View source for Postmodern architecture

{{Short description|Architectural style that emerged in the 1960s}}
{{Infobox art movement
|name           = Postmodern architecture
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  |photo1b      = Teamdisneyburbankbuilding.jpg
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  |photo2a      = Guildhouse Philly.JPG
  |photo2b      = Sony Building by David Shankbone.jpg
  |photo2c      = 2008-05-24 Pittsburgh 030 PPG Building (2669504940).jpg
  |photo3a      = PiazzaDItalia1990.jpg
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|caption       = From top, left to right: [[Vanna Venturi House]] (1964) by [[Robert Venturi]]; [[Team Disney]] building in Burbank, California (1990) by [[Michael Graves]]; [[Guild House (Philadelphia)|Guild House]] (1963) in Philadelphia by [[Robert Venturi]]; [[550 Madison Avenue]] (1984) by [[Philip Johnson]] and [[John Burgee]]; [[PPG Place|One PPG Place]] (1984) in Pittsburgh by [[Philip Johnson]]; [[Piazza d'Italia, New Orleans]] by [[Charles Moore (architect)|Charles Moore]] (1978).
|yearsactive   = Late 1950s–present
|location       = International
|majorfigures = [[Robert Venturi]], [[Philip Johnson]], [[Charles Moore (architect)|Charles Moore]], [[Michael Graves]]
|influences    = [[International Style (architecture)|International style]] and [[Modern architecture|modern]]
|influenced    = 
|commons = yes
}}
{{Postmodernism}}

'''Postmodern architecture''' is a style or movement which emerged in the 1960s as a reaction against the austerity, formality, and lack of variety of [[modern architecture]], particularly in the [[International Style (architecture)|international style]] championed by [[Philip Johnson]] and [[Henry-Russell Hitchcock]].<ref>Encyclopedia Britannica on line, "Postmodernism", in "Western Architecture in the 20th century" (consulted September 19, 2024)</ref> The movement was formally introduced by the architect and urban planner [[Denise Scott Brown]] and architectural theorist [[Robert Venturi]] in their 1972 book ''[[Learning from Las Vegas]]'', building upon Venturi's "gentle manifesto" ''[[Complexity and Contradiction in Architecture]]'', published by the [[Museum of Modern Art]] in New York in 1966.

The style flourished from the 1980s through the 1990s, particularly in the work of Scott Brown & Venturi, Philip Johnson, [[Charles Moore (architect)|Charles Moore]] and [[Michael Graves]]. In the late 1990s, it divided into a multitude of new tendencies, including [[high-tech architecture]], [[neo-futurism]], [[new classical architecture]], and [[deconstructivism]].{{Sfn|Hopkins|2014|page=200}} However, some buildings built after this period are still considered postmodern.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Katherine McGrath |title=15 Playfully Bold Examples of Postmodern Architecture |url=https://www.architecturaldigest.com/story/playfully-bold-postmodern-architecture |website=Architectural Digest|date=18 February 2020 }}</ref>

==Origins==
Postmodern architecture emerged in the late 1960s as a reaction against the perceived shortcomings of [[modern architecture]], particularly its rigid doctrines, its uniformity, its lack of ornament, and its habit of ignoring the history and culture of the cities where it appeared. In 1966, Venturi formalized the movement in his book, ''Complexity and Contradiction in Architecture''. Venturi summarized the kind of architecture he wanted to see replace modernism:

<blockquote>I speak of a complex and contradictory architecture based on the richness and ambiguity of modern experience, including that experience which is inherent in art. ... I welcome the problems and exploit the uncertainties. ... I like elements which are hybrid rather than "pure", compromising rather than "clean" ... accommodating rather than excluding. ... I am for messy vitality over obvious unity. ... I prefer "both-and" to "either-or", black and white, and sometimes gray, to black or white. ... An architecture of complexity and contradiction must embody the difficult unity of inclusion rather than the easy unity of exclusion.<ref>Cited in review of Robert Venturi's "Complexities and Contradiction in Architecture" by Martino Stierli, in ''Architectural Review'', 22 December 2016</ref></blockquote>

In place of the functional doctrines of modernism, Venturi proposed giving primary emphasis to the façade, incorporating historical elements, a subtle use of unusual materials and historical allusions, and the use of fragmentation and modulations to make the building interesting.{{Sfn|Ghirardo|1997|page=18}} Accomplished architect and urban planner [[Denise Scott Brown]], who was Venturi's wife, and Venturi wrote ''Learning from Las Vegas'' (1972), co-authored with [[Steven Izenour]], in which they further developed their joint argument against modernism. They urged architects to take into consideration and to celebrate the existing architecture in a place, rather than to try to impose a visionary utopia from their own fantasies. This was in line with Scott Brown's belief that buildings should be built for people, and that architecture should listen to them. Scott Brown and Venturi argued that ornamental and decorative elements "accommodate existing needs for variety and communication". The book was instrumental in opening readers' eyes to new ways of thinking about buildings, as it drew from the entire history of architecture—both high-style and vernacular, both historic and modern—and In response to [[Mies van der Rohe]]'s famous maxim "Less is more", Venturi responded, to "Less is a bore." Venturi cited the example of one of his wife's and his own buildings, [[Guild House (Philadelphia)|Guild House]], in Philadelphia, as examples of a new style that welcomed variety and historical references, without returning to academic revival of old styles.{{Sfn|Ghirardo|1997|page=17}}

In Italy at about the same time, a similar revolt against strict modernism was being launched by the architect [[Aldo Rossi]], who criticized the rebuilding of Italian cities and buildings destroyed during the war in the modernist style, which had had no relation to the architectural history, original street plans, or culture of the cities. Rossi insisted that cities be rebuilt in ways that preserved their historical fabric and local traditions. Similar ideas were and projects were put forward at the [[Venice Biennale]] in 1980. The call for a post-modern <!-- keeping the hyphen because it's not talking about "postmodern" as in the movement but "post-modern" as in literally "after the modern" movement --> style was joined by [[Christian de Portzamparc]] in France and [[Ricardo Bofill]] in Spain, and in Japan by [[Arata Isozaki]].{{Sfn|Ghirardo|1997|pages=17–23}}

==Notable postmodern buildings and architects==

===Robert Venturi===
<gallery mode="packed" heights="200px">
File:Guildhouse Philly.JPG|The [[Guild House (Philadelphia)|Guild House]] in Philadelphia by [[Robert Venturi]] (1960–1963)
File:Vanna Venturi House in Chestnut Hill, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania LCCN2011631388.jpg|[[Vanna Venturi House]] by [[Robert Venturi]] (1964)
File:Fire Station 4, Columbus, Indiana LCCN2013650708.jpg|Fire Station Number 4 in Columbus, Indiana (1968)
File:BNI_Building.JPG|[[Wisma 46]] in Jakarta by [[Robert Venturi]] (1996.)
File:Dartmouth College campus 2007-10-02 Carson Hall.JPG|Carson Hall, [[Dartmouth College]] in [[Hanover, New Hampshire]]
File:Udel - Trabant center2.jpg|Trabant Center at the [[University of Delaware]] in Newark, DE (1996)
File:Episcopal Acad Chapel ext.JPG|Episcopal Academy Chapel
File:Princeton Frist Campus Center back.jpg|Frist Campus Center at [[Princeton University]] (2000)
</gallery>
[[Robert Venturi]] (1925–2018) was both a prominent theorist of postmodernism and an architect whose buildings illustrated his ideas. After studying at the American Academy in Rome, he worked in the offices of the modernists [[Eero Saarinen]] and [[Louis Kahn]] until 1958, and then became a professor of architecture at Yale University. One of his first buildings was the [[Guild House (Philadelphia)|Guild House]] in Philadelphia, built between 1960 and 1963, and a house for his mother in [[Chestnut Hill, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania|Chestnut Hill]], in Philadelphia. These two houses became symbols of the postmodern movement. He went on to design, in the 1960s and 1970s, a series of buildings which took into account both historic precedents, and the ideas and forms existing in the real life of the cities around them.{{Sfn|Taschen|2016|page=638}}

===Michael Graves===
<gallery mode="packed" heights="200px">
File:Portland Building 1982.jpg|[[Portland Building]] by [[Michael Graves]] (1982)
File:HumanaBuilding1.jpg|[[Humana Building]] in [[Louisville, Kentucky]] (1982)
File:Modern Building in Central Antwerp - panoramio.jpg|Radisson Blu Astrid Hotel in [[Antwerp]] (1993)
File:Denver Central Library. View from south.jpg|[[Denver Central Library]] by [[Michael Graves]] (1995)
International Finance Corporation Building.JPG|[[International Finance Corporation|IFC]] building in [[Washington, D.C.]] (1996)
De Castaliatorens (de Puntmutsen).jpg|Castalia building in [[The Hague]] (1998)
PPTO'ReillyTheater.jpg|[[O'Reilly Theater]] in [[Pittsburgh]] (1999)
</gallery>
[[Michael Graves]] (1934–2015) designed two of the most prominent buildings in the postmodern style, the [[Portland Building]] and the [[Denver Public Library]]. He later followed up his landmark buildings by designing large, low-cost retail stores for chains such as [[Target Corporation|Target]] and [[J.C. Penney]] in the United States, which had a major influence on the design of retail stores in city centers and shopping malls. In his early career, he, along with the [[Peter Eisenman]], [[Charles Gwathmey]], [[John Hejduk]] and [[Richard Meier]], was considered one of the [[New York Five]], a group of advocates of pure [[modern architecture]], but in 1982 he turned toward postmodernism with the [[Portland Building]], one of the first major structures in the style. The building has since been added to the [[National Register of Historic Places]].{{Sfn|Taschen|2016|page=638}}

===Charles Moore===
<gallery mode="packed" heights="200px">
Пьяцца д'Италия (1975-1980, Новый Орлеан, арх. Чарльз Мур.jpg|[[Piazza d'Italia, New Orleans|Piazza d'Italia]] in [[New Orleans]], by [[Charles Moore (architect)|Charles Moore]], completed 1978
Haas School of Business central courtyard.JPG|[[Haas School of Business]] at the [[University of California, Berkeley]] by [[Charles Moore (architect)|Charles Moore]] (1992)
NDHU 2020.jpg|[[National Dong Hwa University]] by [[Charles Moore (architect)|Charles Moore]] (1992)
Beverly Hills Civic Center-2835022783.jpg|[[Beverly Hills Civic Center]] by [[Charles Moore (architect)|Charles Moore]] (1990)
</gallery>
The most famous work of architect [[Charles Moore (architect)|Charles Moore]] (1925–1993) is the [[Piazza d'Italia, New Orleans|Piazza d'Italia]] in [[New Orleans]] (1978), a public square composed of an exuberant collection of pieces of famous Italian Renaissance architecture. Drawing upon the Spanish Revival architecture of the city hall, Moore designed the [[Beverly Hills Civic Center]] in a mixture of Spanish Revival, Art Deco and postmodern styles. It includes courtyards, colonnades, promenades, and buildings, with both open and semi-enclosed spaces, stairways and balconies.<ref>Allen John Scott, Edward W. Soja, ''The City: Los Angeles and Urban Theory at the End of the Twentieth Century'', Los Angeles,</ref>

The [[Haas School of Business]] at the [[University of California, Berkeley]] blends in with both the neo-Renaissance architecture of the Berkeley campus and with picturesque early 20th century wooden residential architecture in the neighboring Berkeley Hills.

===Philip Johnson===
<gallery mode="packed" heights="200px">
File:Sony Building by David Shankbone crop.jpg|[[550 Madison Avenue]] (Formerly AT&T Building) in Manhattan, New York City, by [[Philip Johnson]] (1982)
File:Building4 houston.jpg|[[Bank of America Center (Houston)|Bank of America Center]] in Houston, Texas by [[Philip Johnson]] (1983)
File:PPG Place in Pittsburgh in 2016.jpg|[[PPG Place]], Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania by [[Philip Johnson]] (1979–1984)
File:Five Hundred Boylston portrait 2.jpg|[[500 Boylston Street]] building in Boston, Massachusetts, by [[Philip Johnson]] (1989)
File:AegonCtr2033.JPG|[[400 West Market]] in Louisville, Kentucky by Philip Johnson (1993)
File:Da-monsta-philip-johnson-glass-house.jpg|Glass house Pavilion for the [[Glass House]] in New Canaan, Connecticut (1995)
</gallery>
[[Philip Johnson]] (1906–2005) began his career as a pure modernist. In 1935, he co-authored the famous catalog of the Museum of Modern Art exposition on the International Style, and studied with [[Walter Gropius]] and [[Marcel Breuer]] at Harvard. His [[Glass House]] in New Canaan, Connecticut (1949), inspired by a similar house by [[Ludwig Mies van der Rohe]] became an icon of the modernist movement. He worked with Mies on another iconic modernist project, the [[Seagrams Building]] in New York City. However, in the 1950s, he began to include certain playful and mannerist forms into his buildings, such as the Synagogue of Port Chester (1954–1956), with a vaulted plaster ceiling and narrow colored windows, and the Art Gallery of the University of Nebraska (1963). However, his major buildings in the 1970, such as IDS Center in Minneapolis (1973) and Pennzoil Place in Houston (1970–1976), were massive, sober, and entirely modernist.{{Sfn|Taschen|2016|pages=314-317}}

With the AT&T Building (now named [[550 Madison Avenue]]) (1978–1982), Johnson turned dramatically toward postmodernism. The building's most prominent feature is a purely decorative top modeled after a piece of [[Chippendale furniture]], and it has other more subtle references to historical architecture. His intention was to make the building stand out as a corporate symbol among the modernist skyscrapers around it in Manhattan, and he succeeded; it became the best-known of all postmodern buildings. Soon afterward he completed another postmodern project, [[PPG Place]] in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania (1979–1984), a complex of six glass buildings for the Pittsburgh Plate Glass Company. These buildings have neo-gothic features, including 231 glass spires, the largest of which is {{convert|82|ft|m}} high.{{Sfn|Taschen|2016|page=317}}

In 1995, he constructed a postmodern gatehouse pavilion for his residence, [[Glass House]]. The gatehouse, called "Da Monstra", is 23 feet high, made of [[Shotcrete#Shotcrete vs. gunite|gunite]], or concrete shot from a hose, colored gray and red. It is a piece of sculptural architecture with no right angles and very few straight lines, a predecessor of the sculptural [[contemporary architecture]] of the 21st century.{{Sfn|Taschen|2016|page=317}}

===Frank Gehry===
<gallery mode="packed" heights="200px">
File:Gehry House - Image02.jpg|[[Frank Gehry|Gehry residence]] in [[Santa Monica]] (1978)
File:Venice Beach House.jpg|Norton Beach House, [[Venice, California]] (1983)
File:Case danzanti.jpg|[[Dancing House]] in [[Prague]] (1996)
File:Bilbao - Guggenheim 46.jpg|[[Guggenheim Bilbao]], [[Bilbao]], Spain (1997)
</gallery>
[[Frank Gehry]] (born 1929) was a major figure in postmodernist architecture, and is one of the most prominent figures in [[contemporary architecture]]. After studying at the [[University of Southern California]] in Los Angeles and then the [[Harvard Graduate School of Design]], he opened his own office in Los Angeles in 1962. Beginning in the 1970s, he began using prefabricated industrial materials to construct unusual forms on private houses in Los Angeles, including, in 1978, his own house in Santa Monica. He broke their traditional design giving them an unfinished and unstable look. His Schnabel House in Los Angeles (1986–1989) was broken into individual structures, with a different structure for every room. His Norton Residence in Venice, California (1983) built for a writer and former lifeguard, had a workroom modeled after a lifeguard tower overlooking the Santa Monica beach. In his early buildings, different parts of the buildings were often different bright colors. In the 1980s he began to receive major commissions, including the [[Loyola Law School]] (1978–1984), and the [[California Aerospace Museum]] (1982–1984), then international commissions in the Netherlands and Czech Republic. His "Dancing House" in Prague (1996), constructed with an undulating façade of plaques of concrete; parts of the walls were composed of glass, which revealed the concrete pillars underneath. His most prominent project was the [[Guggenheim Bilbao]] museum (1991–1997), clad in undulating skins of titanium, a material which until then was used mainly in building aircraft, which changed color depending upon the light. Gehry was often described as a proponent of [[deconstructivism]], but he refused to accept that or any other label for his work.{{Sfn|Taschen|2016|pages=220–223}}

===César Pelli===
<gallery mode="packed" heights="200">
File:One World Financial Center in 2014.jpg|[[200 Liberty Street]], formerly One World Financial Center in [[New York City]] (1986)
File:Two World Financial Center.jpg|[[225 Liberty Street]], formerly Two World Financial Center in New York City (1987)
File:3 World Financial Center.jpg|[[200 Vesey Street]], formerly Three World Financial Center in New York City (1985)
File:Four World Financial Center.jpg|[[250 Vesey Street]], formerly Four World Financial Center in New York City (1986)
File:London MMB S6 Canary Wharf.jpg|[[One Canada Square]] in [[Canary Wharf]], [[London]], (1991)
File:Kuala Lumpur - panoramio (18).jpg|The [[Petronas Towers]] in [[Kuala Lumpur]], Malaysia (1996)
Zurichtoren, Den Haag (33706618614).jpg|[[Zurich Insurance Group|Zurich]] Tower, [[The Hague]] (1999)
</gallery>
[[César Pelli]] (October 12, 1926 – July 19, 2019) was an Argentine architect who designed some of the [[world's tallest buildings]] and other major urban landmarks.<ref name="Patriot Harbor Lines 2016">"Master of the Schuylkill – Architect César Pelli". Patriot Harbor Lines. Retrieved September 12, 2016.</ref> Two of his most notable projects are the [[Petronas Towers]] in [[Kuala Lumpur]]<ref>"A Conversation with Cesar Pelli". New Haven Living. July 2013. Retrieved September 12, 2016.</ref> and the [[Brookfield Place (New York City)|World Financial Center]] in New York City.<ref name="Cesar Pelli 2016">"Cesar Pelli: Connections". National Building Museum. Retrieved September 12, 2016.</ref> The [[American Institute of Architects]] named him one of the ten most influential living American architects in 1991 and awarded him the [[AIA Gold Medal]] in 1995.<ref name="Patriot Harbor Lines 2016"/><ref name="Benjamin Forgey 2013">Benjamin Forgey. "COMSAT Alumni & Retirees Association". COMARA.org. Retrieved April 21, 2013.</ref> In 2008, the [[Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat]] presented him with [[CTBUH Skyscraper Award|The Lynn S. Beedle Lifetime Achievement Award]].<ref>"2008 Lynn S. Beedle Award Winner". Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat. Retrieved May 17, 2012.</ref><ref>"César Pelli: 'I avoided a style{{'"}}. ''La Gaceta''. June 10, 2012. Retrieved September 12, 2016.</ref>{{efn|[[César Pelli|Pelli]] studied architecture at the [[National University of Tucumán|Universidad Nacional de Tucumán]].<ref>Marcelo Gardinetti (June 2012). "César Pelli Tucuman". ''Technne''. Retrieved September 12, 2016.</ref><ref>Charles E. Gagit Jr. (June 1, 2015). ''The Groundbreakers: Architects in American History Their Places and Times''. Transaction Publishers.</ref> He graduated in 1949, after which he designed low-cost housing projects.<ref name=murphy>{{cite news |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/obituaries/cesar-pelli-celebrated-architect-of-sweep-and-harmony-dies-at-92/2019/07/19/cfe56d5c-aa95-11e9-86dd-d7f0e60391e9_story.html |title=César Pelli, celebrated architect of sweep and harmony, dies at 92 |first=Brian |last=Murphy|date=July 19, 2019 |newspaper=The Washington Post}}</ref> In 1952, he attended the [[University of Illinois School of Architecture]] in the United States for advanced study in architecture, and received his Master of Science in Architecture degree in 1954.<ref name="Cesar Pelli 2016">"Cesar Pelli: Connections". National Building Museum. Retrieved September 12, 2016.</ref><ref>"Cesar Pelli gives convocation address at University of Illinois". Pelli Clarke Pelli Architects. May 17, 2014. Retrieved September 12, 2016.</ref>}} In 1977, Pelli was selected to be the dean of the [[Yale School of Architecture]] in [[New Haven, Connecticut]], and served in that post until 1984.<ref name="Charles E. Gagit 2015">Charles E. Gagit, Jr. (June 1, 2015). The Groundbreakers: Architects in American History Their Places and Times. Transaction Publishers.</ref> Shortly after Pelli arrived at Yale, he won the commission to design the expansion and renovation of the [[Museum of Modern Art]] in New York, which resulted in the establishment of his own firm, Cesar Pelli & Associates.<ref>Nicholas Von Hoffman (February 28, 2005). "Cesar Pelli Architecture and Design". Architectural Digest. Retrieved September 12, 2016.</ref><ref name="Charles E. Gagit 2015"/><ref>Paola Singer (May 10, 2016). "César Pelli and His Nonchalant Architecture". Surface Magazine. Retrieved September 12, 2016.</ref> The museum's expansion/renovation and the Museum of Modern Art Residential Tower were completed 1984; the World Financial Center in New York, which includes the grand public space of the Winter Garden, was completed in 1988.<ref name="Cesar Pelli 2016">"Cesar Pelli: Connections". National Building Museum. Retrieved September 12, 2016.</ref> Among other significant projects during this period are the Crile Clinic Building in Cleveland, Ohio, completed 1984; Herring Hall at Rice University in Houston, Texas (also completed 1984); completion in 1988 of the Green Building at the Pacific Design Center in West Hollywood, California; and the construction of the Wells Fargo Center in Minneapolis, Minnesota, in 1989.<ref name="Michael J. Crosbie 1993">Michael J. Crosbie. "Introduction: A Conversation with Cesar Pelli." Cesar Pelli: Selected and Current Works. Mulgrave: Images Publishing Group, 1993.</ref>

Pelli was named one of the ten most influential living American Architects by the [[American Institute of Architects]] in 1991. In 1995, he was awarded the American Institute of Architects Gold Medal.<ref name="Patriot Harbor Lines 2016"/><ref name="Benjamin Forgey 2013"/>  In May 2004, Pelli was awarded an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree from the [[University of Minnesota Duluth]] where he designed Weber Music Hall.<ref>"UMD to honor Weber Music Hall architect at commencement May 13". Budgeteer News. April 30, 2004. Retrieved September 12, 2016.</ref> In 2005, Pelli was honored with the Connecticut Architecture Foundation's Distinguished Leadership Award.<ref>Connecticut Architecture Foundation [http://aiact.org/connecticut-architecure-foundation/distinguished-leadership-award/] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171009214758/http://aiact.org/connecticut-architecure-foundation/distinguished-leadership-award/|date=October 9, 2017}}. Retrieved November 30, 2016.</ref>

Buildings designed by Pelli during this period are marked by further experimentation with a variety of materials (most prominently [[stainless steel]]) and his evolution of the skyscraper. [[One Canada Square]] at Canary Wharf in London (opened in 1991); Plaza Tower in Costa Mesa, California (completed 1991); and the NTT Headquarters in Tokyo (finished 1995) were preludes to a landmark project that Pelli designed for Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.<ref name="Michael J. Crosbie 1993"/> The [[Petronas Towers]] were completed in 1997, sheathed in stainless steel and reflecting Islamic design motifs.<ref name="Michael J. Crosbie 2013">Michael J. Crosbie. Pelli Clarke Pelli Architects. Basel: Birkhäuser Verlag, 2013.</ref> The dual towers were the world's tallest buildings until 2004.<ref>"Petronas Twin Towers". Culture Now. Retrieved September 12, 2016.</ref> That year, Pelli received the [[Aga Khan Award for Architecture]] for the design of the Petronas Towers<ref>Linda Hales (November 27, 2004). "The Spirit Behind the Aga Khan Awards". ''Washington Post''. Retrieved September 12, 2016.</ref>  Pelli's design for the National Museum of Art in [[Osaka]], Japan, was completed 2005, the same year that Pelli's firm changed its name to Pelli Clarke Pelli Architects to reflect the growing roles of senior principals Fred W. Clarke and Pelli's son Rafael.<ref name="Michael J. Crosbie 2013" />

==Postmodernism in Europe==
<gallery mode="packed" heights="200">
File:Neue Staatsgalerie Stuttgart.jpg|The [[Neue Staatsgalerie]] in [[Stuttgart]], Germany, by [[James Stirling (architect)|James Stirling]] (1977–1983)
File:Hanse Viertel - panoramio (1).jpg|Hanse-Viertel, a store gallery in [[Hamburg]], Northern Germany, by [[Gerkan, Marg and Partners]] (1980)
File:Stuttgart HochschuleFuerMusikUndDarstellendeKunst.jpg|[[State University of Music and Performing Arts Stuttgart|State University of Music and Performing Arts]] in Stuttgart, Germany by [[James Stirling (architect)|James Stirling]] (1980s)
File:Amoreiras Shopping Center (4841844895).jpg|Amoreiras towers in [[Lisbon]], by [[Tomás Taveira]] (1985)
File:1 Poultry.jpg|[[No 1 Poultry]], an office building and shops in London, by [[James Stirling (architect)|James Stirling]] (completed 1997)
File:National Gallery London Sainsbury Wing 2006-04-17.jpg|Sainsbury Wing of the [[National Gallery, London|National Gallery]] in [[London]] by Robert Venturi (1991)
File:01-01-2014 - Messeturm - trade fair tower - Frankfurt- Germany - 04.jpg|[[Messeturm]] in [[Frankfurt am Main|Frankfurt]], Germany, by [[Helmut Jahn]], (completed 1991)
File:Messeturm, Frankfurt, Southwest detail view 20170325 1.jpg|Top of the Messeturm in Frankfurt
File:SIS building (26327425611).jpg|The [[SIS Building]] in [[London]], UK, by [[Terry Farrell (architect)|Terry Farrell]] (1994)
File:Groningen, Groninger museum foto5 2012-0901 09.27.jpg|The [[Groninger Museum]], Netherlands, by [[Alessandro Mendini]]  et al., (completed 1994)
File:Rotterdam - Schouwburgplein.jpg|Schouwburgplein in [[Rotterdam]], Netherlands, by Adriaan Geuze (1996). Revitalization of a square that was once empty and dominated by concrete.<ref>Postmodern landscape architecture: theoretical, compositional characteristics and design elements with the analysis of 25 projects. Anna EPLÉNYI, Brigitta OLÁH-CHRISTIAN 2015</ref>
Muzeum Manggha fot. J. Nowostawska-Gyalókay (190) (29052169906).jpg|[[Manggha|Manggha Museum of Japanese Art and Technology]] in [[Kraków]], Poland, by [[Arata Isozaki]] and Krzysztof Ingarden (1994)
File:Bonnefantenmuseum.jpg|The [[Bonnefanten Museum]] in [[Maastricht]], the Netherlands by [[Aldo Rossi]] (1995)
File:Montpellier, France - panoramio (210).jpg|[[Antigone, Montpellier]], France, by [[Ricardo Bofill]], completed 1992
File:Paris Neue Russisch-Orthodoxe Kathedrale 2.jpg|[[Holy Trinity Cathedral and the Russian Orthodox Spiritual and Cultural Center|Holy Trinity Cathedral and the Russian Orthodox Spiritual and Cultural Centre]], Paris (2016) by [[Jean-Michel Wilmotte]]<ref>{{cite book|last1=Hall|first1=William|title=Stone|date=2019|publisher=Phaidon|isbn=978-0-7148-7925-3|page=172|url=|language=en}}</ref>
Parlament Europejski w Brukseli - European Parliament, Brussels.jpg|[[European Parliament]] (Paul Henri Spaak Building) in Brussels, within the [[Espace Léopold|Espace Leopold]] complex (Atelier d'architecture de Genval, 1995).
</gallery>

While postmodernism was best known as an American style, notable examples also appeared in Europe. In 1991 Robert Venturi completed the Sainsbury Wing of the [[National Gallery, London|National Gallery]] in London, which was modern but harmonized with the neoclassical architecture in and around [[Trafalgar Square]]. The German-born architect [[Helmut Jahn]] (1940–2021) constructed the [[Messeturm]] skyscraper in Frankfurt, Germany, a skyscraper adorned with the pointed spire of a medieval tower.{{Sfn|De Bure|2015|page=48}}

One of the early postmodernist architects in Europe was [[James Stirling (architect)|James Stirling]] (1926–1992). He was a first critic of modernist architecture, blaming modernism for the destruction of British cities in the years after World War II. He designed colorful public housing projects in the postmodern style, as well as the [[Neue Staatsgalerie]] in [[Stuttgart]], Germany (1977–1983) and the [[Kammertheater]] in Stuttgart (1977–1982), as well as the [[Arthur M. Sackler Museum]] at Harvard University in the United States.{{Sfn|Taschen|2016|page=604)}}

One of the most visible examples of the postmodern style in Europe is the [[SIS Building]] in London by [[Terry Farrell (architect)|Terry Farrell]] (1994). The building, next to the Thames, is the headquarters of the British [[Secret Intelligence Service]]. In 1992, [[Deyan Sudjic]] described it in ''[[The Guardian]]'' as an "epitaph for the 'architecture of the eighties. ... It's a design which combines high seriousness in its classical composition with a possible unwitting sense of humour. The building could be interpreted equally plausibly as a Mayan temple or a piece of clanking art deco machinery'.<ref>''The Guardian'', London, June 19, 1992</ref>

The Belgian architectural firm Atelier d'architecture de Genval is renowned for its pioneering work in postmodern architecture in Belgium, particularly in Brussels with major realizations such as the [[Espace Léopold|Espace Leopold]] complex which includes the [[European Parliament]], and other like the [[Euroclear]] Building, recalling for most of them the American postmodernist style.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Euroclear – Inventaire du patrimoine architectural |url=https://monument.heritage.brussels/fr/Saint-Josse-ten-Noode/Boulevard_Roi_Albert_II/1/10875 |access-date=2024-05-05 |website=monument.heritage.brussels |language=fr}}</ref>

The Italian architect [[Aldo Rossi]] (1931–1997) was known for his postmodern works in Europe, the [[Bonnefanten Museum]] in [[Maastricht]], the [[Netherlands]], completed in 1995. Rossi was the first Italian to win the most prestigious award in architecture, the [[Pritzker Prize]], in 1990. He was noted for combining rigorous and pure forms with evocative and symbolic elements taken from classical architecture.{{Sfn|Prima|2006|page=353}}

The Spanish architect [[Ricardo Bofill]] (born 1939) is also known for his early postmodern works, including a residential complex in the form of a castle with red walls at [[Calp]] on the coast of Spain (1973) and the social housing complex [[Les Espaces d'Abraxas]] (1983) in [[Noisy-le-Grand]], France.

The works of Austrian architect [[Friedensreich Hundertwasser]] (1928–2000) are occasionally considered a special expression of postmodern architecture.

==Postmodernism in Japan==
<gallery mode="packed" heights="200">
File:201121 The Museum for wood culture Kami Hyogo pref Japan02s3.jpg|The Museum of Wood Culture by [[Tadao Ando]] (1995)
File:150505 Benesse House Park Naoshima Kagawa pref Japan02n.jpg|Bennesse House in Naoshima, Kagawa, Japan by [[Tadao Ando]]
File:水戸芸術館 - panoramio (1).jpg|[[Art Tower Mito|Art Tower]] in [[Mito, Ibaraki]] by [[Isozaki Arata]] (1986–1990)
File:Kyoto Concert Hall02n3200.jpg|[[Kyoto Concert Hall]] in Kyoto, Japan by [[Isozaki Arata]] (1995)
File:Kyoto Station November 2016 -02.jpg|Kyoto Train Station in Kyoto by [[Hiroshi Hara (architect)|Hiroshi Hara]] (1991–1997)
</gallery>
The Japanese architects [[Tadao Ando]] (born 1941) and [[Isozaki Arata]] (1931–2022) introduced the ideas of the postmodern movement to Japan. Before opening his studio in Osaka in 1969, Ando traveled widely in North America, Africa and Europe, absorbing European and American styles, and had no formal architectural education, though he taught later at Yale University (1987), Columbia University (1988) and [[Harvard University]] (1990). Most of his buildings were constructed of raw concrete in cubic forms, but had wide openings which brought in light and views of the nature outside. Beginning in the 1990s, he began using wood as a building material, and introduced elements of traditional Japanese architecture, particularly in his design of the Museum of Wood Culture (1995). His Bennesse House in Naoshima, Kagama, has elements of classic Japanese architecture and a plan which subtly integrates the house into the natural landscape, He won the [[Pritzker Prize]], the most prestigious award in architecture, in 1995.{{Sfn|Taschen|2016|pages=24–27}}

[[Isozaki Arata]] worked two years in the studio of [[Kenzo Tange]] (1913–2005), before opening his own firm in Tokyo in 1963. His Museum of Contemporary Art in Nagi artfully combined wood, stone and metal, and joined three geometric forms, a cylinder, a half-cylinder and an extended block, to present three different artists in different settings. His [[Art Tower Mito|Art Tower]] in [[Mito, Ibaraki|Mito]], Japan (1986–1990) featured a postmodernist Titanium and Stainless Steel tower that rotated upon its own axis. In addition to museums and cultural centers in Japan, he designed the [[Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles]] (MOCA), (1981–1986), and the [[COSI Columbus]] science museum and research center in Columbus, Ohio.{{Sfn|Taschen|2016|pages=304–305}}

==Concert halls – Sydney Opera House and the Berlin Philharmonic==
<gallery mode="packed" heights="200px">
File:Sydney Australia. (21339175489).jpg|The [[Sydney Opera House]] by [[Jørn Utzon]] (1957–1973)
File:Philharmonie 1a.jpg|Façade of the [[Berliner Philharmonie]] by [[Hans Scharoun]] (1963)
File:Berliner Philharmoniker.jpg|"Vineyard Style"; The orchestra surrounded by the audience in the [[Berlin Philharmonic]]
</gallery>

The [[Sydney Opera House]] in [[Sydney]], Australia, by the Danish architect [[Jørn Utzon]] (1918–2008), is one of the most recognizable of all works of postwar architecture, and spans the transition from modernism to postmodernism. Construction began in 1957, but it was not completed until 1973 due to difficult engineering problems and growing costs. The giant shells of concrete soar over the platforms which form the roof of the hall itself. The architect resigned before the structure was completed, and the interior was designed largely after he left the project. The influence of the Sydney Opera House, can be seen in later concert halls with soaring roofs made of undulating stainless steel.{{Sfn|Taschen|2016|page=634}}

One of the most influential buildings of the postmodern period was the [[Berlin Philharmonic]], designed by [[Hans Scharoun]] (1893–1972) and completed in 1963. The exterior, with its sloping roofs and glided façade, was a distinct break from the earlier, more austere modernist concert halls. The real revolution was inside, where [[Hans Scharoun|Scharoun]] placed the orchestra in the center, with the audience seated on terraces around it. He described it this way: "The form given to the hall is inspired by a landscape; In the center is a valley, at the bottom of which is found the orchestra. Around it on all sides rise the terraces, like vineyards. Corresponding to an earthly landscape, the ceiling above appears like a sky." Following his description, future concert halls, such as the [[Walt Disney Concert Hall]] by [[Frank Gehry]] in Los Angeles, and the [[Philharmonie de Paris]] of [[Jean Nouvel]] (2015) used the term "vineyard style" and placed the orchestra in the center, instead of on a stage at the end of the hall.{{Sfn|De Bure|2015|page=160}}

==Characteristics==
<gallery mode="packed" heights="160px">

File:PiazzaDItalia1990.jpg|'Camp' – [[Piazza d'Italia (New Orleans)|Piazza d'Italia]], [[New Orleans]], US, by [[Charles Moore (architect)|Charles Moore]] (1978–1979)<ref>{{cite book|last1=Hugh Honour|first1=John Fleming|title=A World History of Art – Revised Seventh Edition|date=2009|publisher=Laurence King Publishing|isbn=978-1-85669-584-8|page=867|url=|language=en}}</ref>

File:Stuttgart - Neue Staatsgalerie (35736927202).jpg|Contradiction (in this case, the mix between monumental columns, [[bossage]]s and other Classical elements, and curving forms with High-Tech glazing and highly saturated colours) – [[Neue Staatsgalerie]], [[Stuttgart]], Germany, by [[James Stirling (architect)|James Stirling]] (1984)<ref>{{cite book|last1=Hall|first1=William|title=Stone|date=2019|publisher=Phaidon|isbn=978-0-7148-7925-3|page=79|url=|language=en}}</ref>

File:No 1 Poultry (1398376326) (cropped).jpg|Stripes on facades – [[No 1 Poultry]], London, by [[James Stirling (architect)|James Stirling]] (designed in 1988 but built in 1997)<ref>{{cite book|last1=Gura|first1=Judith|title=Postmodern Design Complete|date=2017|publisher=Thames & Hudson|isbn=978-0-500-51914-1|page=141|url=|language=en}}</ref>

File:Downtown Disney 05.JPG|Quotations (uses of elements and ornaments taken from pre-Modernist styles, often simplified) – [[Walt Disney World Dolphin|Dolphin Hotel]], [[Orlando, Florida]], US, with tops that are reminiscent of [[urn]]s that decorate corners, and roof railings of Classical buildings and furniture, by [[Michael Graves]] (1989)<ref>{{cite book|last1=Hopkins|first1=Owen|title=Postmodern Architecture – Less is a Bore|date=2020|publisher=Phaidon|isbn=978-0-7148-7812-6|page=198|url=|language=en}}</ref>

File:Tanzendes Haus 2023.jpg|Asymmetry – [[Dancing House]], [[Prague]], the [[Czech Republic]], by [[Vlado Milunić]] and [[Frank Gehry]] (1992-1996)

File:20151009 Groninger Museum.jpg|Complex/ambiguous structure – [[Groninger Museum]], [[Groningen]], the [[Netherlands]], by [[Alessandro Mendini]] with [[Michele de Lucci]], [[Philippe Starck]] and [[Coop Himmelb(l)au]] (1994){{sfn|Hopkins|2014|p=73}}

Cambridge University Judge Business School interior.jpg|[[Polychromy]] and highly saturated colours – Main hall of the [[Cambridge Judge Business School|Judge Business School]], [[University of Cambridge]], England, by John Outram (1995)<ref>{{cite book|last1=Gura|first1=Judith|title=Postmodern Design Complete|date=2017|publisher=Thames & Hudson|isbn=978-0-500-51914-1|page=120|url=|language=en}}</ref>

file:Newark-ohio-longaberger-headquarters-front.jpg|Irony – Headquarter of [[The Longaberger Company]], [[Newark, Ohio]], US, by [[NBBJ]] (1997)<ref>{{cite book|last1=Hopkins|first1=Owen|title=Postmodern Architecture – Less is a Bore|date=2020|publisher=Phaidon|isbn=978-0-7148-7812-6|page=102|url=|language=en}}</ref>
</gallery>

===Complexity and contradiction===
Postmodern architecture first emerged as a reaction against the doctrines of [[modern architecture]], as expressed by modernist architects including [[Le Corbusier]] and [[Ludwig Mies van der Rohe]]. In place of the modernist doctrines of simplicity as expressed by Mies in his famous "less is more;" and functionality, "form follows function" and the doctrine of Le Corbusier that "a house is a machine to live in," postmodernism, in the words Robert Venturi, offered '''complexity''' and '''contradiction'''. Postmodern buildings had curved forms, decorative elements, asymmetry, bright colours, and features often borrowed from earlier periods. Colours and textures were unrelated to the structure or function of the building. Rejecting the "puritanism" of modernism, it called for a return to ornament, and an accumulation of citations and collages borrowed from past styles. It borrowed freely from classical architecture, [[rococo]], [[neoclassical architecture]], the [[Vienna Secession]], the British [[Arts and Crafts movement]], the German [[Jugendstil]].{{Sfn|De Bure|2015|pages 47–49}}

Postmodern buildings often combined astonishing new forms and features with seemingly contradictory elements of classicism. [[James Stirling (architect)|James Stirling]] the architect of the [[Neue Staatsgalerie]] in Stuttgart, Germany (1984), described the style as "representation and abstraction, monumental and informal, traditional and high-tech."{{Sfn|Hopkins|2014|page=202}}

===Fragmentation===
Postmodern architecture often breaks large buildings into several different structures and forms, sometimes representing different functions of those parts of the building. With the use of different materials and styles, a single building can appear like a small town or village. An example is the [[Abteiberg Museum]] by [[Hans Hollein]] in Mönchengladbach (1972–1974).{{Sfn|Hopkins|2014|pages=200–201}}

===Asymmetric and oblique forms===
Asymmetric forms are one of the trademarks of postmodernism. In 1968, the French architect [[Claude Parent]] and philosopher [[Paul Virilio]] designed the church Saint-Bernadette-du-Banlay in [[Nevers]], France, in the form of a massive block of concrete leaning to one side. Describing the form, they wrote: "a diagonal line on a white page can be a hill, or a mountain, or slope, an ascent, or a descent." Parent's buildings were inspired in part by concrete German blockhouses he discovered on the French coast which had slid down the cliffs, but were perfectly intact, with leaning walls and sloping floors. Postmodernist compositions are rarely symmetric, balanced and orderly. Oblique buildings which tilt, lean, and seem about to fall over are common.{{Sfn|De Bure|2015|page=161}}

===Polychromy===
Color is an important element in many postmodern buildings; to give the façades variety and personality, colored glass is sometimes used, or ceramic tiles, or stone. The buildings of Mexican architect [[Luis Barragán]] offer bright sunlight color  that give life to the forms.

===Humor and "camp"===
Humor is a particular feature of many postmodern buildings, particularly in the United States. An example is the [[Binoculars Building]] in the Venice neighborhood of Los Angeles, designed by [[Frank Gehry]] in collaboration with the sculptor [[Claes Oldenburg]] (1991–2001). The gateway of the building is in the form of an enormous pair of binoculars; cars enter the garage passing under the binoculars. [[Camp (style)|"Camp" humor]] was popular during the postmodern period; it was an ironic humor based on the premise that something could appear so bad (such as a building that appeared about to collapse) that it was good. In 1964, American critic [[Susan Sontag]] defined camp as a style which put its accent on the texture, the surface, and style to the detriment of the content, which adored exaggeration, and things which were not what they seemed. Postmodern architecture sometimes used the same sense of theatricality, sense of the absurd and exaggeration of forms.{{Sfn|Hopkins|2014|page=203}}

The aims of postmodernism, which include solving the problems of Modernism, communicating meanings with ambiguity, and sensitivity for the building's context, are surprisingly unified for a period of buildings designed by architects who largely never collaborated with each other. These aims do, however, leave room for diverse implementations as can be illustrated by the variety of buildings created during the movement.

==Theories of postmodern architecture==
{{Unreferenced section|date=July 2020}}
The characteristics of postmodernism allow its aim to be expressed in diverse ways. These characteristics include the use of [[Sculpture|sculptural forms]], ornaments, [[anthropomorphism]] and materials which perform ''[[trompe-l'œil]]''. 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]].

The sculptural forms, not necessarily [[organic (model)|organic]], were created with much ardor. These can be seen in [[Hans Hollein]]'s [[Abteiberg Museum]] (1972–1982). The building is made up of several building units, all very different. Each building's forms are nothing like the conforming rigid ones of [[Modernism]]. These forms are sculptural and are somewhat playful. These forms are not reduced to an absolute minimum; they are built and shaped for their own sake. The building units all fit together in a very organic way, which enhances the effect of the forms.

After many years of neglect, ornament returned. [[Frank Gehry]]'s Venice Beach house, built in 1986, is littered with small ornamental details that would have been considered excessive and needless in Modernism. The Venice Beach House has an assembly of circular logs which exist mostly for decoration. The logs on top do have a minor purpose of holding up the window covers. However, the mere fact that they could have been replaced with a practically invisible nail, makes their exaggerated existence largely ornamental. The ornament in [[Michael Graves]]' [[Portland Building|Portland Municipal Services Building ("Portland Building")]] (1980) is even more prominent. The two obtruding triangular forms are largely ornamental. They exist for aesthetic or their own purpose.{{Citation needed|date=June 2009}}

[[Postmodernism]], with its sensitivity to the building's context, did not exclude the needs of humans from the building. [[Carlo Scarpa]]'s [[Brion Cemetery]] (1970–1972) exemplifies this. The human requirements of a cemetery is that it possesses a solemn nature, yet it must not cause the visitor to become depressed. Scarpa's cemetery achieves the solemn mood with the dull gray colors of the walls and neatly defined forms, but the bright green grass prevents this from being too overwhelming.{{citation needed|date=June 2009}}

Postmodern buildings sometimes utilize ''trompe-l'œil'', creating the [[illusion]] of space or depths where none actually exist, as has been done by painters since the [[Roman art|Romans]]. The Portland Building (1980) has pillars represented on the side of the building that to some extent appear to be real, yet they are not.{{Citation needed|date=June 2009}}

The [[Hood Museum of Art]] (1981–1983) has a typical asymmetrical façade which was at the time prevalent throughout postmodern buildings.{{Citation needed|date=June 2009}}

Robert Venturi's [[Vanna Venturi House]] (1962–1964) illustrates the postmodernist aim of communicating a meaning and the characteristic of symbolism. The façade is, according to Venturi, a symbolic picture of a house, looking back to the 18th century. This is partly achieved through the use of symmetry and the arch over the entrance.{{Citation needed|date=June 2009}}

Perhaps the best example of irony in postmodern buildings is [[Charles Willard Moore|Charles Moore]]'s [[Piazza d'Italia, New Orleans|Piazza d'Italia]] (1978). Moore quotes (architecturally) elements of [[Italian Renaissance]] and [[Roman architecture|Roman Antiquity]]. However, he does so with a twist. The irony comes when it is noted that the pillars are covered with steel. It is also paradoxical in the way he quotes Italian antiquity far away from the original in [[New Orleans]].<ref>Heinrich Klotz, ''The History of Postmodern Architecture'', MIT Press, Cambridge Massachusetts, 1988</ref>

''Double coding'' meant the buildings convey many meanings simultaneously. The [[Sony Building (New York)|Sony Building]] in New York provides one example. The building is a tall [[skyscraper]] which brings with it connotations of very modern technology. However, the top contradicts this. The top section conveys elements of [[classical antiquity]]. This double coding is a prevalent trait of postmodernism.{{Citation needed|date=June 2009}}

The characteristics of postmodernism were rather unified given their diverse appearances. The most notable among their characteristics is their playfully extravagant forms and the humour of the meanings the buildings conveyed.{{Citation needed|date=June 2009}}
<!-- Deleted image removed: [[File:Denver art museum.jpg|thumb|175px|The The Post-Modernist Denver Art Museum's Hamilton wing has such Drastically slanted walls that many visitors report symptoms of Vertigo inside the structure.]] -->

Postmodern architecture as an international style – the first examples of which are generally cited as being from the 1950s – but did not become a movement until the late 1970s<ref>{{cite web |url=http://jan.ucc.nau.edu/~twp/architecture/postmoderncom/ |title=Postmodern.com architecture website |via=jan.ucc.nau.edu |editor-last=Pardis |editor-first=Tom W. |publisher=Northern Arizona University |place=Flagstaff, AZ |access-date=2009-09-17 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090708095707/http://jan.ucc.nau.edu/~twp/architecture/postmoderncom/ |archive-date=2009-07-08}}<br/>site moved to {{cite web |url=https://architecturestyles.org/ |title=American Architectural Styles: An Introduction |editor-first=Tom W. |editor-last=Paradis |access-date=2020-06-03}}</ref> and continues to influence present-day architecture. Postmodernity in architecture is said to be heralded by the return of "wit, ornament and reference" to architecture in response to the formalism of the [[International style (architecture)|International Style]] of modernism. As with many cultural movements, some of postmodernism's most pronounced and visible ideas can be seen in architecture. The [[Functionalism (architecture)|functional]] and formalized shapes and spaces of the [[Modernism|modernist]] style are replaced by diverse [[aesthetics]]: styles collide, form is adopted for its own sake, and new ways of viewing familiar styles and space abound. Perhaps most obviously, architects rediscovered past architectural ornament and forms which had been abstracted by the Modernist architects.

Postmodern architecture has also been described as [[neo-eclectic architecture|neo-eclectic]], where reference and ornament have returned to the façade, replacing the aggressively unornamented modern styles. This eclecticism is often combined with the use of non-orthogonal angles and unusual surfaces, most famously in the [[Neue Staatsgalerie|State Gallery of Stuttgart]] by [[James Stirling (architect)|James Stirling]] and the [[Piazza d'Italia, New Orleans|Piazza d'Italia]] by [[Charles Willard Moore|Charles Moore]]. The [[Scottish Parliament Building]] in Edinburgh has also been cited as being of postmodern vogue.{{Citation needed|date=January 2008}}

[[Modernist architecture|Modernist]] architects may regard postmodern buildings as vulgar, associated with a populist ethic, and sharing the design elements of [[shopping malls]], cluttered with "[[wiktionary:gewgaw|gew-gaws]]". Postmodern architects may regard many modern buildings as soulless and bland, overly simplistic and abstract. This contrast was exemplified in the juxtaposition of the "whites" against the "grays," in which the "whites" were seeking to continue (or revive) the modernist tradition of purism and clarity, while the "grays" were embracing a more multifaceted cultural vision, seen in [[Robert Venturi]]'s statement rejecting the "black or white" world view of modernism in favor of "black and white and sometimes gray." The divergence in opinions comes down to a difference in goals: modernism is rooted in minimal and true use of material as well as [[Ornament and crime|absence of ornament]], while postmodernism is a rejection of strict rules set by the early modernists and seeks meaning and expression in the use of building techniques, forms, and stylistic references.

One building form that typifies the explorations of postmodernism is the traditional gable roof, in place of the iconic flat roof of modernism. Shedding water away from the center of the building, such a roof form always served a functional purpose in climates with rain and snow, and was a logical way to achieve larger spans with shorter structural members, but it was nevertheless relatively rare in Modernist buildings.{{efn|These Modernist buildings were, after all, "machines for living," according to LeCorbusier, and machines did not usually have gabled roofs.}} However, postmodernism's own modernist roots appear in some of the noteworthy examples of "reclaimed" roofs. For instance, Robert Venturi's [[Vanna Venturi House]] breaks the gable in the middle, denying the functionality of the form, and Philip Johnson's 1001 Fifth Avenue building in Manhattan{{efn|1001 Fifth Avenue building in Manhattan is not to be confused with Portland's [[Congress Center]], once referred to by the same name.}} advertises a [[mansard roof]] form as an obviously flat, false front. Another alternative to the flat roofs of modernism would exaggerate a traditional roof to call even more attention to it, as when [[Kallmann McKinnell & Wood]]'s [[American Academy of Arts and Sciences]] in Cambridge, Massachusetts, layers three tiers of low hipped roof forms one above another for an emphatic statement of shelter.

==Relationship to previous styles==
{{Unreferenced section|date=April 2020}}
[[File:Downtown, San Antonio, United States (Unsplash).jpg|thumb|[[San Antonio Public Library]], [[Texas]]]]
[[File:Taipei.101.ruyi.altonthompson.jpg|thumb|Ancient ''[[ruyi (scepter)|ruyi]]'' symbol adorning [[Taipei 101]], Taiwan]]

A new trend became evident in the last quarter of the 20th century as some architects started to turn away from modern [[Functionalism (architecture)|functionalism]] which they viewed as boring, and which some of the public considered unwelcoming and even unpleasant. These architects turned toward the past, quoting past aspects of various buildings and melding them together (even sometimes in an inharmonious manner) to create a new means of designing buildings. A vivid example of this new approach was that [[postmodernism]] saw the comeback of columns and other elements of premodern designs, sometimes adapting classical Greek and Roman examples.{{efn|But postmodernism did not advocate simply recreating classical designs, as had been done in [[neoclassical architecture]].}} In [[Modern architecture|Modernism]], the traditional column (as a design feature) was treated as a cylindrical pipe form, replaced by other technological means such as [[cantilever]]s, or masked completely by [[curtain wall (architecture)|curtain wall]] façades. The revival of the column was an [[aesthetic]], rather than a technological necessity. Modernist high-rise buildings had become in most instances [[monolithic architecture|monolithic]], rejecting the concept of a stack of varied design elements for a single vocabulary from ground level to the top, in the most extreme cases even using a constant "footprint" (with no tapering or "wedding cake" design), with the building sometimes even suggesting the possibility of a single metallic extrusion directly from the ground, mostly by eliminating visual horizontal elements—this was seen most strictly in [[Minoru Yamasaki]]'s [[World Trade Center (1973–2001)|World Trade Center]] buildings.

Another return was that of the "wit, ornament and reference" seen in older buildings in [[terra cotta]] decorative façades and bronze or stainless steel embellishments of the [[Beaux-Arts architecture|Beaux-Arts]] and [[Art Deco]] periods. In postmodern structures this was often achieved by placing contradictory quotes of previous building styles alongside each other, and even incorporating furniture stylistic references at a huge scale.

[[Contextualism]], a trend in thinking in the later parts of 20th century, influences the [[ideologies]] of the postmodern movement in general. Contextualism is centered on the belief that all knowledge is "context-sensitive". This idea was even taken further to say that knowledge cannot be understood without considering its context. While noteworthy examples of modern architecture responded both subtly and directly to their physical context,{{efn|Modern architectural response analyzed by Thomas Schumacher in "Contextualism: Urban Ideals and Deformations", and by [[Colin Rowe]] and Fred Koetter in ''Collage City''<ref name=Nesbitt>{{cite book |last=Nesbitt |first=Kate |title=Theorizing A New Agenda for Architecture: An Anthology of Architectural Theory 1965-1995 |publisher=Princeton Architectural Press |location=New York |year=1996 |isbn=1-56898-053-1 |page=294}}</ref>}} postmodern architecture often addressed the context in terms of the materials, forms and details of the buildings around it—the cultural context.

==Roots of postmodernism==
{{Unreferenced section|date=April 2020}}
[[File:London Wall (geograph 1209044).jpg|thumbnail|[[125 London Wall]] (1992) by [[Terry Farrell and Partners]] aimed to "repair the urban fabric" of the district, dominated by post-[[The Blitz|Blitz]] modernist schemes.]]

The postmodernist movement is often seen (especially in the US) as an American movement, starting in [[United States|America]] around the 1960s–1970s and then spreading to Europe and the rest of the world, to remain right through to the present. In 1966, however, the architectural historian [[Sir Nikolaus Pevsner]] spoke of a revived [[Expressionism]] as being "a new style, successor to my International Modern of the 1930s, a post-modern style", and included as examples [[Le Corbusier]]'s work at [[Ronchamp]] and [[Chandigarh]], [[Denys Lasdun]] at the [[Royal College of Physicians]] in London, [[Richard Sheppard (architect)|Richard Sheppard]] at [[Churchill College, Cambridge]], and [[James Stirling (architect)|James Stirling]]'s and James Gowan's Leicester Engineering Building, as well as [[Philip Johnson]]'s own guest house at New Canaan, Connecticut. Pevsner disapproved of these buildings for their self-expression and irrationalism, but he acknowledged them as "the legitimate style of the 1950s and 1960s" and defined their characteristics. The job of defining postmodernism was subsequently taken over by a younger generation who welcomed rather than rejected what they saw happening and, in the case of [[Robert Venturi]], contributed to it.

The aims of postmodernism or late-modernism begin with its reaction to [[modernism]]; it tries to address the limitations of its predecessor. The list of aims is extended to include communicating ideas with the public often in a then humorous or witty way. Often, the communication is done by quoting extensively from past architectural styles, often many at once. In breaking away from modernism, it also strives to produce buildings that are sensitive to the context within which they are built.

Postmodernism has its origins in the perceived failure of [[modern architecture]].<ref name=McAlester>{{cite book|last=McAlester|first=Virginia Savage|title=A Field Guide to American Houses|year=2013|publisher=Alfred A. Knopf|isbn=978-1-4000-4359-0|pages=664–665, 668–669}}</ref> Its preoccupation with functionalism and economical building meant that ornaments were done away with and the buildings were cloaked in a stark rational appearance. Many felt the buildings failed to meet the human need for comfort both for body and for the eye, that modernism did not account for the desire for beauty. The problem worsened when some already monotonous apartment blocks degenerated into [[slum]]s. In response, architects sought to reintroduce ornament, color, decoration and human scale to buildings. Form was no longer to be defined solely by its functional requirements or minimal appearance.

==Changing pedagogies==
Critics of the reductionism of modernism often noted the abandonment of the teaching of architectural history as a causal factor. The fact that a number of the major players in the shift away from modernism were trained at Princeton University's School of Architecture, where recourse to history continued to be a part of design training in the 1940s and 1950s, was significant. The increasing rise of interest in history had a profound impact on architectural education. History courses became more typical and regularized. With the demand for professors knowledgeable in the history of architecture, program were developed including the Advanced Masters-Level Course in the History and Theory of Architecture offered by [[Dalibor Vesely]] and [[Joseph Rykwert]] at the University of Essex in England between 1968 and 1978. It was the first of its kind.

Other programs followed suit, including several PhD programs in schools of architecture that arose to differentiate themselves from art history PhD programs, where architectural historians had previously trained. In the US, [[MIT]] and [[Cornell]] were the first, created in the mid-1970s, followed by [[Columbia University|Columbia]], [[University of California, Berkeley|Berkeley]], and [[Princeton University|Princeton]]. Among the founders of new architectural history programs were [[Bruno Zevi]] at the Institute for the History of Architecture in Venice, Stanford Anderson and Henry Millon at MIT, Alexander Tzonis at the [[Architectural Association]], Anthony Vidler at Princeton, [[Manfredo Tafuri]] at the University of Venice, [[Kenneth Frampton]] at [[Columbia University]], and Werner Oechslin and Kurt Forster at [[ETH Zürich]].<ref>[[Mark Jarzombek]], "The Disciplinary Dislocations of Architectural History", ''Journal of the [[Society of Architectural Historians]]'' 58/3 (September 1999), p. 489. See also other articles in that issue by Eve Blau, Stanford Anderson, Alina Payne, Daniel Bluestone, Jeon-Louis Cohen and others.</ref>

The creation of these programs was paralleled by the hiring, in the 1970s, of professionally trained historians by schools of architecture: Margaret Crawford (with a PhD from UCLA) at [[Southern California Institute of Architecture|SCI-Arc]]; Elisabeth Grossman (PhD, Brown University) at [[Rhode Island School of Design]]; Christian Otto<ref>{{cite web |website=[[Cornell University College of Architecture, Art, and Planning|Cornell University Dept. of Architecture]] |url=https://www.aap.cornell.edu/arch/faculty/faculty-profile.cfm?customel_datapageid_7102=18513 |title=Christian Otto |url-status=dead |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20121114080417/http://www.aap.cornell.edu/arch/faculty/faculty-profile.cfm?customel_datapageid_7102=18513 |archive-date= Nov 14, 2012 }}</ref> (PhD, Columbia University) at [[Cornell University]]; Richard Chafee (PhD, Courtauld Institute) at [[Roger Williams University]]; and Howard Burns (MA Kings College) at [[Harvard]], to name just a few examples. A second generation of scholars then emerged that began to extend these efforts in the direction of what is now called "theory": [[K. Michael Hays]] (PhD, MIT) at Harvard, [[Mark Wigley]] (PhD, Auckland University) at Princeton (now at [[Columbia University]]), and [[Beatriz Colomina]] (PhD, School of Architecture, Barcelona) at Princeton; [[Mark Jarzombek]] (PhD MIT) at Cornell (now at MIT), Jennifer Bloomer (PhD, Georgia Tech) at [[Iowa State]] and Catherine Ingraham (PhD, Johns Hopkins) now at [[Pratt Institute]].

Postmodernism with its diversity possesses sensitivity to the building's context and history, and the client's requirements. The postmodernist architects often considered the general requirements of the urban buildings and their surroundings during the building's design. For example, in [[Frank Gehry]]'s ''Venice Beach House'', the neighboring houses have a similar bright flat color. This vernacular sensitivity is often evident, but other times the designs respond to more high-style neighbors. James Stirling's [[Arthur M. Sackler Museum]] at Harvard University features a rounded corner and striped brick patterning that relate to the form and decoration of the polychromatic Victorian Memorial Hall across the street, although in neither case is the element imitative or historicist.

==Subsequent movements==
Following the postmodern riposte against modernism, various trends in architecture established, though not necessarily following principles of postmodernism. Concurrently, the recent movements of [[New Urbanism]] and [[New Classical Architecture]] promote a sustainable approach toward construction, that appreciates and develops [[smart growth]], [[Vernacular architecture|architectural tradition]] and [[Classical architecture|classical design]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Charter of the New Urbanism |url=http://www.cnu.org/charter |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141217164928/http://www.cnu.org/charter |archive-date=Dec 17, 2014 |website=CNU}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Beauty, Humanism, Continuity between Past and Future|url=http://www.traditionalarchitecture.co.uk/aims.html|publisher=Traditional Architecture Group|access-date=23 March 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180305215635/http://www.traditionalarchitecture.co.uk/aims.html|archive-date=5 March 2018|url-status=dead}}</ref> This in contrast to [[Modern architecture|modernist]] and [[International Style (architecture)|globally uniform]] architecture, as well as leaning against solitary [[housing estate]]s and [[Urban sprawl|suburban sprawl]].<ref>[http://www.aia.org/SiteObjects/files/smartgrowth05.pdf Issue Brief: Smart-Growth: Building Livable Communities]. American Institute of Architects. Retrieved on 2014-03-23.</ref> Both trends started in the 1980s. The [[Driehaus Architecture Prize]] is an award that recognizes efforts in New Urbanism and New Classical Architecture, and is endowed with a prize money twice as high as that of the modernist [[Pritzker Architecture Prize|Pritzker Prize]].<ref name="Driehaus Prize">{{cite web|title=Driehaus Prize|url=http://architecture.nd.edu/about/driehaus-prize/|quote=Together, the $200,000 Driehaus Prize and the $50,000 Reed Award represent the most significant recognition for classicism in the contemporary built environment|publisher=Notre Dame School of Architecture|access-date=23 March 2014}}</ref> Some postmodern architects, such as [[Robert A. M. Stern]] and Albert, Righter, & Tittman, have moved from postmodern design to new interpretations of traditional architecture.<ref name="McAlester" />

The [[Neo-Andean]] style takes a similar approach to ornamentation as broader postmodernism. First brought to attention in 1996, the style is notable for being designed and championed by indigenous [[Indigenous peoples of Peru|Peruvians]] and [[Indigenous peoples of Bolivia|Bolivians]], and takes inspiration from ancient Inca and Andean designs.<ref>{{Cite journal|date=1996|title=United States Embassy Chancery Building|journal=Architectural Record|volume=184|pages=84}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|last=Flores|first=Paola|date=5 July 2014|title=From street stall to mini-mansion|journal=Toronto Star}}</ref>

==Postmodern architects==
Some of the best-known and influential architects in the postmodern style are:
{{columns-list|colwidth=20em|
* [[Joel Bergman]]
* [[Barbara Bielecka]]
* [[Ricardo Bofill]]
* [[John Burgee]]
* [[Edmond and Corrigan]]
* [[Peter Eisenman]]
* [[Terry Farrell (architect)|Terry Farrell]]
* [[Frank Gehry]]
* [[James Gowan]]
* [[Michael Graves]]
* [[Hans Hollein]]
* [[Arata Isozaki]]
* [[Helmut Jahn]]
* [[Jon Jerde]]
* [[Philip Johnson]]<ref>{{cite magazine |last=Caniglia |first=Julie |title=Cathedral of Hope |magazine=[[Out (magazine)|Out]] |publisher=[[Here Media|Here Publishing]] |date=December 1999 |page=46 |issn=1062-7928 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WWIEAAAAMBAJ&q=jonah+falcon&pg=PA46}}</ref>
* [[Edward Jones (English architect)|Edward Jones]]
* [[Hans Kollhoff]]
* [[Ricardo Legorreta]]
* [[Ernst Lohse]]
* [[Charles Willard Moore|Charles Moore]]
* [[William Pedersen (architect)|William Pedersen]]
* [[César Pelli]]
* [[Boris Podrecca]]
* [[John C. Portman Jr.]]
* [[Paolo Portoghesi]]
* [[Antoine Predock]]
* [[Kevin Roche]]
* [[Aldo Rossi]]
* [[Carlo Scarpa]]
* [[Denise Scott Brown]]
* [[Robert A. M. Stern]]
* [[James Stirling (architect)|James Stirling]]
* [[Tomás Taveira]]
* [[Siavash Teimouri]]
* [[Robert Venturi]]
* [[Michael Wilford]]
* [[James Wines]]
* [[Eberhard Zeidler (architect)|Eberhard Zeidler]]
* [[Éolo Maia]]
* [[Chu-yuan Lee]]
}}

==Gallery==
<!-- dont remove this picture gallery. Galleries are *not* against Wikipedia's rules, and it adds important visual references and greatly enhances the article. -->
<gallery mode="packed" heights="150">
File:Parc Can Sabate (Daniel Navas) 52.jpg|Park of Can Sabaté Barcelona, by Daniel Navas, Neus Solé and Imma Jansana. completed 1984
File:Fairmont San Jose.jpg|The Fairmont, San Jose CA. Completed 1987
Wells Fargo Center from Foshay - Flickr - Mulad.jpg|[[Wells Fargo Center (Minneapolis)|Wells Fargo Center]] in [[Minneapolis, Minnesota|Minneapolis]], by [[César Pelli]], completed 1988
File:San Francisco Marriott Marquis.jpg|Marriott Marquis, San Francisco, CA. Completed 1989
File:JacksonvilleCenter-2010-07-a.JPG|[[SunTrust Tower]] in [[Jacksonville, Florida|Jacksonville]], by [[KBJ Architects]], completed 1989
File:100 East Wisconsin building, side.jpg|[[100 East Wisconsin]] in [[Milwaukee]], by Clark, Tribble, Harris & Li, completed 1989
Albuquerque Plaza Albuquerque.jpg|[[Albuquerque Plaza]] in [[Albuquerque, New Mexico]], by [[Hellmuth, Obata & Kassabaum]] completed 1990
File:Harold Washington Library, Chicago, IL - front oblique.jpg|The [[Harold Washington Library]] in [[Chicago]], Illinois, by Hammond, Beeby & Babka, completed 1991
File:Comericatower.jpg|[[One Detroit Center]] in [[Detroit]], by [[John Burgee]] and [[Philip Johnson]], completed 1993
File:Frankfurt Am Main-Westend Tower-Ansicht vom Maintower.jpg|[[Westendstrasse 1]] in [[Frankfurt]], by [[William Pedersen (architect)|William Pedersen]], completed 1993
File:RoyE.DisneyAnimationBuilding.jpg|The [[Walt Disney Animation Studios#Locations|Roy E. Disney Animation Building]] in [[Burbank, California]], by [[Robert A. M. Stern]], completed 1995
File:British library london.jpg|The [[British Library]] in [[London]], by [[Colin St John Wilson]], completed 1997
File:Kaohsiung Taiwan Kaohsiung-85-Building-01.jpg|[[85 Sky Tower|Tuntex Tower]] in [[Kaohsiung]], Taiwan, by [[Chu-yuan Lee]], completed 1997
File:Taipei101 061010.JPG|[[Taipei 101]] in [[Taipei]], Taiwan, by [[Chu-yuan Lee]], completed 2004
File:L'Auberge du Lac Lake Charles.JPG|[[L'Auberge du Lac Resort]] in [[Lake Charles, Louisiana]], by [[Joel Bergman]], completed 2005
File:Casinò di Campione, day.jpg|[[Casinò di Campione]] in [[Campione d'Italia]], by [[Mario Botta]], completed 2007
File:One Towne Square Southfield.jpg|One Towne Square in [[Southfield, Michigan]].
File:Brussels - Euroclear HQ.jpg|[[Euroclear]] HQ Building, [[Brussels]], Belgium 1992.
File:AT&T Building- June 2022.jpg|[[333 Commerce]] in [[Nashville]], completed 1994
</gallery>

==See also==
{{Portal|Architecture}}
* [[Charles Jencks]]
* [[New classical architecture]], a reference style to historical architecture, emerged from postmodernism. It creates more accurate references of historical architecture styles.
* [[Third Bay Tradition]]

== Explanatory footnotes ==
{{notelist|25em}}

== References ==
{{Reflist|25em}}

== General and cited references ==
* {{cite book|last=Bony|first=Anne|title=L'Architecture Moderne|language=fr|publisher=Larousse|year=2012|isbn=978-2-03-587641-6}}
* {{cite book|last=De Bure|first=Gilles|title=Architecture contemporaine- le guide|year=2015|publisher=Flammarion|language=fr|isbn=978-2-08-134385-6}}
* {{cite book|last=Ghirardo|first=Diane|title=Architecture after Modernism|url=https://archive.org/details/architectureafte00ghir|url-access=registration|year=1996|publisher=Thames and Hudson|isbn=2-87811-123-0}}
* {{cite book|last=Hopkins|first=Owen|title=Les styles en architecture- guide visuel|year=2014|publisher=Dunod|language=fr|isbn=978-2-10-070689-1}}
* Klotz, Heinrich (1998). ''History of Post-Modern Architecture''. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press. {{ISBN|0-262-11123-3}}.
* {{cite book|last=Poisson|first=Michel|title=1000 Immeubles et monuments de Paris|year=2009|publisher=Parigramme|isbn=978-2-84096-539-8|language=fr}}
* {{cite book|last1=Prina|first1=Francesca|last2=Demaratini|first2=Demartini|title=Petite encyclopédie de l'architecture|year=2006|language=fr|publisher=Solar|isbn=2-263-04096-X}}
* {{cite book|last=Taschen|first=Aurelia and Balthazar|title=L'Architecture Moderne de A à Z|year=2016|publisher=Bibliotheca Universalis|language=fr|isbn=978-3-8365-5630-9}}
* Robert Venturi (1977). ''Learning from Las Vegas: The Forgotten Symbolism of Architectural Form''. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, {{ISBN|0-262-22015-6}}.

==Further reading==
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20060922130113/http://www.princeton.edu/~mbhansen/eng377/lecture5.pdf ''Postmodern Architecture: Restoring Context'' Princeton University Lecture]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20060903023311/http://www.arch.ced.berkeley.edu/courses/arch170/past/SP2001/05-01-01.html ''Postmodern Architecture and Urbanism'' University of California–Berkeley Lecture]

==External links==
{{Commons category multi|Postmodern architecture|21st-century architecture}}
* [http://architecture.about.com/library/blgloss-postmodernism.htm About Postmodernism]
* {{archINFORM|stich|832}}
* [http://architecture.about.com/od/periodsstyles/ig/House-Styles/Postmodern-Style.htm Gallery of Postmodern Houses]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20070110215102/http://types.greatbuildings.com/styles/post_modern.html Post Modern Architecture] at Great Buildings Online (archived 10 January 2007)

{{Modern architecture}}
{{Archhistory}}
{{Architecture in the United States}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Postmodern Architecture}}
[[Category:Postmodern architecture| ]]
[[Category:20th-century architectural styles]]
[[Category:House styles]]