In this latest issue of Architectural Design the guest editors are drawn, like the content, from contrasting tastes and generations. Charles Jencks, the definer of Post-Modernism for thirty years, discusses some issues that have re-emerged today, while the young group of British architects, FAT, argues for a particular version of RPM. An interview between Rem Koohaas and Charles Jencks discusses the influence of Post-Modernism while investigations of street art, graffiti and the 1980 Venice Biennale show that communication is at the heart of this radical strain of architecture.
This issue brings together an unlikely and exciting pairing of guest-editors: internationally acclaimed critic Charles Jencks, whose name became synonymous with Post-modernism in the 80s, and the dynamic architectural group, FAT. Features work by: ARM, Atelier Bow Wow, Édouard François, FOA, Rem Koolhaas, John and Valerio Olgiati.
5 Editorial Helen Castle 6 About the Guest-Editors Charles Jencks, Sean Griffiths, Charles Holland and Sam Jacob 8 Spotlight Visual highlights of the issue 14 Introduction What is Radical Post-Modernism? Charles Jencks Post-Modernism: An Incomplete Project Fat 24 Beyond the Flatline Sam Jacob 32 Radical Post-Modernism and Content: Charles Jencks and Rem Koolhaas debate the issue Jencks and Koolhaas exchange on Post-Modernism, preservation, the evil aura of the word ‘iconic’ and the Big Mac sandwich diagram. 46 A Field Guide to Radical Post-Modernism Fat 62 Contextual Counterpoint Charles Jencks 68 Virtual Corpses, Figural Sections and Resonant Fields Sean Griffiths 78 FAT Projects: Manifesting Radical Post-Modernism Fat 90 Questions of Taste Charles Holland 98 Historicism versus Communication: The Basic Debate of the 1980 Biennale Léa-Catherine Szacka The 1980 Venice Architecture Biennale brought Post-Modernism to the world’s attention, but also highlighted the tensions between historicism and communication. 106 Too Good to Be True: The Survival of English Everyday PoMo Kester Rattenbury 114 The True Counterfeits of Banksy: Radical Walls of Complicity and Subversion Eva Branscome 122 Re-Radicalising Post-Modernism Fat 128 Counterpoint Not So Radical: An American Perspective Jayne Merkel
Charles Jencks is an American architectural theorist, author and landscape architect. He has a BA in English Lit, BA and MA in Architecture and a PhD in Architectural History. He guest lectures on architecture in cultural institutions across the world.
