Inside Cosmic House: A Postmodern Icon
Charles Jencks (1939-2019) was an architectural historian, designer, landscape artist and author, who in 1977 wrote the era-defining, The Language of Post-Modern Architecture. In this video, writer, architect and designer Edwin Heathcote introduces the theories and aesthetics of the Postmodern through a behind-the-scenes look at Jencks’ Cosmic House of 1978, his “built manifesto of Postmodernism”. Driven by the idea that great buildings of the past represented coherent worldviews, the structure of Jencks’ house is based on the solar system and replete with references to history, exploring man’s relationship to the cosmos.
Time Period:
20th century
Themes:
Edwin Heathcote is the architecture and design critic of The Financial Times. He is an architect and designer and the author of over a dozen books including The Meaning of Home (2012). He is also the founder and editor-in-chief of online design writing archive Readingdesign.org and a columnist and contributor to a number of magazines, including GQ and Icon.
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