Postmodern Utopias
Postmodern Utopias
"A late twentieth century style and concept in architecture that represents a departure from modernism and it has a heart of general distrust of grand theories and ideologies as well as a problematical relationship with any notion of art," this is the Webster 's definition of the word, postmodern. Then we have a utopia, which is "an imaginary place or state of things in which everything is perfect." Utopia is also, a definition by Webster. The idea of a postmodern utopia is as follows, "Postmodern forms, at once more pragmatic, multiauthored, and more responsive to green and social concerns" (Freestone, 2000). The era of the postmodern utopia started in the early 1990 's and continues to progress onward today. With so much of society focused upon the ecology of the environment, as well as a few other factors of the growing new urban world, architects ' long range thinking began to change within the layouts of their buildings along with the layout of the new city developments. The modern utopias were looked at as being "shallow and uncritical" and "sci-fi templates" (Freestone, 2000) by the growing society. Not only that, but the buildings were not designed with the thought of energy and postindustrial development in mind. So as large cities began to age and morph, these utopian buildings were failing the tests of time and human occupation, which direly needed to be passed in order to commence into the future.
These spaces and places were becoming, dystopias, a word coined by C.A. Doxiadis. With the growing cities and suburban areas and the birth of new thoughts, utopias of all means began to transform. From machined cutouts and geodesic domes in the 1940 's to green homes and workstations of present date, the postmodern utopian era was birthed by a handful of architects. These masterminds began to shift, shape, and mold the built environment, as we know it. From their minds, three different platforms of utopias were developed. The ecopolis,
"A late twentieth century style and concept in architecture that represents a departure from modernism and it has a heart of general distrust of grand theories and ideologies as well as a problematical relationship with any notion of art," this is the Webster 's definition of the word, postmodern. Then we have a utopia, which is "an imaginary place or state of things in which everything is perfect." Utopia is also, a definition by Webster. The idea of a postmodern utopia is as follows, "Postmodern forms, at once more pragmatic, multiauthored, and more responsive to green and social concerns" (Freestone, 2000). The era of the postmodern utopia started in the early 1990 's and continues to progress onward today. With so much of society focused upon the ecology of the environment, as well as a few other factors of the growing new urban world, architects ' long range thinking began to change within the layouts of their buildings along with the layout of the new city developments. The modern utopias were looked at as being "shallow and uncritical" and "sci-fi templates" (Freestone, 2000) by the growing society. Not only that, but the buildings were not designed with the thought of energy and postindustrial development in mind. So as large cities began to age and morph, these utopian buildings were failing the tests of time and human occupation, which direly needed to be passed in order to commence into the future.
These spaces and places were becoming, dystopias, a word coined by C.A. Doxiadis. With the growing cities and suburban areas and the birth of new thoughts, utopias of all means began to transform. From machined cutouts and geodesic domes in the 1940 's to green homes and workstations of present date, the postmodern utopian era was birthed by a handful of architects. These masterminds began to shift, shape, and mold the built environment, as we know it. From their minds, three different platforms of utopias were developed. The ecopolis,
Bibliography: "Aristotle." Wikipedia. 2 Nov. 2006 http://www.wikipedia.org Design Professionals and the Built Environment: An Introduction. N.p.: John Wiley & Sons Ltd., 2000. Ecopolis Architects. 31 Oct. 2006 http://www.ecopolis.com. Nicomachean Ethics. Great Britian: CRW Publishing Limited, 2004.