Introduction In the 2th century, with the development of science and technology, the status of traditional theology and religion is declining. The outbreak of World War II made people question the rationalism of preaching "kindness, equality and fraternity". However, the rapid economic development after World War II, the advent of the information age and the transformation of social forms to consumption have weakened the significance of pursuing the so-called "eternity". The life attitude of "enjoying instant pleasure" and "eat, drink and be merry" is gradually accepted by people.
Popular culture, which has been suppressed for a long time and despised by "mainstream decent people", is beginning to stir. In 1956, the British Independent Group held an exhibition called "This is Tomorrow", and pop art officially entered the public eye for the first time. At the same time, the position of modernist style, which has ruled the architectural world for more than 3 years, began to shake: its original intention of "opposing the elitism that only serves a few dignitaries and powerful people" became another form of "elitism" because of its strong intellectual idealism. At the same time, the style of modernist architecture is becoming monotonous, which makes the city look increasingly rigid and monotonous.
the basic essence of pop architecture: abandoning elegance, embracing secularism, playing with symbols and pursuing chaos. These views are basically aimed at modeling. To put it bluntly, pop architecture is a kind of architecture that resists rationality, grandstanding and pursues rich and strange shapes.
origin and development
the appearance of pop architecture can be traced back to the 196s. In 1961, an old woman in Philadelphia, USA, Vanna Ventur decided to help her 36-year-old son, an architect who still had no achievements, by paying her own money to ask him to build a cheap small house. I didn't expect this house, which was weird and ugly from a professional point of view at that time, to become a famous "Lishushan Mother's House" in architectural history in the future. The architect's son, Robert Venturi, became the father of pop architecture. "Mother's House" may not be called a complete sense of pop architecture (perhaps it is not stupid enough), but it has clearly presented the basic essence of pop in concept: abandoning elegance, embracing secularity, playing with symbols and pursuing chaos. These views are basically aimed at modeling. To put it bluntly, pop architecture is a kind of architecture that resists rationality, grandstanding and pursues rich and weird shapes. In this sense, today's very popular architects such as Gehry and Gehry.
In p>1966, Venturi published the book "Contradiction and Complexity of Architecture", which fired at the mainstream modernist rigid matchbox architecture in theory. He ridiculed the famous saying "less is more" by the modernist architect Mies as "less is a bore" (Less is boring). Venturi said, "Architects can no longer be intimidated by puritanical moral preaching of orthodox modernism. I like the mixture of architectural elements, not purity; It is better to be crooked than straightforward; It is better to be self-contradictory than straightforward and clear at a glance ... "In 1972, Venturi published" Learning from Las Vegas ".He believed that modernist architecture was an elite culture, while ordinary people liked ordinary, lively and decorative buildings. He believes that the neon lights, billboards, fast food restaurants and other commercial and exaggerated shapes in Las Vegas are the value yardstick of the masses. If architects want to blend in with the masses, they must learn from Las Vegas. Previously, professional architects educated people with elegant modernist architecture, but Venturi asked them to bow down and learn from the market culture mixed with low taste and excessive stimulation. Because in Venturi's view, modernism is completely an inhuman architectural style that suppresses individuality and curbs enjoyment, architects should put down their airs and learn from the people's aesthetics and take the road of pop architecture. Echoing this is Charles Jencks, who claimed in his book Language of Postmodern Architecture in 1977: "Modern architecture died in St. Louis, Missouri, USA at 3: 32 pm on July 15th, 1972 ... Many people didn't notice this event, and no one mourned for it, but this doesn't mean that the statement that it died suddenly is inaccurate." This historical event actually refers to the demolition of a local black high-rise residential area (Pruitt-Igoe) by the Housing Authority in St. Louis, which was broadcast on TV and attracted wide attention. The architect who designed these buildings was the unlucky architect Yamazaki, and the twin towers of the World Trade Center bombed on September 11th were also his masterpieces, as if his buildings were destined to be bombed for everyone to see on TV.
since the 197s, pop architecture has gradually become popular. At that time, people abandoned the fantasy of perfection and elegance and turned to the pursuit of mediocre and popular aesthetics, so pop architecture expressed the public's voice with simple language and popular means. In 1976, when designing the main building for Oberlin College, Venturi quietly placed a funny and lovely "Love Onek" column in a corner of the house. He abandoned the traditional marble material, used wood and simplified the carving of the stigma to make it look like a pair of pillars with Mickey Mouse ears. And Charles Moore carried forward this architectural spoof. The Italian Plaza in New Orleans, USA, which was designed by it, is based on the Roman Plaza, and at the same time, the traditional materials and structures are madly replaced and transformed. Square columns replace columns and are painted in various bright colors. The stigma is made of bright stainless steel. The original solemn Roman square has turned into a large disco dance floor. This building project has become a classic representative of pop architecture in 197s, which is vivid, commercial, popular, bright and collage … almost all pop elements can be embodied in this building.
with the changes of the times, the expansion and infiltration of pop culture into the architectural world has also made it slowly onto the mainstream road. Pop culture, originally regarded as an "anti-official" language, has gradually become an "official spokesman" on some level, intentionally or unintentionally. With the multi-directional evolution of Popper's expression form and the multiple changes of his identity, architects should also take their own needs according to the situation. The giant telescope at the entrance of the headquarters building of Chiat advertising company designed by Frank Gehry represents the identity of the company and implies the company's foresight. The bright yellow basket shape of the headquarters building of longaberger, a famous American basket production company, is a typical case of "what is built is sold" architecture. Russia's "Shtrikh-Kod", with its striking red bar code design, embodies its function as a shopping center. In the above three examples, the symbolic meaning of Pop has formed a unique architectural language, which is not an abstract metaphor but a straightforward and popular message. Clear architectural expression makes people immediately know the significance of its existence.
nowadays, more and more pop buildings are linked with political power, or some buildings representing political power are emitting a strong pop meaning. They convey a kind of straightforward power language and political majesty through huge architectural volume, exaggerated scale and weird modeling. At the same time, pop culture has been "sublimated" after the baptism of political power. The process of its rise from "Xialiba people" to "spring snow" seems to indicate that a kind of "elitist" architecture in disguise is about to be born.