Modernism in Design and Architecture - Essay Example

MODERNISM Prince Nora in Riyadh is built in a modern style but propagate a culture of segregation using clumsy solution. In that accord, there is a need for a better and improved design that accommodates various elements of postmodernity and eliminates any prospect of discrimination. In order to achieve the philosophy of postmodernism characterized by transparency, there is a need to adopt more liberal and advanced architectural design that is culturally accommodating (Hill, 2001). The most appropriate design should embrace the principle of modern architecture applied with a full concentration of the postmodernism philosophies. Ideally, the design will be embedded Jonathan Hills notion of structure that is to expand the subject matter of planning and explore their interdependence. Traditionally, the purpose of design has been understood as the physical substances used in construction. For this reason, the proposed model will be a hybrid that incorporates the modern and traditional architecture to produce a cross breed that pushes the boundaries between subjects (Hill, 2001). Accordingly, this will facilitate an amalgam study that covers social, psychological, political, cultural history, art principles, and architecture. The application of a literal or phenomenal transparency in education facilitates communication between the players in a school setting. In his book Architecture the Subject Matter, Hill aims at expanding the subject and matter of architecture as well as examine their interdependence. In its centrality, the book goes beyond the familiar boundaries of the discipline to reassess the building. In a deeper understanding, Hill depicts that architectural matter is not the physical fabric, but rather the components of an element such as the bricks, words, sound, blood cells, and pixels (Hill, 2001). From Hills perspective, the personal perception, visualizing, and analysis of a situation is expounded by emphasizing on breaking the case into its essential elements to have a clear understanding of the situation before making recommendations or conclusions. Postmodernism is a new concept that originates from the Latin ‘modo’ to mean the period after modernism. Specifically, it implies the living in an era that stretches from the modern time into the future through a historical and cultural continuum (Jencks, 1996). From a postmodern perspective, the hybrid architecture will collect modern principles, criticize it with postmodern criticism, and apply it literally or phenomenally in a new approach that expands the ideal meaning of design. The sense of late modernism is described as the movement that arise from and react against trends in innovation. Although it rejects some aspects of radicalism, it advances the theoretical potentiality of the modernist creativity (Krauss, 1985). Postmodernism critics such as Kirk Varnedoe asserts that postmodernism is unrealistic since the potentials of modernism are yet to be exhausted. On the other hand, Jean-Francois Lyotard does not believe in a state of postmodernism that is different from high modernism. He believes that the high modernist style is part of the experimentation of high modernism that will eventually lead to a new form of innovation (Krauss, 1985). While most individuals viewed the concept of postmodernism as an abstract and embedded in modernism, Hilton Kramer perceives the notion as a creation of innovation at the end of its tether. Charles Jencks depicts the United States of America as a nation that does not rely on the past but rather focuses on the future. Specifically, the leading idea in the USA is to produce and consume in a way that no one notices the past (Louis 1896). A similar eye is needed in architecture to concentrate the focus in postmodernity instead of dwelling in the innovative era. As modernism nears its collapse, structures of the human society and relationships, as well as the ideal designers, should focus their eyes in the postmodern era. As the laboratories of trial and error, cities have an imperative role in the success of achieving the development in postmodernism. In that accord, the instructors of the discipline should focus on its real-life application to perfect their skills to design exceptional cities. Specifically, this means being guided by creativity and innovation instead of being guided by principles derived from the appearance and behavior of the modern cities. Advocacy modernism takes a viewpoint adopted from Louis Sullivan to mean the prevailing laws of all things organic and inorganic, physical and philosophical, social and extraordinary that forms an ever flow function. There is a modesty space between the interaction of men and women in the learning facilities. Specifically, this is the discriminatory interaction between men and women caused by a culture. Unfortunately, the practice has spread to the education system propagating the cultural practices that curtail male-female interaction at sensitive zones such as entrance and pathways. Indeed, argued by Sullivan, culture is an invisible barrier that hinders the analysis of a situation at any given time. Suggesting that the principle of truth to material is a materialistic approach is wrong. Allowing the cultural construct to speak for themselves is the right approach because they are culturally relative based on the nationality or society (Ákos, 1996). The understanding of culture is dependent on hierarchy of material values governed by idealistic system. Specifically, content is appreciated for their quality and not their inherent physical qualities. In the modern world, the architectural meaning of material has been replaced with a direct appreciation of the natural and industrial material surface. Consequently, there is little debate of the semantics of elements in art and architecture, causing a lack of a systematic approach to the study. However, the importance of material in construction is indisputable as it plays a vital role and has a unique meaning. Space is the essential quality of architecture. Although the topic of the façade and the surface was suppressed from the mid-1920s, it is unimaginable to append the sixth point that stresses the necessity of the white veneer (Ákos, 1996). Doctrines of modernism issue little analysis of surface and materials since they are not crucial to architect. The most updated design technology is the CAD that is based on three-dimensional line drawings to signify a space. As a result, the two-dimensional surface is an afterthought and a low priority in the design. The success of a three-dimensional surface causes contradiction between engineering and architecture. Architectural experience is comprehended as computer simulated flights above volumes and cross-spaces (Ákos, 1996). The most imperative thing is to comprehend how materials carry meaning through the focus of the aesthetic system of truth to material and aesthetic of cladding. However, this is a brief excursion into the largely neglected field of the iconology of materials. Briefly, iconology is the study of visual imagery, symbolism and interpretation in social and political terms. Finally, the architecture will eliminate the embarrassing moment and encourage an accommodating environment that translates into a material network from hijab. Indeed, the mission of the building was to transform the mundane reality into realm art. The successful designing of a better social translates into the creation of a hybrid culture that is non-discriminatory on any social factors such as gender. In a similar way, the triumphal arch originated as an improvised wooden scaffold and later commemorated when the army marched under it into the city, and the structure was rebuilt in marble. The transformation from wood to marble has a similar change from a discriminatory to an accommodating culture. Works Cited Ákos Moravánszky Truth To Material Vs The Principle Of Cladding: The Language Of Materials In Architecture Source: AA Files, No. 31 (Summer 1996), pp. 39-46 Hill, Jonathan. Architecture: The Subject is Matter Hardcover. Routledge, 2001. Print. Jencks, Charles. What Is Post-Modernism?London: Academy Editions, 1986. Print. N.p., 1996. Print. Krauss, Rosalind E. The Originality of the Avant-Garde and Other Modernist Myths. Cambridge: MIT Press, 1985. Print. Louis H. Sullivan.“The tall office building artistically considered” march, 1896. Read More