Post+Modern

= Post-Modern =



Post Modern architecture in the late 1950's early 2000's. The postmodernist movement began in America and then it spread to Europe and the rest of the world. It was an international style whose first examples are generally cited as being from the 1950s, but which did not become a movement until the late 1970's and continues to influence present-day architecture. Architecture is generally thought to be heralded by the return of ornament and reference to architecture in response to the formalism of the international styles of modernism. As with many cultural movements, some of postmodernism's most pronounced and visible ideas can be seen in architecture. The functional and formalized shapes and spaces of the modernist movement are replaced by unapologetically diverse aesthics: styles collide, form is adopted for its own sake, and new ways of viewing familiar styles and space abound. One popular building style of postmodernist is the use of pent roofing in buildings, where roofs are slanted at an even angle from one wall to the other. Peaked roofing however, which is seen on most traditional single family homes, is an example of Modernist Architecture. Postmodern architecture has also been described as neo eclectic, where reference and ornament have returned to the facade, replacing the aggressively unornamented modern styles. This eclecticism is often combined with the use of non-orthogonal angles and unusual surfaces. Postmodernism is a rejection of strict rules set by the early modernists and seeks exuberance in the use of building techniques, angles, and stylistic references. The aims of postmodernism or Late-modernism begin with its reaction to modernism, it tries to address the limitations of its predecessor. Its preoccupation with functionalism and economical building meant that ornaments were done away with and the buildings were cloaked in a stark rational appearance. Postmodernists felt the buildings failed to meet the human need for comfort both for body and for the eye. Modernism did not account for the desire for beauty. Post Modernism cured this by reintroducing ornament and decoration for its own sake. Form was no longer to be defined solely by its functional requirements, it could be anything the architect pleased. The characteristics of Postmodernism allow its aim to be expressed in diverse ways. These characteristics include the use of sculptural forms, ornaments, anthropomorphism and materials which perform trompe l'oeil. These physical characteristics are combined with conceptual characteristics of meaning. These characteristics of meaning include pluralism, double coding, flying buttresses and high ceilings, irony and paradox, and contextualism.


 * Pent Roofing- where roofs are slanted at an even angle from one wall to the other.
 * Contextualism- Describes a collection of views in philosophy which emphasize the cocntext in which an action, utterance, or expression occurs, and argues that, in some important respect, the action, utterance, or expression can only be understood relative to that context

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