Postmodern Architecture

Architecture is an art, using familiar shapes and details in unexpected ways. (Hillier and Hanson, 1984) Architecture represents a social art, a cultural idea, and a profession catalyzed by new technologies, innovation, and a strong sense of conviction. Throughout time, architecture has persisted as one of the most profoundly important reflections of culture. (Alexander, Ishikawa and Silverstein, 1977) Building first evolved out of the dynamics between human needs and means. As human cultures developed and knowledge began to be formalized through oral traditions and practices, building became a craft, and "architecture" is the name given to the most highly formalized and respected versions of that craft. (Rondanini, 1981) With the emerging

The Postmodernist movement began in America in the 1960s and then spreads to Europe and the rest of the world, continuing through to the present day. The typical postmodern buildings are the combination of new ideas with the traditional gable, iconic flat roof and traditional forms. (Klotz, 1988) Rem Koolhaas’s Strategy of the void is one of the concepts that have prominently been discussed in the postmodern architectural environment. “Strategy of the Void” is the title of Koolhaas’s statement for his Tres Grande Bibliotheque competition entry and it involves creating situations which introduce voyeuristic gaze and in which the voided space both blocks direct vision and reveals supposedly hidden elements. Koolhaas presents a conception that the surface is malleable and pliable, that it is no longer specifically related to the ground, and that it partakes in a vertical continuum. More importantly, in lifting up the city’s fabric, a hidden aspect of its infrastructure is revealed as an underlying object. (Koolhass,

These voids bring different perspectives to the architecture. Depending on the situation and size of the void, permeability is created. Therefore, visual void in a sense indicates the concept of permeability. Sometimes, void is not physically created in the form itself. Instead, a sense of void can be created in the whole form. On such examples, the sense of void is obtained by using the materials. The form itself might be a cube, sphere, prism and etc. While the form goes under no processes, the created effect is evident as a kind of void perception. One of the ways to enable this is to build the form using materials like glass and steel to create the void effect. Thereby, the perceptual void in the form is actually created depending on the effect of transparency created by the material. (Rowe and Slutzky, 1963)

Unlike other architects who sought to solidify the void, Koolhaas seeks to capture its energy by conceptualizing the void as a latent force contained between layers of solid floors. (Koolhaas, 1995a) The Jussieu Libraries at Jussieu Campus is one of the greatest buildings representing The Strategy of the Void. ’Strategy of the Void’ defines the library as a solid stack from which volumes are carved and the major public spaces are defined as absences of the building, voids carved out of