13

PROPOSITIONS 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 Delhi

Romi 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 Delhi

Raj 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, Gujarat
Charles 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, Jaipur

Charles 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, Ahemdabad
Louis 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
loeil art of creating an illusion of
space or depths where none actually
exists

Triveni Kala Sangam, New Delhi

Joseph 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,
Ahemdabad
B.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, Bhopal

Charles 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, Bombay

Charles Correa

12. GREEN ARCHITECTURE

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

Indian Habitat Center, New Delhi

Joseph 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