Essay paper on complexity and contradiction in architecture

“Complexity and contradiction in architecture” by Robert Venturi is a reflection of his approach to architectural composition. Venturi is known as the author of “Less is bore” slogan ”“ the opposition to “Less is more” slogan, the credo of modernists contemporary to him.  The main idea of the book is ht following: “Architects can no longer afford to be intimidated by the puritanically moral language of orthodox Modern architecture.” Venturi, p.16) He preferred the “richness of meaning: instead of “clarity of meaning” On the numerous examples Venturi demonstrated that the complex architectural forms look rich and beautiful, especially in comparison with the minimalistic modern architectural forms. Venturi blamed the orthodox modern architecture in primitivism and elementarism.

Generally it is the typical situation- the turn from the minimalism to complexity.

Charles Jencks, the theoretical of the architecture, made an attempt to reconsider the nature of post-modernism. His basic idea is that postmodernism is the hybrid of modern and local culture, and the local culture is reconsidered in the ironic style.  This definition in the broad sense includes everything that was built after 1972.  According to Jencks, that year was the last year of modern architecture, because in 1972 the project for low-income of Pruitt-Igoe was recognized as a failure and destroyed with dynamite. Jencks provided the idea of double-coding in postmodernism: every architectural work of post-modern is half-modern, half-something else. The double-sided nature, the oxymoron, the conscious schizophrenia, the irony or pastiche is the postmodern in architecture. Due to its double nature, postmodernism can adopt any architectural style. This pluralism is also the specific feature of postmodern.