Post Modernism and Architecture

Post Modernism and Architecture

If one were to walk around and casually ask five people what post modernism was they would probably get five different answers or none at all. It is one of those indefinable academic terms that applies to many different fields of study. Most people seem to understand what it means individually but few agree collectively. To make matters even more complicated, it is often used in discussions about deconstruction. "To some Post Modernism is an excuse to pile together oodles of wild and crazy decor, to others it is another example of the weakness of standards and values. While some think that it is trangressive resistance to the sureness of categories, to others a handy way to describe a particular house, dress, car, artist, dessert, or pet, and to others it simply over already.

Clement Greenberg defined post-modernism in 1979 as the antithesis of everything that he loved. The lowering of aesthetic standards caused by the democratization of culture under industrialism. Where most people agree though is that post modernism first started with architecture in the 1950’s. It occurred as a reaction against the international Style. So that is the aspect that I am going to concentrate on in my paper. As post modern applies to architecture it means The combination of Modern techniques with something else usually traditional building.

First off Some of the most famous architects that concentrate on post Modern Design are Alvar Alto, and Robert Venturi. Alto is probably the most famous out of the three that I named. Alto was born 1898 in Kuortane on February 3. He received his diploma of architecture in 1921 from the Institute of Technology which is located in Helsinki. He had private architectural office in Jyväskylä from 1923-27. He was married to a fellow architect Aino Marsio in1924. She shortly after died in 1949. From the times of 1927 through 1933 he had another private architectural office this time it was in Turku. The last private office that he had was in 1933 it was in Helsinki. From the time period1943 to 1958 he was the Chairperson of the Association of Finnish Architects and Professor at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, which is in Cambridge USA. In 1952 he remarried to another architect by the name of Elissa Mäkiniemi. In 1955 he became a member of the finish academy and...

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...t Modernism can hardly be talked about without deconstructionism also being mentioned. Deconstruction is when the architects think that the design of societies' buildings should resemble societies present state. For example today’s society is chaotic, so the architecture should be chaotic too. For example the buildings columns and structure are crooked and the walls tilted. Deconstruction is a kind of post modern design. They seem to directly relate to each other. Deconstruction is post modern with a twist it is never straight and it is always crooked lines the walls can be tilted and the structures all crazy like.

My opinion on the whole mess is that some of the architecture can be really beautiful but others can be extremely screwy. I personally have always had an interest in architecture so this assignment, after I figured out what I was supposed to do, was fun. I am not going to become an architect though, I like animals to much and I aspire to be veterinarian. My favorite piece that I saw was the Getty Museum. Just the way that it is set and designed to look old but has all the beautiful new stone and materials. It was just the first one to catch my eye.