Postmodernism In Architecture

In this essay that follows, my main intention is to critically analyse a postmodernist architect according to the characteristics, concepts and ideologies of Postmodernism. I will be unpacking the connection between postmodernism and my architect. I have found two key examples that shall be utilized for a visual analysis to substantiate the point that I am putting across.

What is postmodernism? According to Hart (2004:14) “Post modernism is an open set of approaches, attitudes and styles to art and culture that started by questioning or exceeding or tooling with one or more aspects of modernism.” This shows that postmodernism is a movement that fed from modernist styles as inspiration to create artistic elements that will be appealing to the

He was born on July 16, 1940 in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Steven Izenour studied at the Yale University, the University of Pennsylvania and the Swarthmore College. Izenour met Elizabeth Margit Gemmill in 1964 whom he later got married to. This architect was known for his urbanism and as an American architect, author and theorist. Izenour gained popularity after co-authoring, with Robert Venturi and Denise Scott Brown on Learning from Las Vegas, one of the most influential architectural theory books of the 20th century. This book was also classified as an influential radical manifesto of 1927 that celebrates the gaudy glories of the American commercial strip (Iovine 2001: [sa]). He later died in 2001 from a heart attack during a cycling marathon on vacation in

He has worked with his father George Izenour who was a theatre and lighting designer on redesigning the Benjamin Franklin Bridge. If you take a close look at Figure 1 from the image, you will see how simple, detailed and ordered the Benjamin Franklin Bridge used to look. In Figure 2, you can see the difference in the lighting of the bridge at night. They have now went against “ordinary” by adding the colourful light and made it playful and exciting. It now has a unique and fascinating exterior finish and this is Postmodernism. This quote best describes the works of postmodernism and it reads as follows; “Postmodernism takes what it likes from high culture and puts it to work in popular culture”. Hart (2004:08). The lights are just a decorative feature which is only seen at night. The bridge remains modernist during the till the sun dawns. Post modernism usually has decorative elements that are really not necessary and not functional. That is why this bridge is a perfect example of postmodern