Postmodernism Australia Architecture - Essay Example

Name : xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Tutor :xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Title : Postmodernism Australia architecture Institution : xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Date :xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx @ 2012 Postmodernism Australia architecture Introduction Postmodern architecture began like an international style first witnessed in the 1950s. However before the 1970s it was not a movement. Presently it still has an influence on architecture. Similar to most of the cultural movements the most visible and most pronounced ideas of post modernism have been witnessed in architecture. In post modernism the formalized and functional shapes of modern styles got their replacement in diverse aesthetics. Architects discovered for another time, the symbolic and expressive value of in architectural forms and elements which have been evolving through many years of building that the modern style had abandoned. Post modernism in Australian architecture developed in a similar pattern to international architecture (Jencks 1991, p. 200). Australia has several prominent architects among them Perter Corrigan whose works reflect many of the international styles found in Europe and The USA. This paper will investigate the development of postmodernism in Australia. It will examine whether post modernism in Australian followed an international pattern or developed a particular sensibility. It will also discuss Australian architect Perter Corrigan and Rmit University building 8 among others. International and Australian Post-modernism Both Australian and international architecture have had major contributions from various key players. These architects are known for having played a significant role in post modernism. Major international architects in post modernism included Aldo Rossi, Barbara Bielecka, Ricardo Bofill, John Burgee, Terry Farrell, Michael Graves, Helmut Jahn, Jon Jerde, Phillip Johnson, Ricardo Legorreta and Frank Gehry among many other. In Australia, notable postmodernism architects included Jørn Utzon, Robin Boyd, Roy Grounds and Romaldo Giurgola. In Australia, post modernism came later but had many similarities with what happened in Europe and the United States (Jencks 2011, p. 112). Post modernism in Australia followed the international pattern with architectural styles from the US and Europe playing a prominent role. The post modern architecture was characterized by references to vernacular and historical architecture that were very much recognizable. There were common buildings quoting art deco and classical details. People were also concerned about the scale and character of the environment of the building. A residential example in Canberra area is the Lovie house (Hans 1995, p. 64). In the times before the Europeans settled in Australia in the year 1788, permanent structures created by the indigenous people of Australia were very few because the indigenous people never built structures that could be recognized easily by European settlers. As a colony of Britain, the first buildings by the Europeans in Australia were derived from the fashions of the Europeans being used at that time. Substantial structures were preceded by daub and wattle. The architecture of Georgia is evident in government buildings constructed earlier and the homesteads of wealthy people (Nesbitt1996, p. 182).  With the gold rushes in Australia during the mid 19th century, important built Sydney and Melbourne as well as in Bendigo and Ballarat were built in Victorian architectural styles. A very important architectural movement in Australia was known as the federation architecture in the twentieth century where Australia began developing its own style and the non historic styles of the late twentieth century. Australian architecture has been shaped by socio political factors. In the early twentieth century, Australian cities had had set height limits for buildings at 150 feet. This prevented the American style of very tall buildings developing. With the lifting of the limits in the 1950s the style changed (Jencks, Griffiths, Holland 2011, p. 231). Before the 20th century ended there were not many high density houses in Australia because families were seeking to have their own free standing houses together with backyards. In the 1960s concern was raised because of the demolition of older building and the boom of skyscrapers especially in Sydney. Green bans were helpful in protecting historic buildings of the 18th century from demolition to create space for the office towers. Internationally, postmodernism was taking countries by storm (Margaret1991, p. 300). In the 19th century developments inside England were a great inspiration to Australian architects. Starting in the 1930s, there were international and North American influences appearing. Buildings were influenced heavily by where the patrons originated from. The British wanted a reminder of their Tudoresque cottages and Gothic churches in England while the Polish Greek, Dutch, German, Italian and people from other countries tried to create the architecture from their home countries. The arts and crafts movement in England influenced Australian architecture in the 1800s in which architects adapted the building style to the conditions and landscape of Australia (Nesbitt, p. 1996).  An old colonial house in Carthona, Darling point, New South Wales (Jencks 2011, 89) However in Australia the case was different. There was a lot of resistance to post modernism architectural styles. Architectural post modernism was actually received with a lot of suspicion and resistance. People were very reluctant to lose their traditional housing designs to the new post modern skyscrapers that were symbolic of the North America and England. In Melbourne for example people fought battles to ensure that historic Carlton was preserved from being reclaimed for purposes of public housing. Gentrification was used greatly to save the suburb. Australia therefore came to differ from the rest of the world in terms of post modern architectural styles in that most of the architects in Australia during the 21st century are taking an Avant Garde dimension to architectural design. This has ensured that many buildings exist that are very unique and do reflect the values and culture of Australia. Consequently many practices from Australia have started expanding their influence to foreign countries instead of the reverse happening as in the past. In the past architectural styles were derivative and exotic. Recently though, the environment and climate started playing an important role (Taylor1986, p. 73). Australian architecture in a way resembled international architecture in the early days. The 19th century in particular, so many international styles come into Australia. This gave the country’s architecture and architects a face that was almost similar to what existed in other countries. However, with the passing of time, things changed and Australian architects started seeking to establish Australian styles. They started deviating from international architecture as their major source of inspiration was drawn from this such as the local environment and climatic conditions. This saw Australia start gaining its unique identity as far as post modernism is concerned. It took a turn from the usual international styles to more creative and homemade styles that displayed the uniqueness of the country (Margaret1991, p. 270). Peter Corrigan Corrigan was an Australian architect went to Melbourne University for his architecture degree. He went for further studies at Yale University where he graduated with a Masters Degree in Environmental Design. In 1974 he began his practice in Australia. Building 8 which was built in the year 1993 happens to be among Corrigan’s most known buildings. It is found Melbourne on Swanston Street at RMIT University. The building has its own characteristics and structure, many colors as well as situated materials. It was built on a constrained budget and its design required that buildings be accommodated below and next door. It sits on the union building done by John Andrew (Woods 1999, p. 210). When building 8 was built there was found a necessity to have a new lift to help people access upper floors. Furthermore, the “deep floor plate” was maximized to allow further development on the upper floor rooms. Inside the building, detail including hand railing and balustrades were positioned in a manner that gives the building a chaotic but unique sentiment. The building’s individuality in part comes from its roof form especially the position and the materials used. The building shows that various materials have been used in different parts. Some of these materials include polygon brick, steel pipes and stone facades that are coloured. All these materials impact the atmosphere of RMIT in one way or the other (Dean 1984, p. 90). Chapel of St. Josephs as one of Corrigan’s works, Source: (Taylor 1986, p. 79) Australian and international architects The major difference between architects in Australia and the international ones is that those in Australia have tried to maintain their unique style. They strive to avoid copying foreign architectural styles, something that international architects are not keen about. Australian architects tend to nurture their local designs whose inspiration is drawn from home. Certain architectural styles display direct influence from local factors like climate. Examples of these include Filigree, Federation home and Queenslander styles. Other styles in Australian architecture show skillsets and local materials. Australian architects spearheaded certain movements especially residential architects such as Roy Grounds, Harry Norris, Robin Boyd, Harry Seidler and Frederick Romberg (Margaret 1991, p. 23). Newman College: A post modern architectural building in Australia (Nesbitt 1996, p. 50). Nevertheless, there were those Australian architects that had influence from international styles and even introduced them in Australia. Roy Grounds for example, having studied in England chose to produce work that resembled what international architects produced. He imported international styles from England into Australia (Jencks 2011, p. 65). Grounds was born in Melbourne and was educated at Melbourne University after leaving Scotch college. He worked for Blacket, Craig and Foster architectural firms. He went to England in 1932 and later the US after leaving Melbourne. In England and the US, Grounds got a lot of exposure on contemporary architectural styles. This experience had an influence on his work because in his subsequent productions he featured styles from these two countries. He was similar to international architects in his styles, having borrowed some of them from England and North America. The difference between him and the international architects comes in because he could combine both local Australian styles and international styles in his work. When he went back to Australia, Grounds formed a partnership with Mewton Geoffrey with whom he introduced international architectural styles to Melbourne. Many prominent works by Grounds had a lot in common with international architects because of the influence he got from England from 1936 to 1939 (Nesbitt 1996, p. 54). Another prominent Australian architect was Harry Norris who lived between 1888 and 1966. His works can be found all over Melbourne. Norris can be compared to international architects in that he also combined local styles and influences from outside. He was popularly known for his Art Deco Style that combined Australian and American architecture. From 1920 to 1930, he was among the most prominent commercial architects. Inspiration for his works was drawn from his many trips abroad where he went to see current trends in architecture especially the United States. Because of this, his style transformed and developed in a continuous manner (Taylor 1986, p. 130). Harry Seidler was another architect from Australia who lived between 1923 and 2006 and was regarded as an icon in the architecture of Australia. Upon moving to Australia in the year 1948, he carried with him international methodology and modernist ideas. This influenced local architecture in a very drastic way. He is recognized as the man who introduced modernism to Australia. He can also be compared to international architects in that he borrowed modernist ideas from other foreign countries and took them to his own country. Many international architects combined local ideas with foreign styles and this is the approach that Seidler took. Seidler is known for changing Sydney’s skyline especially in the CBD. He also contributed public spaces that are useable to Sydney. His works included Australia Square of 1961 which was the tallest light weight concrete building of those times. For over 50 years, he made bold, modern and distinctive architecture among them houses, offices, apartments and embassies both at home and internationally. Certain designs received criticism because they were out of place but Seidler got many honours and awards. To travelled extensively and this allowed him to meet many other architects from other countries who influenced him (Taylor1986, p. 135). Post modern architecture in Australia was introduced by architects who had received some exposure from England and America. The desire of some of them to have Australian cities look like American and British cities was however not fully achieved since several traditional styles were retained by the Australians. They also sought to create their own post modern styles unique to their country (Apperly, Irving, Reynolds 1989, p. 47). Summary and Conclusion To summarize, the paper has examined the reception that architectural post modernism got in Australia, major international and local players, the pattern followed by Australian post modernism, Perter Corrigan and Rmit University building 8 and finally the difference between Australian architecture and architects and the their international counterparts. Architectural post modernism was received with resistance and opposition in Australia. The people were used to their traditional styles and did not want to adopt the new styles that were most likely originating in America and England. Later on however they had to allow these new styles to penetrate the country although with some reservations. Australia had notable architects such as Jørn Utzon, Robin Boyd, Roy Grounds and Romaldo Giurgola. Key international architects included Aldo Rossi, Barbara Bielecka, Ricardo Bofill, John Burgee, and Terry Farrell among others. Australian post modern initially too an international style but later started developing its own sensibility. Australian architecture developed differently and managed to create its own identity from the rest of the world. Its architectural identity was inspired by the environment and climate in Australia. Post modernism in Australia therefore took its own different shape from what was being experienced internationally. Bibliography Apperly, R. Irving, I., Reynolds P. (1989). A pictorial guide to identifying Australian architecture (Paperback, 1994 ed.). Sydney, Australia: HarperCollins. 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