Is it possible to map the architecture evolution over a century and trace the roots of complex and often overlapping trends? At the beginning of the new millennium, Charles Jencks' experience provides a personal, perceptive, and provocative synthesis of twentieth-century architecture. The American architectural theorist investigates the architectural declinations of a movement as acclaimed as the Modern one, now – in his opinion – surpassed by an eclectic, metaphorical, historicist and equally complex successor: Postmodernism. The latter, says Jencks, was formed as an endogenous critique of the utopia of a modern social-democratic architecture and, thanks to protest movements, increased its fame until it reached its peak with the exhibition of La Strada Novissima within the Venice Biennale 1980. In this context, the theorist realizes a review of diagrammatic maps called Evolutionary Trees, in which he enucleates the complex and articulated principles of postmodern trend, sustaining its authority and independence from previous movements. If mapping means to represent complex phenomena and elements by identifying a univocal spatial-temporal placement, in relation to a reference context, Jencks codifies an evocative graphic language to reflect the complexity of the architectural narrative. His path is rooted in the identification of the semantic space in which some selected architects operate based on their projects, and then moves to a more complex representation, definition, and classification of individual architectural trends and, finally, of the entire century. What all the diagrams have in common is the distribution of architectural movements around coherent traditions that tend to self-organize as deep structures despite sometimes being culturally opposed. These act as attractor basins, drawing architects into a personal line of development. What emerges from this representation – defined blob-diagram – is the dynamic and turbulent flow of architectural movements and heterogeneous personalities that have alternated in the previous century, finding points of contact, and manifesting themselves several times in a different expressive guise. As evidenced by refinements and modifications of the classification codified by Charles Jencks, evolutionary maps are an unfinished and constantly evolving work that leaves space for subsequent reworking. In this regard, it arises spontaneously to wonder how he would have represented, defined, and classified today's architecture, increasingly contaminated by scientific innovations and digital resources that influence the practice of composition and design. Can we imagine that the architect would provide his own interpretation in which these emergencies result as a linear continuation of Postmodernism, or would he investigate the roots of a movement that is delineated with autonomy from the previous context? Certainly, the architect recognizes that “a wind is stirring architecture; at least it is the beginning of a shift in theory and practice.”
È possibile mappare l’evoluzione dell’architettura di un secolo e risalire alle radici di movimenti e tendenze complesse e spesso sovrapposte? All’inizio del nuovo millennio, l’esperienza di Charles Jencks fornisce una sintesi personale, percettiva e provocatoria dell'architettura del ventesimo secolo. Il teorico dell’architettura statunitense intende indagare le declinazioni architettoniche di un movimento tanto acclamato come quello Moderno, ormai – a suo avviso – superato da un successore eclettico, metaforico, storicista altrettanto complesso: il Postmodernismo. Quest’ultimo, afferma Jencks, si forma come critica endogena dell’utopia di un’architettura moderna social-democratica e, anche grazie a movimenti di protesta, aumenta la sua fama fino a raggiungerne l’apice con l’allestimento de La Strada Novissima all’interno della Biennale di Venezia (1980). In questo contesto il teorico realizza una rassegna di mappe diagrammatiche definite Evolutionary Trees, nelle quali enuclea i complessi e articolati principi della corrente postmoderna sostenendone l’autorevolezza e l’indipendenza rispetto alle correnti precedenti. Se mappare significa rappresentare fenomeni ed elementi complessi individuandone un collocamento spazio-temporale univoco, rispetto ad un contesto di riferimento, Jencks codifica un linguaggio grafico evocativo al fine di restituire la complessità della narrazione architettonica. Il suo percorso affonda le radici nell’individuazione dello spazio semantico in cui operano alcuni architetti selezionati sulla base dei loro progetti, per poi passare ad una più complessa rappresentazione, definizione e classificazione delle singole tendenze architettoniche e, infine, dell’intero secolo. Ciò che accomuna tutti i diagrammi è la distribuzione dei movimenti architettonici attorno a tradizioni coerenti che tendono ad auto-organizzarsi come strutture profonde nonostante, talvolta, culturalmente opposte. Queste agiscono da bacini attrattori, attirando gli architetti verso una personale linea di sviluppo. Ciò che emerge da tale rappresentazione – definita blob-diagram – è il flusso dinamico e turbolento di movimenti architettonici e personalità eterogenee che si sono avvicendati nell’intervallo temporale considerato, trovando punti di contatto e manifestandosi più volte in una diversa veste espressiva. Come dimostrano gli affinamenti e le modifiche della classificazione codificata da Charles Jencks, le mappe evolutive risultano un’opera non conclusa e in continua evoluzione, che lascia spazio a rielaborazioni successive. A tal proposito, sorge spontaneo chiedersi come avrebbe rappresentato, definito e classificato gli odierni risvolti di un’architettura sempre più contaminata da innovazioni scientifiche e risorse digitali che influenzano la pratica compositiva e progettuale. Possiamo immaginare che l’architetto fornisca una sua interpretazione in cui tali emergenze risultano una lineare prosecuzione del Postmoderno, o indagherebbe le radici di un movimento che si delinea con autonomia rispetto al contesto precedente? Certamente l’architetto riconosce che “un nuovo vento sta agitando l’architettura: di sicuro questo è l’inizio di un mutamento sia nella teorica che nella pratica.”
Evolutionary Trees. L’architettura nelle mappe evolutive di Charles Jencks
Monica Battistoni;Camilla Sorignani
2021
Abstract
Is it possible to map the architecture evolution over a century and trace the roots of complex and often overlapping trends? At the beginning of the new millennium, Charles Jencks' experience provides a personal, perceptive, and provocative synthesis of twentieth-century architecture. The American architectural theorist investigates the architectural declinations of a movement as acclaimed as the Modern one, now – in his opinion – surpassed by an eclectic, metaphorical, historicist and equally complex successor: Postmodernism. The latter, says Jencks, was formed as an endogenous critique of the utopia of a modern social-democratic architecture and, thanks to protest movements, increased its fame until it reached its peak with the exhibition of La Strada Novissima within the Venice Biennale 1980. In this context, the theorist realizes a review of diagrammatic maps called Evolutionary Trees, in which he enucleates the complex and articulated principles of postmodern trend, sustaining its authority and independence from previous movements. If mapping means to represent complex phenomena and elements by identifying a univocal spatial-temporal placement, in relation to a reference context, Jencks codifies an evocative graphic language to reflect the complexity of the architectural narrative. His path is rooted in the identification of the semantic space in which some selected architects operate based on their projects, and then moves to a more complex representation, definition, and classification of individual architectural trends and, finally, of the entire century. What all the diagrams have in common is the distribution of architectural movements around coherent traditions that tend to self-organize as deep structures despite sometimes being culturally opposed. These act as attractor basins, drawing architects into a personal line of development. What emerges from this representation – defined blob-diagram – is the dynamic and turbulent flow of architectural movements and heterogeneous personalities that have alternated in the previous century, finding points of contact, and manifesting themselves several times in a different expressive guise. As evidenced by refinements and modifications of the classification codified by Charles Jencks, evolutionary maps are an unfinished and constantly evolving work that leaves space for subsequent reworking. In this regard, it arises spontaneously to wonder how he would have represented, defined, and classified today's architecture, increasingly contaminated by scientific innovations and digital resources that influence the practice of composition and design. Can we imagine that the architect would provide his own interpretation in which these emergencies result as a linear continuation of Postmodernism, or would he investigate the roots of a movement that is delineated with autonomy from the previous context? Certainly, the architect recognizes that “a wind is stirring architecture; at least it is the beginning of a shift in theory and practice.”I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.
