Post-Modern Architecture: More is More

Post-Modern architecture emerged in the 1970s as a critical reaction to Modernism. In Britain, it was closely associated with the economic boom of the 1980s.
The style was an important strand of late 20th-century architecture, but Post-Modern buildings can be vulnerable to change and loss, which is why the best examples have been selected for listing.
In this film, three leading architects of the era, Piers Gough, Sir Terry Farrell and John Outram, look back on the era and talk about their inspirations.
Find out more: HistoricEnglan...

[@one-eyedman3871]

Postmodernist architecture gives me a sort of uneasiness. Almost like a dystopian government trying to ease the depressed populace with the abstract, 'fun' form.

[@henrikparsgaard9648]

Post modernist architecture is brutalist hiding behind a clown's mask

[@saintsinclair5499]

Isn't that exactly what it is?!

[@TheHardlove4u]

Don't you ever smile?

[@TheHardlove4u]

@gacekky1 You must have missed out on art history, with the reference to Warhol in Pop Art. Then the continuation of that with Geary's 'binoculars' in LA. Don't you ever smile? I could cut and paste that on most of these comments.

[@Spuzzmacher]

It adds to my sense that there was an era in which design was briefly valued, and in that a subset of designers were allowed to play. And that is extremely depressing, in light of our current frogmarch back to the 1930s.

[@modfus]

For so long now postmodern architecture of the 1980s has been maligned and ridiculed; it's wonderful to see it finally being recognized as more than simple folly, excess, parody, and pastiche. Postmodernism was a much needed response to the increasingly formulaic tenets of Modernism. Popular culture was bombarding us with diverse imagery and information technology was changing the way human beings interacted with each other - Bauhaus and Utopian Modernism simply didn't represent this shift in human experience at the end of the twentieth century.

[@gogosegaga]

Growing up in the 90s this kind of architecture was everywhere from the local town halls in council boroughs, libraries to schools it was everywhere. Bright primary coloured window framed and welcoming. I always enjoyed being in such spaces😊

[@HistoricEngland]

Thanks for sharing

[@ChanonPongpanich]

Fabulous documentary!

[@TheHardlove4u]

I find it interesting that most of the comments are vehemently negative; showing a response not even considered in a bland nonentity. I studied architecture (part time but seriously) in the late 60s. Constantly having my knuckles rapped because my tutors thought that a building must be a variation of a match box; purist modernist, Bauhaus 'greats' inspired. I; on the other hand, had an adored grandmother who lived in Brighton in one of those beautiful Georgian squares but with the frivolity of the 'Palace Pavilion' and the spattering of similarly inspired eccentricities which makes Brighton and Hove the creative City that it is. I was also familiar with Gaudi's work and lets face it, a world of styles, ideas and construction techniques, art and fashion. I sidestepped into exhibition, shop and theatre set design and construction - telling a story - never looked back. Might I remind people that 'Classic Architecture and ornament'; Greek, Roman, Egyptian Etc. Etc. was originally brightly painted. What fun!

[@SalvadorCiaro]

I'm not accepting like I'm an expert, but I think post-modern architecture doesn't integrate it self in to it's surroundings. Wouldn't it be better and more respectful to evolve and the "traditional" styles. Postmodern architecture, in my opinion, is in a way to surface level. They come off as artificial and just as a parody. The use of color doesn't contribute as a wall. I mean, look at the staatsgalerie in Stuttgart. Does it help the building to integrate in to it's surroundings? The building feel like brutalism with a twist and don't really achieve the goal, at the end building should be a place where people need to feel good and I don't know if that's the case here. There are more structural changes that could be made, buildings could be planned to help foster human interaction, and the building of a community, but postmodern architecture isn't concerned with the, it's like modernism, the same anonymity but with a happy face, that is why some people think it's dystopian. I'm sorry that his comment is so long, but I mean, you look like you act in good faith, and so I try to also be genuine.

[@circleinforthecube5170]

@@SalvadorCiaro lets get this right, car centric design is what pushes down social interaction, also many traditional buildings do not fit in with their surroundings, the neo-classical gov buildings in D.C do not fit in with the swamp, the majority of 1800s architecture sticks out like a sore thumb, and ive seen 1800s and early 1900s houses like the foursqaure be blander than any postmodern/modern build

[@SalvadorCiaro]

@circleinforthecube5170 I agree, car's ruined cities. But I never said that the classical style is perfect. I guess it depend on the Kontext, where the building is standing. Also I looked at the Staatsgalerie Stuttgart in Person, but the multi lane road beside the gallery was a way bigger eyesore.

[@mtksbctk]

They had prettier girlfriends, thats the purest motivation out there

[@vinayyadav6574]

Lol

[@MB-st7be]

'A sense of fun!' if your idea of fun is a lego brick stamping on a human face - forever.

[@samvictor217]

if an architecture is symmetric, no matter what you call, I find it to be beautiful

[@erushmiekarunaratne2887]

Fantastic documentary on point.

[@mehulnagle758]

Can someone please tell me what music they used in the video?

[@HistoricEngland]

Hi Mehul, we are trying to source the music for you and will be in touch when we have it. Thank you, Jenna

[@mehulnagle758]

@@HistoricEngland Thank you so much for the help, I really appreciate it.

[@bidooflord8581]

@@mehulnagle758 was the music sourced too you?

[@Math.C.T]

That was the time to restore the good old traditional architecture... But they just wanted to mess around

[@SalvadorCiaro]

The early dark ages had some great castle, we should collectively all go back to that time.

[@modfus]

You should move to Poundbury then - dogmatic and bland as it is.

[@pandemicphilly60]

​@@SalvadorCiaro What?

[@SalvadorCiaro]

@Pandemic Philly the joke is that in the early dark ages, there were no castles as we now imagine them. They were mostly dirt mounds, with a wooden tower on top. I was making fun of him because i just don't like the sentiment of "go back" We can certainly build some revival stuff, but I think there is a need to make our City's greener. We need to integrate more plants and natur into our lives, which is why I reject this simple populist notion of "go back."

[@JesseNickelltheFourth]

Love it!

[@HistoricEngland]

So glad!

[@davidyan7354]

Vibrant, very English humour and sense of place....Whah?

[@alanhansmannkurtcobain8811]

Nice!

[@HistoricEngland]

Thanks!

[@mehulnagle3710]

Can you name the music you used in this video?

[@dergutehut3961]

As a German I'am so jelaous that so many builders in Britain had the balls to built more than a blend box. This postmodernist stuff seems to be mostly a modern interpretation of time tested architecture principles..and in my opinion the far superior way of creating likalble buildings. I wonder if Hundertwasser is counted as Post-Modernist too I would not even care that much if the modernist architects who designed things an AI would find too boring, would pat themselves on the back and acted like they invented the wheel or expressed some deep philophical concept by shoing a white blend wall or a glass front or simple building a cube with slits. But there are two things I don't like about Post-Modernism..the first thing is the name...that puts it in context to modernism. This is unnesscesary and defining yourself over others lowers the status. Baroq didn't called itself "Post-Gothic". The other thing is that often colours are overused..and I don't mean that the colors can't be bright but that there are too many differnt colors. But even if I don't like a specific building...I t hink the style is great since it requires people to put ideas and heart into a project and make both visible. With those two criticisms out of the way..I would really love to see more of those kind of buildings in my city.

[@Ryan.2]

They should give their blueprints back to the children they stole them from.

[@PaulA-fp3vs]

Modern architecture is a lot of theory for ugly buildings. And post modern architecture is the same but with added cynicism.

[@jesseleeward2359]

They are just cynical and abstract and silly

[@jamesvaughan8355]

In the 1980's you had Reaganism and Thatcherism. I should think that the most suitable architectural style for that bunch would be derived directly from Nazi Germany of the 1930's; or, perhaps, from the architecture of Stalinist Communist Russia.

[@TeaParty1776]

Your hysterical fear of mans independent mind is noted.

[@henrikparsgaard9648]

I think you should read up on 1930s German architecture more. Hitler was heavily inspired by order of architecture and classical styles of architecture.

[@TeaParty1776]

@@henrikparsgaard9648 Nazi architecture was perversely massive, to glorify the state. Gk architecture was beautiful , to glorify the gods as symbols of man as good.

[@Spuzzmacher]

This was reactionary, colorful, explosive, playful, and anti-traditional, in direct opposition to and in spite of the return of the fascists.

[@28-r8b]

ugly, and it's everywhere. as 25 year old i look around at Modern/Post-modern architecture and it makes me sad. ive seen beautiful buildings with lovely ornamental decorations transformed into plain blocks of lego. it's taking over the world you can barely even tell towns and cities apart anymore.

[@circleinforthecube5170]

funny, in the 1800s section of most midwestern cities looks the exactly same as every other 1800s section, the same main street brick facades, the same foursqaures and occasional victorian, old timey architecture was pretty ubiquitous too, look at a picture of a random suburb in chicago 1890 and detroit suburb 1890, not that big of a difference.

[@clarksonstestical7596]

Minecraft players have more imagination than modern architects

[@vinylrichiejr.2416]

Damn that’s actually not even exaggerated😀

[@circleinforthecube5170]

@@vinylrichiejr.2416 yeah isint it funny how one of the largest minecraft projects of all time greenfield composes of mostly modern architecture, isint it funny how when i was a kid and went on schematics websites all i saw were 2000s modern houses? modernism is enjoyed by the community, also considering modern architecture didin't exist in any form before the glass palace i'd say they are more creative than minecraft architects who copy real world cathedrals, instead of building the same traiditonal styles forever they went and tried something different, and you know how people feel when someone or something is different

[@vinylrichiejr.2416]

@@circleinforthecube5170 man please.. This isn’t about modernism being g generally bad, I really like modernism too, when it is done properly and has a soul, my first apartment was very modern made by Norman Foster, and I often like remembering it, it was very nice. But the problem for me is, a lot of buildings don’t have a soul today, because it is mostly done with profit in mind and not with the people who have to live with it, and „modernism“ serves as a good excuse for the people who own these buildings to make them as simple as possible. This isn’t architecture in a artistic way, this part often is completely vanished. But unfortunately the economic side has more and more taken over what an architect is today. I think we exceeded the point where modernism is different a long time ago. We had a lot of styles that were different at the change of the century, like Art Deco, Jugendstil, Cubism, etc.. So we had a lot of architects who made things different. But even someone like Otto Wagner for example always said that the an architect is first and foremost an artist and this has to represented in his work, even when it’s very reduced like in his later buildings like Neustiftgasse 40 in Vienna. There is space for every style of architecture, Bauhaus, modernism etc. included, but it has to be respectful with its surroundings and the people inside and outside of it.

[@TeaParty1776]

That mans hair makes Steven Pinker seem conservative. He looks like he belongs in the Benny Hill Show.

[@C.D.J.Burton]

"more is more" doesn't sum up postmodernism. If anything, postmodernism would stand for "less is more". The difference between modern art and postmodern art, the difference between modern politics and postmodern politics. At some point during the mid 1800's someone decided to throw the world on its head, thinking the world would get better.

[@C.D.J.Burton]

@Artless. Under architecture you're right the "modernist" movement came after modernity (a period in history which is what many refer to when they use the word). Though with regards to architecture and I think art too, the modern movement came at the start of the postmodern era and is for that reason often referred to colloquially as "postmodern".

[@SalvadorCiaro]

For a person calling them self libertarian, a technically modernist ideology, you reject modernity a lot.

[@kaiokendo]

2:01 mahmulaed

[@Zoza15]

Absolute monstrosities!..

[@ethelrod1648]

Their justification for this crap is both hilarious and pathetic at the same time.

[@jesseleeward2359]

There is post modern sculpture in Wellington. Like a gold turd on an ionic column. Luckily the movement is already kitch and is fading away.

[@davidcrookes4885]

AhhWho now says Post Mod is the devils work?

[@TeaParty1776]

I am amused.

[@PaulMielcarz]

It's not "more is more". It's "mess is mess". :/

[@dergutehut3961]

You know what else is messy: nature..and I don't see people disliking a forrest because its not a city park.

[@PaulMielcarz]

@@dergutehut3961 Nature is not messy at all.

[@dergutehut3961]

@@PaulMielcarz Parts of it. And even in the parts that have order its sometimes hard to see.

[@justrosy5]

So, basically, "Willy Wonka." Got it.

[@jotapeschriefer]

Modern and post-modern architecture are crap Change my mind

[@autofocus4556]

They are great I just did

[@joelhall5124]

Ugly, soulless, depressing, tacky, eyesores.

[@PaulA-fp3vs]

@@autofocus4556 How did you change his mind by just telling him what to think?

[@autofocus4556]

Paul A I was pointing out his baseless statement by replying with a baseless statement.

[@PaulA-fp3vs]

@@autofocus4556 To me it looks hostile and opressing with it's sharp edges and bland boring facades. I thinks this video sumerizes it. kzbin.info/www/bejne/Y4CYnIGGobqJbdk

[@fiethsing9988]

Looks like hot garbage to be honest. Almost like something an undeveloped child would project.

[@internetguy8075]

Why do they insist on making fuck ugly buildings? Is beauty considered kitsch?

[@jakeberry2172]

Good documentary but the buildings are Shite we need to go back to neo-classical

[@SalvadorCiaro]

Nah, what about sumerian.

[@circleinforthecube5170]

you mean those big bland domes that also look the same everywhere?

[@jesseleeward2359]

Don't you just love the baby boomers

[@circleinforthecube5170]

millenial architecture is so much better, i love neo modernism that takes everthing good about 50s-70s modernism and gets rid of it for being dated while keeping all of the flaws of moderism, millenial architecture sucks

[@LikeTheChile]

Man, that lady is creepy.

[@austinrees]

If you hate PoMo you hate fun!

[@annalisakingston-smith2721]

No: people hate Postmodern architecture because they hate ugliness, and because they hate the glib solipsism of 'starchitects' who think that 'having fun', rather than showing humility and reverence, is the right spirit in which to create permanent structures in historic cities.

[@circleinforthecube5170]

@@annalisakingston-smith2721 what do you mean by historic, modern architecture's first iterations are well part of their cities history, chicago without its modern styles would not be chicago and if you demolished the sears tower there would be riots

[@PADARM]

I get what they mean but, oh boy, they went to far

[@Spuzzmacher]

Or... didn't they not go too far enough!

[@__soap__]

ew

[@PatrickHutton]

So post modern architecture is modernist architecture that has a soul.

[@saintsinclair5499]

Tries to have a soul*

[@dragonmartijn]

... is modernist architecture with a clown nose.

[@finnersmcspeed5646]

God i love their work