A Worldwide Book:

This research Method workshop combined archival research, oral history and various mapping exercises in order to (re)write the history of one of the most important books of late-twentieth-century architecture, i.e. Charles Jencks’s 1977 The Language of Postmodern Architecture.

If the term postmodern remains associated with a multitude of concepts and realities in architecture — sometimes even antagonistic — it inevitably refers to a criticism of Modernism, perceived as dogmatic and subject to a series of standards and a rigid set of norms. Partaking in this criticism, American architect, cultural theorist, landscape designer, architectural historian, polemistand long-time London resident Charles Jencks (1939-2019) denounced, loud and clear, the (conventional) vision according to which a unified theory and practice called ‘Modern Architecture’ actually existed. He did so first in his Meaning in Architecture (1969), a book he co-edited with Georges Baird, and later in Architecture 2000: Predictions and Methods (1971). In his third book, Modern Movements in Architecture (1973), a publication resulting from his doctoral thesis carried out under the supervision of Reyner Banham, Jencks went further in defending the idea of ​​an architectural pluralism, which he mapped out in the form of an evolutionary tree divided into six main traditions. Building upon this work, Jencks coined the term “post-modern” in reference to the new attitude toward architecture that he saw emerging around the globe. He used the term first in an Architectural Association Quarterlyarticle published in 1975, and later in the first edition of The Language of Post-Modern Architecture (1977). Part book and part glossy magazine, this unconventional publicationwas a commission of Andreas Papadakis editor in chief of Academy Editions, and later went into five reeditions (1978, 1981, 1984, 1987, and 1991), each time with a different cover. Subsequently translated in German, Spanish, French, Polish, Russian, Japanese and Chinese, and circulated through many unofficial translations, the book was an international bestseller, marking the emergence of the age of globalization.

In the workshop, students have situated the book in its context while analysing its form, content, and legacy. The learned to:

• Analyse and understand a given historical period using a series of suggested methodological lenses;
• Gain a critical understanding by engaging with scholarship on architectural books as a form of knowledge production
• Conduct historical research, using primary archival material, secondary sources, and oral history;
• Produce a bibliography and literature review;
• Develop graphic design and creative presentation skills;
• Communicate research through alternative formats.