Neue Staatsgalerie, Stuttgart, Germany James Stirling
Introduction
Main Aim of Essay
To find out how close Neue Staatsgalerie comes in terms of the postmodern qualities described in “Complexity and Contradiction in Architecture” by Robert Venturi
Structure of Essay
Introduction – The problems of modern architecture - Too reductive - Oversimplistic
Body – The qualities of postmodern architecture
- Double-coding
- Not selective on problems to solve
- Not about picturesqueness
- Eclectic
Conclusion – A comparison between postmodern and modern architecture, which is more appropriate in current setting
Body of Content
Architectural Philosophy 1. Modern architecture is too reductive
- solutions were pure, but boring (do not tally with modern science, poetry or art – recognize complexity and contradiction)
- highly selective on which problems to solve
- though avoiding ambiguity, might be oversimplistic
- only characterizing from the standpoint of a given interest, not as a whole
- prefer newness of modern function over its complexity
- practicality over aesthetics
- exclusion for expressive purposes
- why simple?
- propaganda (as an instrument to reform from classical style)
2. Post-modern architecture
- more than just a single layer of meaning
- eg. A wall is not just a wall
- Venturi embraces the load-bearing wall as phenomenologically and tectonically rich and significant
- “both/ and”, “double-functioning elements”, “more is not less”, “the difficult unity of inclusion”
- communication at numerous levels
- could have aesthetic simplicity, but with inner complexity
- achieving apparent simplicity through real complexity
- renewed consciousness of history
- eclectic, image-oriented appropriation of history