constructedenvironment

From Charles Jencks at Blueprint Magazine…

Strange as it may sound, post-modern architecture flourished after it was declared dead in the Nineties. Perhaps all it needed was a name change, the disappearance of a moniker that had tantalised people for 20 years. Whatever the case, ‘post-modernism blossomed after the millennium in all but name, especially in architecture. With the return of ornament and pattern-making, the explosive growth in iconic buildings and landmark sculptures – works that are symbolic and highly communicative – many of the PM concerns of the Eighties and Nineties have become central to society.

This cryptic rebirth raises the question of how we categorise a period, especially the modern one. Most historians date the modern age to the Renaissance for two essential reasons: the birth of the global economy and the nation state. Beyond such determinants there are the words of the participants themselves, the repetitive use of that big brand ‘moderna’, and its cognate terms of praise. Architects and historians, such as Filarete and Vasari, used that term positively on countless occasions. If one accepts that both popular and professional usage defines labels, then one might call the period 1970-1990 a post-modern era; but I think that would be a kind of modern mistake. It would be reductive, oversimplifying many different voices, and would erase the important continuities as well as a greater global truth. Much of the world is still embedded in traditional culture. Rather, it makes sense to conceive of history as interacting multiple waves, or parallel bands or rivers that compete and go underground or perhaps re-emerge for short periods. More…

From Ben Heather at stuff.co.nz…

Christchurch’s City Mall Restart project is being threatened with legal action after being accused of copying a “pop-up mall” in London.

Director of the London Boxpark development Roger Wade emailed City Mall Restart organisers accusing them of a “blatant breach of the Boxpark intellectual property rights”.

“Boxpark has now instructed legal action against the owners of City Mall – Pop Up Mall for intellectual property rights infringement,” he said.

But City Mall organisers have hit back, claiming Boxpark was being “precious” and there were no similarities between the projects.

The threat could not have come at worse time for Christchurch organisers, with City Mall scheduled to reopen on Saturday, marking the first return of retail to central Christchurch since the February 22 earthquake. More…

Review from Edwin Heathcote at the Financial Times on The Art-Architecture Complex, by Hal Foster…

I like this title. It suggests the uncovering of a huge conspiracy, a moneymaking axis on a par with the military-industrial complex or the newer, more sinister military-entertainment complex (which sees the confluence of shoot-’em-up computer gaming and training soldiers to kill without compunction). Unfortunately – because, surely, we all love conspiracy theories – it is nothing of the kind. Instead it is a collection of essays, some very good, some less so, on the state of contemporary architecture and contemporary – particularly minimal – art.

Hal Foster, a US art critic and author who writes for the London Review of Books, purports to reveal an alliance of the corporate and the cultural in an increasingly globalised world of contemporary visual culture. He backs this up by pointing to the ubiquity of big-name artists in homogenous new museums designed by an elite group of “starchitects”.

It is an intriguing proposition and one, you would think, that could be bitingly critical. But Foster feels, perhaps, too much affection for his protagonists. Essays on the architecture of his namesake Norman Foster, Richard Rogers, Renzo Piano and Zaha Hadid present standard histories paired with perceptive but slightly bland analyses of their work. A chapter on what he calls “minimalist museums” – white walls, concrete, raw industrial spaces and so on – identifies a trend that is by now so familiar as to have become a cliché. We all know these are the default spaces of modernity; the question is, what is the next phase? More…

From Gautam Pemmaraju, 3 Quarks Daily

A distinct advantage to my small rental in the once ‘leafy suburb’ of Bandra in western Bombay is its garden. Actually, not quite a ‘garden’ in the sense that it is arranged with great care or acuity, tended to diligently, or bedecked with decorative flowers and plants, it is rather, for the most part, an unkempt, somewhat derelict yard with several planted trees and a wide range of wild ferns, creepers, fruit, herb, and vegetable plants. The diversity of botanical life is pretty fascinating, not to mention the many song birds, from the White-Throated Fan Tail, the Oriental Magpie Robin to the Asian Koel, and lest I forget, the many worms, slugs, bees, butterflies, garden lizards, frogs, squirrels, snails that are to be found in residence – occasionally at my doorstep. Itinerant cats, the odd fatigued kite, noisy crows, sparrows and pigeons, barn owls, and bandicoots pass through, and I have often imagined an irascible rodent knocking at my door demanding a change of music.

The space around me is a wild urban garden.

To Read More…