Styles and Movements

Postmodern Architecture

Postmodern and Contemporary Architecture

The reaction against modernist austerity that gathered from the late 1960s, readmitting ornament, historical quotation, color and wit. Robert Venturi's Complexity and Contradiction in Architecture of 1966 was its founding text, answering the modernist slogan less is more with less is a bore; its landmarks include the Portland Building and the AT and T Building with its broken pediment top.

Facts

Disputed

Period

to 1999 2

No clean end: rather than concluding, the movement fragmented in the late 1990s into successor tendencies (high-tech, neo-futurism, new classicism, deconstructivism), and some buildings designed after this period are still called postmodern.

Period

from 1966 1

Venturi's Complexity and Contradiction in Architecture, published 1966, is the conventional opening of the movement; its built landmarks followed in the late 1970s and 1980s.

Origin Region

United States 1

Postmodern Architecture

6 entries

Building Family

Material

Building Type

Completed Year

Standing Status

Group

Place

Connections

Associated With

Demolition of Pruitt-Igoe

Charles Jencks cited the 1972 Pruitt-Igoe demolition as the symbolic death of modern architecture and a spur to postmodern critique.

The First Venice Architecture Biennale

The 1980 Venice Biennale Strada Novissima exhibit, curated by Paolo Portoghesi, is the event widely credited with launching postmodern architecture as an international movement.

Influenced

Parametricism

Source Parametric architecture (Wikipedia)

Influenced By

Contextualism

Postmodern architecture's knowing quotation of neighboring buildings and streetscapes draws directly on contextualist doctrine.

Source Encyclopedia Britannica

Critiqued Here

Modernist Architecture

Influence by reaction: the movement defined itself against modernist austerity.

Source Encyclopedia Britannica

Notable Examples

22 Bishopsgate

Source Wikidata: 22 Bishopsgate

23 Marina

Source 23 Marina (Wikipedia)

Abraj Al Bait

Source Abraj Al Bait (Wikipedia)

AT&T Building

A defining early landmark of Postmodern architecture, famed for its Chippendale pediment.

Australian Parliament House

Source Parliament House, Canberra, Wikipedia

Beijing National Stadium

Source Wikipedia: Beijing National Stadium

Burj Khalifa

Source Burj Khalifa (Wikipedia)

California Academy of Sciences

Source California Academy of Sciences (Wikipedia)

Central Plaza, Hong Kong

Source Central Plaza, Hong Kong, Wikipedia

Comcast Technology Center

Source Comcast Technology Center - Wikipedia

Commerzbank Tower

Source Commerzbank Tower (Wikipedia)

Dancing House

Source Dancing House | Wikipedia

Denver Art Museum

Source Denver Art Museum (Wikipedia)

Elite Residence

Source Elite Residence, Wikipedia

Emirates Towers

Source Emirates Towers (Wikipedia)

Federation Tower

Source Federation Tower, Wikipedia

Gran Torre Costanera

Source Wikidata: Gran Torre Costanera

John Burgee

Source Encyclopedia Britannica

Lipstick Building

Source Wikipedia: Lipstick Building

Makkah Royal Clock Tower

Source Abraj Al Bait (Wikipedia)

Marina 101

Source Marina 101, Wikipedia

MAXXI

Source MAXXI (Wikipedia)

National Centre for the Performing Arts

Source National Centre for the Performing Arts (China)

Nationale-Nederlanden Building

Source Dancing House | Wikipedia

No. 1 Poultry

Source No 1 Poultry (Wikipedia)

OKO Tower

Source OKO, Wikipedia

Palace of the Parliament

Source Palace of the Parliament (Wikipedia)

Parliament House, Canberra

Source Parliament House, Canberra, Wikipedia

Petronas Towers

Source Petronas Towers (Wikipedia)

Philip Johnson

Source Wikipedia: Philip Johnson

Ping An Finance Centre

Source Ping An Finance Center (Wikidata)

PPG Place

Source PPG Place (Wikipedia)

Princess Tower

Source Princess Tower, Wikipedia

Scottish Parliament Building

Source Wikipedia: Scottish Parliament Building

Seattle Central Library

Source Seattle Central Library (Wikipedia)

Suzhou IFS

Source Suzhou International Financial Center (Wikidata)

Taipei 101

Source Wikipedia: Taipei 101

The Exchange 106

Source The Exchange 106 (Wikipedia)

Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building

Source Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building (Wikipedia)

U.S. Bank Tower (Los Angeles)

Source U.S. Bank Tower (Los Angeles) (Wikipedia)

Vanna Venturi House

Source Wikipedia: Vanna Venturi House

In the Other Atlases

Also in Geography Atlas: United States, originated there.

Sources

1. Encyclopedia Britannica

Encyclopedia Britannica, Inc.

britannica.com/art/Western-architecture/Postmodernism, 1960s backlash passage
Jacobs criticized the destruction of urban coherence that was wrought by the presence of Modernist buildings, while Venturi implied that Modernist buildings were without meaning, as their puritanical design lacked the irony and complexity that enrich historical architecture.
Influenced By: Modernist Architecture
Influenced By: Contextualism