High modernism occurred towards the end of modernism, and is conceived by James Scott ‘as a strong, one might even say muscle-bound, version of the self-confidence about scientific and technical progress, the expansion of production, the growing satisfaction of human needs, the mastery of nature (including human nature), and above all, the rational design of social order commensurate with the scientific understanding of natural laws’ (1998). The theories of high modernism affected architecture, leading to the Modern Architectural Movement. This movement generated a new form of architecture known as Brutalism and Hi-Tech Architecture or Self-Expressionist Architecture.
Self-Expressionist buildings link the internal to the external in terms of structure, and allow technology to be revealed to the outside world. This high modernist theory has produced buildings such as the Pompidou Centre, which exhibits an ‘exposed skeleton of brightly colored tubes for mechanical systems’ (Pogrebin, 2007), pictured below.
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| (Centre Pompidou n.d.) |
What should be inside the building is open and exposed on the outside. The relevance of this idea to my own project is not the physical aspects of high modernism, but the theory behind it. The high modernist theory of linking the inside to the outside, reverses the key theme in my project, to bring what should outside, in. This approach is a more modern approach to the high modernist theory, and demonstrates that research into the high modernist theory should be carried out.
As a designer, I am looking for a visual approach to the high modernist theory, and so the research I have undertaken is based upon this, as a key area of reference.
Casa Batlló is a building built in 1877, but restored with a High Modernism stance by Antoni Gaudí and Josep Maria Jujol into the building you can see below.
This adaption of the highmodernist theory considers the human skeletan which is normally perceived to be an internal structure, and uses it as an external structure. The balconies have been made to look like skulls, and many of the supporting columns have been styled to imitate bones. Here the architects have looked at the form of the human skeleton. This technique is transferable into my own project, by looking at forms of nature, and how this can be interpreted into interior design.
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| (Arnewde, 2010) |
This adaption of the highmodernist theory considers the human skeletan which is normally perceived to be an internal structure, and uses it as an external structure. The balconies have been made to look like skulls, and many of the supporting columns have been styled to imitate bones. Here the architects have looked at the form of the human skeleton. This technique is transferable into my own project, by looking at forms of nature, and how this can be interpreted into interior design.
The Lloyd’s building in London designed by Richard Rogers, is another example of high modernist architecture. Although it is not possible to see in this image, the electrics, pluming and services such as lifts are all external.
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| (Origin Design Studio, 2010) |
According to Kenneth Powell, this building ‘epitomizes Richard Rogers' concern with overt technical imagery’ (1994). Overt or unconcealed imagery appears to be key to the theory of self-expressionist buildings, as the three buildings I have researched are based on revealing and showing the external world, what is on the inside.
Post Bibliography
Powell, K. 1994. Lloyd's building: Richard Rogers Partnership. Phaidon
Progrebin, R. 2007. British Architect Wins 2007 Pritzker Prize. The New York Times, [Online]. Available at: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/28/arts/design/28cnd-pritzker.html?hp . Accessed 10th October 2011
Scott, J. 1998. Seeing like a state: how certain schemes to improve the human condition have failed. Yale University Press
