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Documenting and Conserving Postmodern Heritage

Documentation et conservation de l’héritage postmoderne

“Les Cahiers : Journal for the Study of Architecture, Urbanism and Landscape”

« Les Cahiers de la recherche architecturale, urbaine et paysagère »

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Published on Monday, October 02, 2023

Abstract

Les Cahiers: Journal for the Study of Architecture, Urbanism and Landscape (Craup) launches its 21st thematic dossier “Documenting and Conserving Postmodern Heritage”. This call for papers invites exploration of postmodern design —whether architectural, urban or landscape— produced anywhere in the world between 1966 and 1989, and currently undergoing processes of identification, heritagization or transformation. Some questions that may be explored are methods for identifying and promoting heritage, the specific features of these projects and the (new) heritage values associated with them, as well as their material and symbolic sustainability. International comparisons or overviews of ongoing heritage projects in specific political and cultural contexts are welcomed.

Announcement

Arguments

However, some fifty years after its appearance, postmodern architecture has today become controversial in terms of its conservation.1 In 2014, for example, Michael Graves spoke out against the potential destruction of the Portland building, a project he inaugurated in 1982 and which has been listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2011. In 2017, debates erupted over Snøhetta‘s renovation project for the AT&T building in New York, designed by Philip Johnson. More recently, in 2022, Denise Scott Brown published an opinion piece opposing Annabelle Seldorf's redesign of the Sainsbury Wing at the National Gallery.2

As time progresses and these buildings come under threat, protection measures and symbols of recognition are also on the rise. In the United Kingdom, as many as 17 postmodern buildings were given Grade I listing on the National Heritage List for England in 2018, their highest ranking.3 In Italy, Paolo Portoghesi's archives were recognised as being of notable historical interest by the Superintendency of Archives of Lazio in 2006. In France, the Antigone district was awarded the title Architecture Contemporaine Remarquable in 2018. Moreover, following the death of architect Ricardo Bofill in early 2022, the French municipalities in which he designed urban neighbourhoods joined forces to pay him tribute in a full page spread in Le Monde.4

As part of these heritage and restoration initiatives, research is being carried out to document this architecture and examine their preservation.5 In 2020, Bryan Clark Green organized a panel at the Society of Architectural Historians conference entitled “Preserving the Postmodern Past.” In 2022, the University of Weimar and ETH Zurich featured German postmodern architecture in the conference “Denkmal Postmoderne: Erhaltung einer ‘nicht-auszuschließenden’ Epoche.”

This issue takes a look at the current state of knowledge and preservation of postmodern heritage, whether architectural, urban or landscape. Indeed, if postmodern architecture is generally considered to be part of a period that saw a return to the city - with urban spatial design taking precedence over architectural space, as in Bofill's French projects – we also aim at questioning the heritage of important landscape projects, such as Jencks' Garden of Cosmic Speculation, Portoghesi's Calcata garden, or even highway service areas like that of Bernard Lassus in Caissargues.

This call for papers invites exploration of postmodern design —whether architectural, urban or landscape— produced anywhere in the world between 1966 and 1989, and currently undergoing processes of identification, heritagization or transformation. Some questions that may be explored are methods for identifying and promoting heritage, the specific features of these projects and the (new) heritage values associated with them, as well as their material and symbolic sustainability. International comparisons or overviews of ongoing heritage projects in specific political and cultural contexts are welcomed. Contributions that consider non-European and North American contexts, such as Asia or South America, would equally be appreciated. Proposals for articles may be submitted in one of the following three themes.

Recognition, identification and visibility

The question of documentation as well as graphic and film media involved in recording postmodern projects could equally be addressed. For example, to what extent does the plurality and wealth of documentation used by postmodern design architects play a part in processes of recognition and dissemination when it comes to architecture that remains little-known? Does the use of certain architectural forms as backdrops (cinema, advertising, etc.) contribute to its recognition?6

What kind of heritagization?7

If we can stress the historical simultaneity of the rise of “heritagization” and of “postmodernism” as a period or style, to what extent do the specificities brought about by postmodernism influence heritagization (or not), as may be the case with modern architecture?8 For example, does the popular dimension of this architecture influence the actors mobilized in the heritagization process? How does heritagization consider the playful, ironic and symbolic dimensions of this architecture? to what extent do protective measures accommodate the gigantic scale of certain urban projects? How does use value take on a particular significance in projects founded upon popular taste and use? How is the evolving nature of certain programs (particularly housing developments) taken into account?

Case studies in which these questions are relevant to the heritagization of postmodern projects will be welcome. International comparisons of heritagization processes are encouraged.

Finally, the very definition of heritagization as applied to postmodern projects will be explored: what protective tools are needed, and what support (financial, administrative, technical, etc.) is required for restoration?

Restoration: questioning the authenticity of ideas and/or materials

Lastly, what place and role should be reserved for living architects in the restoration process?

Transmission of Draft Articles

See the CpF on the revue site

Proposals for completes articles should be sent by e-mail before 12 February 2024 to the Craup’ editorial office: craup.secretariat@gmail.comFor more information, contact Aude Clavel on 06 10 55 11 36 or by email

The journal expects completed articles, not proposals, abstracts or any other form of presentation.

The articles must not exceed 50 000 characters, including spaces.

Languages accepted: French, English.

Articles must be accompanied by:

  • 1 biobibliographical record between 5 to 10 lines (name and first name of the author (s), professional status and / or titles, possible institutional link, research themes, latest publications, e-mail address).
  • 2 abstracts in French and English.
  • 5 key words in French and English.− The title of the article must also be translated into French or English depending on the language of the paper.

Coordination

  • Benjamin Chavardès (École nationale supérieure d’architecture de Lyon)
  • Audrey Courbebaisse (Université catholique de Louvain) et 
  • Léa-Catherine Szacka (University of Manchester)

Editorial board

  • Gauthier Bolle
  • Celine Barreremanuel Bello Marcano
  • Franck Besançon
  • Gaia Caramellino
  • Enrico Chapel
  • Benjamin Chavardes
  • Audrey Courbebaisse
  • Maxime Decommer
  • Anat Falbel
  • Yankel Fijalkow
  • Ralph Ghoche
  • Xavier Guillot
  • Carolinemaniaque
  • Roberta Morelli
  • Juilette Pommier
  • Frédéric Pousin
  • Paola Savoldi
  • Corinne Tiry-Ono

Notes

1 Mario Carpo, “The Postmodern Cult of Monuments”, Future Anterior, vol. IV, n° 2, The University of Minnesota Press, 2007, p. 50-60.

2 Denise Scott Brown, “Sainsbury Wing: Objection from Denise Scott Brown”, Mas Context, 2022, [on line] [https://mascontext.com/observations/sainsbury-wing-objection-from-denise-scott-brown].

3 / These include the National Gallery's Sainsbury Wing by Venturi, Rauch and Scott Brown, and Charles Jencks' Cosmic House.

4 In the January 21, 2023 edition of Le Monde, the mayors of Cergy, Metz, Montpellier, Noisy-le-Grand, Paris and Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines published a full-page tribute to the Catalan architect.

5 See Jean-Louis Violeau, Paris postmoderne : architectures 1973-93, Paris, Pavillon de l’Arsenal, 2023.

6 See, for example, the idea of a postmodern “myth” in which the screen plays an active part. Lavin Silvia, Architecture Itself and Other Postmodernist Effects, Spector Books, 2020.

7 To define “heritagization,” we use Emmanuel Amougou's definition: a social process by which legitimate social agents intend to confer on an object or space (architectural, urban planning or landscape), or on a social practice (language, rite, myth, etc.), a set of properties or values recognized and shared first by the legitimized agents and then transmitted to all individuals through individual or collective institutionalization mechanisms necessary for their preservation, i.e. their long-term legitimization in a specific social configuration. Emmanuel Amougou, Les Grands Ensembles, un patrimoine paradoxal, Paris, L'Harmattan (Logiques sociales), 2006.

8 Reflection on how to take into account the serial aspect of modern architecture and its current living situation.

Subjects


Date(s)

  • Monday, February 12, 2024

Keywords

  • documentation, conservation, héritage, postmoderne,

Contact(s)

  • Aude Clavel
    courriel : craup [dot] secretariat [at] gmail [dot] com

Information source

  • Aude Clavel
    courriel : craup [dot] secretariat [at] gmail [dot] com

License

CC0-1.0 This announcement is licensed under the terms of Creative Commons CC0 1.0 Universal.

To cite this announcement

« Documenting and Conserving Postmodern Heritage », Call for papers, Calenda, Published on Monday, October 02, 2023, https://doi.org/10.58079/1bw3

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