Abstract:
Postmodernism, which offers differences or heterogeneity while rejects
universal homogeneity, seems to have inspired seven prominent architects. They
are: Frank Gehry, Peter Eisenman, Bernard Tschumi, Rem Koolhaas, Daniel
Libeskind, Zaha Hadid, and Coop Himmelblau. What is interesting in their mindset
is that their tendency to use the deconstruction method as well as their
transgression of conventional rules turns out to be a strategy to delve into spiritual
dimensions and to reach the sublime. This research has sought to see the problems
coming up from their radical perspectives and its implications, as well as new
direction offered, for the practice of architectural design.
Hermeneutics is used as the method, by which the thoughts of the seven
architects are discovered through intertextual investigation, that is, by dismantling
the background, tracking the process of designing, reading and analyzing their
works, as well as capturing the issues coming up from the works. The
philosophical thoughts of Heidegger, Nietzsche, Derrida and Irigaray are
deployed to put the works of the architects in the wider context of postmodernism.
The problems coming up from the works of the seven postmodern architects, as
found by the research, are as follows: the architectural identities of their works are
barely recognizable; the complexity of their design often makes the technical
elaboration difficult; imaginative designs, more often than not, take extra-big
funding; complicated concept requires intensive communication between the
architect, the client, and the workers; when the fa9ade is taken as equally
important as the core of the building, it will confuse the proper status of the
building.
As for the new direction of the practice of designing, some implications
from the works of the seven architects are as follows: it is necessary today for
architects to look for inspiration from other fields such as philosophy, literature,
music, painting, sculpture, choreography, or from nature itself; the process of
designing does not always comply to the conventional rules of modernism; to
create forms that are more human, it often requires imaginative intelligence and
aptitude for combining concept and feeling; it takes courage to be able to play
with discontinuity, differences, and hierarchy; now the possibility is wide open to
mix mathematical considerations with artistic imagination; and finally, it is
important today to put 'experience' as the center of gravity in the designing
process.