ (Jameson 1991: 40)

Fredrick Jameson, Postmodernism or, The Cultural Logic of Late Capitalism (1991)

p. 42

Westin Bonaventure Hotel (1974–76), Los Angeles, architect John Portman

Westin Peachtree Plaza Hotel (1976), Atlanta, architect John Portman

Postmodern architecture

• architect Charles Jencks’ semiotic view of postmodern architecture:1. its structural elements derive their meanings from their

relationships of similarity/contrast with other elements; 2. changing codes of interpretation, based on & reflecting the multiple

contexts in which any work of architecture is experience/‘read’;• deliberate exploration of the incompatibilities of style, form &

texture, the public & the domestic = complexity & contradiction;• fragmented space/experience;• architecture responsive to its urban context;• re-introduces ornamentation.

Sarup (1993: 169–72)

Modernist architecture

• < modernist faith in the rational; • < individual vision/expression; • novelty: aspect, materials & construction techniques; • unity of art, science & industry; • simplicity of form & impersonal, self-sufficient functionality = the exterior is the result of the interior

[‘form follows function’, rather than quoting early form]; • unity of intention & execution in a building.

Fredrick Jameson, Postmodernism or, The Cultural Logic of Late Capitalism (1991)

p. 42

Fredrick Jameson, Postmodernism or, The Cultural Logic of Late Capitalism (1991)

p. 42

Watch Prof. Edward Soja’s discussion of the postmodern city on BBC Two (early 1990s): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hhyQ0HES8mM

What makes the Westin Bonaventure Hotel an example of postmodern architecture?

• postmodern architecture:1. its structural elements derive their meanings from their relationships of

similarity/contrast with other elements; 2. changing codes of interpretation, based on & reflecting the multiple contexts in

which any work of architecture is experience/‘read’;• deliberate exploration of the incompatibilities of style, form & texture, the public &

the domestic = complexity & contradiction;• fragmented space/experience;• architecture responsive to its urban context;• re-introduces ornamentation.

What makes the Westin Bonaventure Hotel an example of postmodern architecture?

• postmodern architecture:1. its structural elements derive their meanings from their

relationships of similarity/contrast with other elements; 2. changing codes of interpretation, based on & reflecting

the multiple contexts in which any work of architecture is experience/‘read’;

• deliberate exploration of the incompatibilities of style, form & texture, the public & the domestic = complexity & contradiction;

• fragmented space/experience;• architecture responsive to its urban context;• re-introduces ornamentation.

What makes the Hyatt Regency Hotel (1967/1971), Atlanta,architect John Portman,an example of postmodern architecture?

• postmodern architecture:1. its structural elements derive their meanings from

their relationships of similarity/contrast with other elements;

2. changing codes of interpretation, based on & reflecting the multiple contexts in which any work of architecture is experience/‘read’;

• deliberate exploration of the incompatibilities of style, form & texture, the public & the domestic = complexity & contradiction;

• architecture responsive to its urban context;• re-introduces ornamentation.

The all-glass cylinder addition (1971) served as a design precursor for Portman’s Westin Peachtree Hotel, Atlanta (1976)

The Blue Dome Restaurant, Hyatt (1967)

This staircase of the Westin Bonaventure Hotel, LA, is essentially a spiral staircase. Is there more to it?

Vatican museums spiral staircase

Do the staircases of the Westin Bonaventure Hotel, LA, and of the abbey library in The Name of the Rose (1986; dir. Jean-Jacques Annaud) have anything in common?

Do the staircases of the Westin Bonaventure Hotel, LA, and of the abbey library in The Name of the Rose (1986; dir. Jean-Jacques Annaud) have anything in common?

Staircases of the Westin Bonaventure, the abbey library in The Name of the Rose (1986) and Piranesi’s Carceri (1749/50; 1761)

Piranesi, Carceri, plate 14 (2nd ed. 1761)

Piranesi, Carceri (2nd ed. 1761)

The carceral in Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead (1990; written & dir. Tom Stoppard)

Hamlet: Denmark’s a prison. Rosencrantz. Then is the world one. Hamlet: A goodly one; in which there are many confines, wards and dungeons, Denmark being one o’ the worst.

The carceral in Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead (1990; written & dir. Tom Stoppard)

Hamlet: Denmark’s a prison. Rosencrantz. Then is the world one. Hamlet: A goodly one; in which there are many confines, wards and dungeons, Denmark being one o’ the worst.

WHO SEES WHOM / WHAT ?

The carceral in Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead (1990; written & dir. Tom Stoppard)

Hamlet: Denmark’s a prison.

Piranesi, Carceri (2nd ed. 1761)

Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead (1990; written & dir.

Tom Stoppard)

WHO SEES WHOM / WHAT ?

Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead (1990; written & dir. Tom Stoppard)WHO SEES WHOM / WHAT ?