The Language Of Post Modern Architecture

A classic account which, when written in 1977, was the first to define post-modernism in architecture, an event which led to subsequent adoption of the term in many other fields. It is the story of the failure of modern architecture to communicate with its users and the attempt of post-modernists to overcome this failure with a richer, more widely shared language--post-modern classicism. This edition (5th in 1987) brings the account, and the great illustrations, up to date. 101/4x121/2". Annotation copyrighted by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR

This book explores the broad issue of Postmodernism and tells the story of the movement that has changed the face of architecture over the last forty years. In this completely rewritten edition of his seminal work, Charles Jencks brings the history of architecture up to date and shows how demands for a new and complex architecture, aided by computer design, have led to more convivial, sensuous, and articulate buildings around the world.

A classic account which, when written in 1977, was the first to define post-modernism in architecture, an event which led to subsequent adoption of the term in many other fields. It is the story of the failure of modern architecture to communicate with its users and the attempt of post-modernists to overcome this failure with a richer, more widely shared language--post-modern classicism. This edition (5th in 1987) brings the account, and the great illustrations, up to date. 101/4x121/2". Annotation copyrighted by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR

In The Story of Post-Modernism, Charles Jencks, the authority on Post-Modern architecture and culture, provides the defining account of Post-Modern architecture from its earliest roots in the early 60s to the present day. By breaking the narrative into seven distinct chapters, which are both chronological and overlapping, Jencks charts the ebb and flow of the movement, the peaks and troughs of different ideas and themes. The book is highly visual. As well as providing a chronological account of the movement, each chapter also has a special feature on the major works of a given period. The first up-to-date narrative of Post-Modern Architecture - other major books on the subject were written 20 years ago. An accessible narrative that will appeal to students who are new to the subject, as well as those who can remember its heyday in the 70s and 80s.

A classic account which, when written in 1977, was the first to define post-modernism in architecture, an event which led to subsequent adoption of the term in many other fields. It is the story of the failure of modern architecture to communicate with its users and the attempt of post-modernists to overcome this failure with a richer, more widely shared language--post-modern classicism. This edition (5th in 1987) brings the account, and the great illustrations, up to date. 101/4x121/2". Annotation copyrighted by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR

Since its first appearance in 1981, critical regionalism has enjoyed a celebrated worldwide reception. The 1990s increased its pertinence as an architectural theory that defends the cultural identity of a place resisting the homogenising onslaught of globalisation. Today, its main principles (such as acknowledging the climate, history, materials, culture and topography of a specific place) are integrated in architects’ education across the globe. But at the same time, the richer cross-cultural history of critical regionalism has been reduced to schematic juxtapositions of ‘the global’ with ‘the local’. Retrieving both the globalising branches and the overlooked cross-cultural roots of critical regionalism, Resisting Postmodern Architecture resituates critical regionalism within the wider framework of debates around postmodern architecture, the diverse contexts from which it emerged, and the cultural media complex that conditioned its reception. In so doing, it explores the intersection of three areas of growing historical and theoretical interest: postmodernism, critical regionalism and globalisation. Based on more than 50 interviews and previously unpublished archival material from six countries, the book transgresses existing barriers to integrate sources in other languages into anglophone architectural scholarship. In so doing, it shows how the ‘periphery’ was not just a passive recipient, but also an active generator of architectural theory and practice. Stylianos Giamarelos challenges long-held ‘central’ notions of supposedly ‘international’ discourses of the recent past, and outlines critical regionalism as an unfinished project apposite for the 21st century on the fronts of architectural theory, history and historiography.

provides a fascinating, clear, and provocative definition of the phenomena of postmodernism, particularly in relation to the major ideas of modernism