Postmodern Architecture

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Postmodern architecture emerged in the late 1950s as a reaction against the perceived failures of the modernist movement that had dominated architectural practice since the 1920s. Where modernism rejected historical ornament, demanded uniformity, and insisted that form follow function, postmodern architecture proposed complexity, contradiction, historical reference, and contextual response. The movement flourished particularly from the 1980s through the late 1990s in commercial, institutional, and residential building across North America and Europe.
Postmodern architecture emerged in the late 1950s as a reaction against the perceived failures of the [[modern-architecture|modernist movement]] that had dominated architectural practice since the 1920s. Where modernism rejected historical ornament, demanded uniformity, and insisted that form follow function, postmodern architecture proposed complexity, contradiction, historical reference, and contextual response. The movement flourished particularly from the 1980s through the late 1990s in commercial, institutional, and residential building across North America and Europe.

The intellectual foundations of postmodern architecture were established in the 1960s and 1970s by two American theorists writing against the rigid orthodoxies of the International Style. In his 1966 book *Complexity and Contradiction in Architecture*, the architect Robert Venturi argued for "a complex and contradictory architecture based on the richness and ambiguity of modern experience." Venturi rejected the functionalist doctrine that had produced an enormous quantity of plain, interchangeable buildings with no relationship to their surroundings, proposing instead a preference for "both-and" over "either-or": buildings that could be both ornamental and functional, both historical and contemporary, both serious and ironic. His response to Ludwig Mies van der Rohe's famous modernist maxim "Less is more" was pointed: "Less is a bore."

In 1972, Venturi and the architect and urban planner Denise Scott Brown published *Learning from Las Vegas*, co-written with Steven Izenour. The book further elaborated their argument against modernism and urged architects to take into account and celebrate the existing architecture of ordinary places rather than trying to impose visionary utopias from their own fantasies. Ornamental and decorative elements, they argued, "accommodate existing needs for variety and communication." The book was influential in opening readers' eyes to the commercial and vernacular landscape — the roadside strip, the decorated shed, the suburban retail corridor — as legitimate subjects for architectural attention.
In 1972, Venturi and the architect and urban planner Denise Scott Brown published *Learning from Las Vegas*, co-written with Steven Izenour. The book further elaborated their argument against modernism and urged architects to take into account and celebrate the existing architecture of ordinary places rather than trying to impose visionary utopias from their own fantasies. Ornamental and decorative elements, they argued, "accommodate existing needs for variety and communication." The book was influential in opening readers' eyes to the commercial and [[vernacular-architecture|vernacular]] landscape — the roadside strip, the decorated shed, the suburban retail corridor — as legitimate subjects for architectural attention.

## Formal characteristics in commercial construction

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In suburban commercial construction, postmodern architecture produced a distinctive building type: a two- to five-storey office building with a red brick or pre-cast concrete façade, a pitched or mansard roofline, arched or divided-light windows, and a main entrance emphasised by a gabled canopy or classical pediment. Surface parking lots at three stalls per 1,000 square feet complete the standard suburban postmodern commercial profile. This building type was reproduced across North American secondary markets from the mid-1980s through the late 1990s, producing a vast inventory of suburban commercial buildings that now compete with modernist stock for tenants in mid-sized cities.

The postmodern influence extended directly into retail commercial construction. The architect Michael Graves designed two of the most prominent postmodern institutional buildings — the Portland Building (1982) and the Denver Public Library (1995) — before turning his attention to large-format retail. He designed stores for Target and JC Penney in the United States that brought postmodern decorative motifs into the commercial retail box format. The Power Centre anchors that dominate North American secondary markets — large-format retail stores of 60,000 square feet and above — frequently incorporate postmodern ornamental treatment of their street-facing facades, with brick veneer, arched entry canopies, and corniced parapets applied to what is structurally a simple steel-frame retail shed.
The postmodern influence extended directly into retail commercial construction. The architect Michael Graves designed two of the most prominent postmodern institutional buildings — the Portland Building (1982) and the Denver Public Library (1995) — before turning his attention to large-format retail. He designed stores for Target and JC Penney in the United States that brought postmodern decorative motifs into the commercial retail box format. The [[power-centres|Power Centre]] anchors that dominate North American secondary markets — large-format retail stores of 60,000 square feet and above — frequently incorporate postmodern ornamental treatment of their street-facing facades, with brick veneer, arched entry canopies, and corniced parapets applied to what is structurally a simple steel-frame retail shed.

## Secondary market inventory and co-location context

In North American secondary markets, the postmodern commercial building stock of the 1985–2000 period represents the second major generation of suburban commercial development, following the modernist office buildings and strip malls of the 1960s and 1970s. The two generations together constitute the majority of the leasable commercial inventory in the suburban commercial corridors that WMC evaluates for co-location sites.
In North American secondary markets, the postmodern commercial building stock of the 1985–2000 period represents the second major generation of suburban commercial development, following the modernist office buildings and strip malls of the 1960s and 1970s. The two generations together constitute the majority of the leasable commercial inventory in the suburban commercial corridors that WMC evaluates for [[co-location-strategy|co-location]] sites.

The postmodern commercial building presents a specific combination of characteristics relevant to co-location site evaluation. The pitched roofline requires regular maintenance but provides significant attic space that can accommodate mechanical plant without consuming leasable floor area. The brick veneer façade has low maintenance costs relative to curtain-wall glazing and provides better thermal performance than single-pane glass systems. The lower storey heights of postmodern suburban construction — typically nine to ten feet finished floor to ceiling — are a functional limitation for professional service tenants who prefer the eleven- to fourteen-foot ceiling heights found in purpose-built professional office buildings.