1/17/2011

Retroactive Postmodernism

From the Fantastic Journal:



One definitely to wind up the purists. The Sugden House (1955-56, by Alison and Peter Smithson) rehearses a number of post modern tactics, particularly evident in the work of the Venturis. The use of ugly and ordinary elements, re-scaling, a deliberate 'wrongness' in the placing of windows in relation to structure and various disembodied fragments combined in a three-dimensional collage. The interior is especially rich, a simple plan where the walls have dissolved, leaving fireplaces and other domestic elements hanging in space. The Sugden House is perhaps the only piece of Pop architecture to come out of the Independent Group and contains all sorts of rich possibilities for architecture, none of them explored by the Smithsons themselves.
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