Postmodern Architecture: Everything You Need to Know 

Eclectic, irreverent, colorful, blended: When discussing postmodern architecture, it’s more likely than not these adjectives will come up in the conversation. “It’s a style, or maybe better described as a movement, that was prominent in the late 1970s and the 1980s,” explains Owen Hopkins, an architectural writer, curator, and author of multiple books, including Postmodern Architecture: Less is a Bore and Architectural Styles: A Visual Guide. Swathed in fascinating history and a compelling philosophy, the aesthetic is one of the most engaging of Western design. Below, dive into everything you need to know about postmodern architecture in this guide from AD.

What is postmodern architecture?

Postmodern architecture is a style of building design that emerged in the ’70s and ’80s as a reaction against the dogmas and ideals of modernism and the international style. “It saw a whole range of architects look again at the architectural past and think about how references to these times could be deployed via quotations, via references, or via sampling,” Hopkins explains. Some postmodern architects designed more serious buildings, others more playful, but they were all “underpinned by an attempt to reconnect architecture with the public,” says Hopkins. Postmodern buildings often feature elements from both classicism and contemporary architecture styles as a way to create something completely new.

History of postmodern architecture

According to Hopkins, to understand postmodern architecture correctly, it’s first necessary to understand modern architecture. “Modernism is probably best understood as the architectural and broader cultural attempt to develop styles of architecture which reflected the new spirit of modernity of industry,” he explains. The aesthetic was defined by both new materials—such as steel, concrete, and glass—and new building techniques and was spearheaded by architects such as Mies van der Rohe. “It was also about a style that was pared back, that was abstract, that did away with the decorative schemes of 19th-century architecture in a way that would be deemed to reflect this new spirit of modernity.” Taking place between the late 19th to mid 20th centuries, it wasn’t just the look of modernism that attracted people, but also the ideals it reflected. “Architecture was seen as a way to hopefully bring about a more egalitarian world via things like lots of public housing, hospitals, schools, and new libraries,” Hopkins says. “And modern architecture was the embodiment of this in many ways.”

Generally, postmodernism was seen as a reaction against modernist architecture. Starting in the late 1960s and early 1970s, “the idea that one could simply build a better world had very much run its course,” Hopkins adds. People no longer believed that architecture could solve many deep-rooted social, political, social, and racial injustices. “There was a very dramatic shift, and that was what postmodernism was about.” In 1966, architect Robert Venturi published a book titled Complexity and Contradiction in Architecture in which he explored the ways he hoped a new style could replace modernism. “I speak of a complex and contradictory architecture based on the richness and ambiguity of modern experience, including that experience which is inherent in art…. I prefer “both-and” to “either-or,” black and white, and sometimes gray, to black or white.” Postmodern design welcomed exploration, and many notable buildings of the style feature an irreverent combination of styles, forms, and humorous details.

In addition to Complexity and Contradiction in Architecture, another book by Venturi, this one co-authored by architect and urban planner Denise Scott Brown, also played a large role in the emergence and understanding of postmodern design. Called Learning From Las Vegas, the book centered on a study of Las Vegas, particularly the use of signs and symbols on the Las Vegas strip. The theorists argued that modernism had erased the use of decoration to convey meaning, and faulted the style for this offense. It is in many of these critiques that the ideologies and purpose of postmodernism were born. Much of the postmodern movement was about creating buildings that narrate their function, rather than just expressing it.

As Hopkins explains, “Designers reacted against what was perceived as the misguided attempts of modernist architects to remake the world via architecture and instead settled for the world as it is. Instead of trying to resolve the contradictions in the world, they actually reveled in them and explore them.”

Defining elements and characteristics of postmodern architecture

Because of its origins as a contradiction to modernism’s perceived formality and lack of variety and ornamentation, postmodernism can be viewed as the opposite. Postmodern buildings are often described as looking “mishmash,” and that’s generally on purpose. “Quoting or referencing historical styles is a large part of postmodern architecture,” explains Hopkins. “This is not about trying to recreate buildings of the past, but it is lifting elements out of their context and putting them together in slightly fragmentary, but always unexpected ways.” It wouldn’t be unusual in postmodern design to see things like columns or cornices, which are historically associated with Greek and Roman architecture, and see them placed within a high-tech style building, for example.

“One of the modern ideals was the idea that materials should look like what they are, and postmodernism kind of threw that out the window,” Hopkins says. Designers would embrace using materials that appeared different from what they actually were, and therefore shuffled in a greeter interest in surface and veneer. “And that lead into other interests in color and intense pattern,” Hopkins explains. “It's said that modernism was about paring things back, reducing architecture to its kind of fundamentals. And postmodernism was taking the opposite approach and building things up, layering, and just adding more ideas, symbols, and references in a way that would communicate what it does.”

To better understand postmodern architecture, consider the following list of architectural elements. Though not exhaustive, postmodern buildings will often include the following:

• Variety of shapes and materials
• References to classical motifs
• Use of bright colors and patterns, both externally and internally
• A combination of various architectural styles, often mixed in unconventional ways
• Displays of humor or irony
• Fragmentation of forms

Famous examples of postmodern architecture and architects

Though there are many notable examples of postmodern architecture, the following are among the most recognized and exemplary of the style. 

Located in New Orleans, the Piazza d’Italia was completed in 1978 following the designs of postmodernist Charles Moore and Perez Architects. The public plaza is located behind the American Italian Cultural Center and features an Italian peninsula-shaped fountain surrounded by a Roman temple, clock tower, campanile, and multiple hemicyclical colonnades.

Designed by Venturi for his mother, the Vanna Venturi is an exemplary postmodern-style residential building. The home is located in Philadelphia and is defined by its monumental façade, despite the home only actually being about 30 feet tall. Venturi designed the home at the same time he wrote Complexity and Contradictions in Architecture, and the home was included in the book as an embodiment of the theories presented. The property’s pitched roof, central hearth and chimney, and ornamental appliqué arch are all seen as a rejection of modernism.

Located in New York, the AT&T Building, designed by Philip Johnson and John Burgee, was described by Arch Daily as the “single most important architectural detail of the last fifty years.” The office building’s open pediment caused many reactions, though it ultimately served as an indicator that postmodernism was coming onto the scene in full force. The New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission classified the buildings as a city landmark in 2018, largely because the structure is considered the first postmodern skyscraper.

Standing at 15 stories, the Portland Building is one of the most recognizable postmodern office buildings. Preceding the AT&T building, it was designed to house municipal offices. At the time, Portland mayor Frank Ivancie had expressed the opinion that the widespread use of modernism had made some cities look boring, which contributed in the selection of Graves’s design.

London-based architect James Stirling had made his name as a “modernist ruthless, almost functionalist, before making a dramatic switch to postmodernism,” says Hopkins. A prime example of this change is the Neue Staatsgalerie in Stuttgart designed in collaboration with Michael Wilford. The building is said to be inspired by the Guggenheim Museum in New York, the Pantheon in Rome, and the Altes Museum in Berlin. It combines classicism with modernism in a way that many have come to claim epitomizes the postmodern ethos.

Home of the Secret Intelligence Service, the SIS Building in London was designed in 1994 by Terry Farrell. Inspired by both modernist structures and Mayan and Aztec architecture, the building was generally favored by critics.