13PROPOSITIONS OF POST- MODERN

ARCHITECTURE

CHARLES JENCKS

WHAT IS POST - MODERNISM?

Pruitt Igoe, Urban Housing Project, Missouri, U.S. (1954) Demolished in 1976

• Return of ‘wit, ornament and reference’

• Expressive and symbolic value of architectural elements

• Equal importance to the aesthetics

• ‘The Age of Lost innocence’

Michael Graves, Portland Building, Oregon, 1982

Philip Johnson

The main entrance

Sony Building (formerly, the At&T Building), Manhattan (1984)

THE PROPOSITIONS

1. MULTIVALENCE

• Multivalence is preferred to univalence, imagination to fancy

• Literally means, having multiple values

• Values in terms of form, function and aesthetics of a building

• Modernism focuses on more of the functional value completely ignoring the aesthetics.

Chakravarty house, New DelhiRomi Khosla

2. COMPLEXITY & CONTRADICTION

• Complexity and contradiction are preferred to over simplicity and ‘Minimalism’

• Minimalism considered as boring and bland

Hall of Nations, Pragati Maidan, New DelhiRaj Rewal

3.

• Complexity and chaos theories are considered more basic in explaining nature than linear dynamics; that is, ‘more of nature’ is non linear in behaviour than linear

4. MEMORY & HISTORY

• Memory and history are inevitable in DNA, language, style and the city and are positive catalysts for invention

• Using elements from the past or inculcating elements of historical importance in the building

Gandhi Smarak Sangrahalya, Ahemdabad, GujaratCharles Correa

5. CODING & SYMBOLISM

• All architecture is invented and perceived through codes, hence the languages of architecture and symbolic architecture, hence the double coding of architecture within the codes of both the professional and populace

Jawahar Kala Kendra, JaipurCharles Correa

plan

6. RADICAL ECLECTICISM

• All codes are influenced by a semiotic community and various taste cultures, hence the need in a pluralist culture for a design based on radical eclecticism

• Use of elements originating from the tradition or culture

7. UNIVERSAL IN NATURE

• Architecture is a public language, hence the need for a Post Modern Classicism which is partly based on architectural universals and a changing technology

IIM, AhemdabadLouis I Kahn

8. ORNAMENTATION

• Necessitates ornament (or pattern) which should be symbolic and symphonic, hence the relevance of information theory

• Using various elements like trompe l’oeil – art of creating an illusion of space or depths where none actually exists

Triveni Kala Sangam, New DelhiJoseph Allen Stein

9. METAPHOR

• Necessitates metaphor and this should relate us to natural and cultural concerns, hence the explosion of zoomorphic imagery, face houses and scientific iconography instead of ‘machines for living’

Amdavad Ni Gufa, AhemdabadB.V. Doshi

10. CONTEXTUALISM

• Architecture must form the city, hence Contextualism, Collage City, Neo- Rationalism, small – block planning, and mixed uses and ages of buildings.

• A building must belong to a city or a place

Bharat Bhavan, BhopalCharles Correa

11. PARTICIPATORY DESIGN

• Must crystallise social reality and in the global city today, the Heteropolis, that very much means the pluralism of ethnic groups, hence participatory design and adhocism

Belapur housing, BombayCharles Correa

12. GREEN ARCHITECTURE

• Must confront the ecological reality and that means sustainable development, green architecture and cosmic symbolism

Indian Habitat Center, New DelhiJoseph Allen Stein

13. COSMOGENIC ARCHITECTURE

• A need for an architecture which celebrates criticism, process and humour

• Architecture must expand and evolve with time

Thank You