As an advocate of "radical eclecticism," Charles Jencks is architecture's prince of Postmodern plurality. For Jencks, Postmodernism is a movement that is irreducibly multiple, located between the demands of past aesthetics and those of present-day technologies and struggles. Broadly, Jencks remains...
[more]As an advocate of "radical eclecticism," Charles Jencks is architecture's prince of Postmodern plurality. For Jencks, Postmodernism is a movement that is irreducibly multiple, located between the demands of past aesthetics and those of present-day technologies and struggles. Broadly, Jencks remains quite positive about Postmodernism, arguing that reports of the style's death have been premature. Jencks' theories may be found threaded through his best-selling books, which include "The Language of Post-Modern Architecture" (sixth edition 1991), "Architecture Today" (third edition 1994), and "The Architecture of the Jumping Universe" (second edition 1997).
According to the author, moving beyond the stagnation of Naturalism offers opportunities for new narrative styles and more effective analyses of social issues. When asked what should be said in the shared plurality of Postmodernism, Jencks opines that architecture must relate everyday meanings to more important meanings, be they social, political, or religious. Furthermore, the meanings to be addressed can only be determined through a collaboration between client and architect. Jencks' own architecture, landscape designs, and furniture explore the ideas developed in his writing. His recent work includes fractal designs of buildings and furniture, as well as extensive landscape designs based on complexity theory, waves, and solutions.
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