Post Modern

Postmodern architects felt that buildings in the Modern style had been stripped of their symbolic character.

In a desire to create striking and individual buildings, they ignored many traditional rules of architecture, such as the principles of proportion and scale. They used modern construction techniques but also stylistic elements from many different periods and styles. Some came from historical or local architecture, others from popular culture

Clash of scales

Postmodern architecture often includes elements that are clearly out of scale with the rest of the building.

This is most obvious where the building borrows from other styles. The mixing of large and small classical orders, the distortion and exaggeration of motifs, can make a building seem dramatic and grand.

Architects also played with scale to introduce surprise and a sense of fun.

Thin facades

Some Postmodern buildings have thin fronts that are clearly distinct from the rest of the building.

In some cases the thinness is exaggerated as a visual joke. For example, the facade may dissolve into the windows at the side of the building.

On other buildings, the facades are treated as little more than billboards or stage backdrops. This allowed architects greater freedom of expression in the design of the building front.

Classical references

Postmodern buildings often used elements of classical architecture.

In most cases the use is decorative not structural. Nor is it 'correct'. Postmodern architects did not follow the strict principles of the classical style. For example, they deliberately combined and exaggerated columns, arches and rough masonry. They took elements from Greek temples and applied them to buildings that had entirely modern functions.