Blog 12:

Post-Modernism

Post-Modernism began in the 20th century and it is still very present today. This movement was characterised by the broad thought the designers had in subject to realism and the gentile  suspicion of reason. This movement emerged from the Pop and Anti-design movement s and argued a lot of things such as the modern architecture lacked functionality and was becoming meaningless. No complexity was seen because the modern movement denied ornament and any type of symbolism. 

In the beginning of this design movement introduced Michael Graves which made designs that had decorative motifs which frequently referred to the post decorative styles and he was in fact very ironic in this content. He was a firm believer of post modernist design and made use of decorative elements in his buildings and products to indicate to people that the mainstream era was soon over and not everything that was simple looked great. Graves works consisted of vibrant colours, abstractions of different elements which had been on classical architecture.

Later the Memphis group which was made from Italian architects produced monumental Neo Pop designs. This allowed complete international sensation towards design. The Memphis group was very much influenced by the eclectic range of sources which replicated the good taste of design. They challenged the idea of having designs which incorporated conventional shapes, colours, forms and textures.  

As seen in the Anti-design movement, Ettore Sottsass who was also and Italian Architect called the Memphis group as the New International Style. The Memphis group wanted to renovate the 'new' products which lacked design, decoration and minimalism and give designs life and meaning. 

Ettore Sottsass - Carlton 

An iconic design which was done by the talented Martine Bedin, was the Super Lamp which consisted of all the elements that the Memphis group wanted to emphasise on. This lamp is made out of steel which is painted and moulded with the lighting components and it had no protection to cover the light fittings or the heat that light emits. It was all purposely done to manifest the new group and the new era taking over. Her contributions in the Memphis group  were mainly on lighting and graphics design. 

Martine Bedin - Super Lamp

Reference: 

Archdaily.com. (2016). Michael Graves | Tag | ArchDaily. [online] Available at: http://www.archdaily.com/tag/michael-graves [Accessed 1 Jun. 2016].

Encyclopedia Britannica. (2014). postmodernism | philosophy. [online] Available at: http://www.britannica.com/topic/postmodernism-philosophy [Accessed 1 Jun. 2016].

Design-technology.org. (2016). The Memphis Group. [online] Available at: http://www.design-technology.org/memphis1.htm [Accessed 1 Jun. 2016].

Collections.vam.ac.uk. (2016). Super Lamp | Martine Bedin | V&A Search the Collections. [online] Available at: http://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O1177310/super-lamp-lamp-martine-bedin/ [Accessed 1 Jun. 2016].

Blog 11:

Anti-Design Movement

This movement started off in Italy as a rebellion towards the lack of social reliance of design only for the sake of profit and greed. This caused the movement to act on such occurrences and from the 1966 this group started as an art movement which had a different direction. As for architecture this was known as the Radical Movement. 

Anti-design Movement created such objects which had a unique approach and being away from embracing styles, mass production which was resulting as a complete destruction to the traditional media, consumerism, sales and more greed. This movement agreed on having objects which are functional and not necessary having a good aesthetic. Objects here had to be used temporary and then thrown away to buy new and fresh designs and objects. This objective meant consumerism and more profit but the real message was this: Anti-design people wanted to make the client, people that are going to buy the object, think about on what they are going to buy, even if will soon be thrown away.

Some comparisons between the Modernist Design and the Anti-Design movement. Modernist movement incorporated a lot of blacks, whites and greys in their colour palette whereas Anti-Design involved more bright and rich colours, more vibrant and added decorative elements. Modernist chose the right material for its durability while the Anti-designers had little care on materials and focused more on the function.  The Anti-designers wanted to create irony in their products such as distortion of scales, and unusual forms. While the modernist movement kept with the phrase: 'Form Follows Function'.

Ettore Sottsass is a key model in this particular movement and made a lot of products within the same group. He is an eclectic designer and industrial designer. Some of which are the series of cupboards which where all made out of plywood and made a complete paradoxical image. They all looked strange, were obelisks and covered with deliberately designs which also lead to the beginning of the new era: Post Modernism. The idea of having functional objects is not enough but it has to be sensual and exciting. 

 

Cupboards (1966) - Ettore Sottsass

Piero Gilardi had also great influence from this movement and one of his designs was a chair which looks exactly like large rocks. These chairs are made out of polyurethane and were manufactured by Gufram. This is the greatest example one could have of form misguided its function. A rock is normally uncomfortable, hard and durable while a chair is supposedly be the other way round, being comfortable and soft. An example where the form and the function are illegible. 

Sassi (1967) The Rocks - Piero Gilardi

Reference: 

Design Museum. (2015). Ettore Sottsass. [online] Available at: http://designmuseum.org/designers/ettore-sottsass [Accessed 1 Jun. 2016].

Arthistoryarchive.com. (2016). Anti-Design - The Art History Archive. [online] Available at: http://www.arthistoryarchive.com/arthistory/antidesign/ [Accessed 1 Jun. 2016].

Oxfordreference.com. (2016). Anti-Design - Oxford Reference. [online] Available at: http://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/oi/authority.20110803095416737 [Accessed 1 Jun. 2016].

Mesi, R. (2016). Ettore Sottsass | Austria's Anti-Design Hero. [online] The Culture Trip. Available at: http://theculturetrip.com/europe/austria/articles/ettore-sottsass-austria-s-anti-design-hero/ [Accessed 1 Jun. 2016].

Interview:

Essay

In this era a lot of styles are being interpreted together and there is no such thing as a new movement apart from being modern. I choose a particular architect Mario Scicluna, which he is currently contributing his work with the Ballut Blocks Services Limited here in Malta. His main job is site manager on constructing projects, and he is also a free lance architect. 

As some of his main inspirations that he mentioned was the Santiago Calatrava which is situated in Valencia. This is basically a cultural complex and consists of several departments in it which are related to science and art. The architect is in no doubt Santiago Calatrava Valls who was born in 28th July 1951. He is a Spanish futuristic architect, hence this marvellous architectural scene, but he is also a structural engineer, sculpture and painter.  This is also considered as 'The City of Arts and Sciences', mainly because it has a domed cinema, a landscaping view port, car park, a science museum, and aquarium and a multifunctional space which is called the 'Agora'. All of these departments and sections are connected together by a public plaza centre and bridges which are situated around the central pool. Alongside this huge architectural project there is a centre piece which is made out of white concrete opera house and has excessive feather like structures in the roof. Sides are done in curved ceramic mosaic tiles. 

The city of Arts and Sciences - Santiago Calatrava Valls

What strikes the architect the most is the connection he finds between the Snatiago Calatrava building and the Malta National Aquarium which is situated in Qawra, Fra Ben area. The two architectural buildings have a modern approach and incorporate curves and structures web-like which combine everything together. One of the architects responsible for the National Aquarium in Malta is Kenneth Borg. This modern architecture in malta  was build in the 2012 and now has fourth-one tanks which have a variety of reptiles, insects and amphibians. the National aquarium is now a days an iconic building in Malta in the form of a giant shell, which forms a star fish. 

Malta National Aquarium  - Qawra

Along with these architectural references, Mr. Scicluna's characteristics often involve vertical lines in which most buildings around are considered as low accentuates heights. His current style, and mainly the two which interest him the most are Art Deco and Post Modernism. Art Deco makes use of vertical lines, maybe some sculpted decoration columns and curves. While post-modernism is a style which went from being very functional and all of its formalized shapes are transformed into diverse aesthetics. The two styles incorporate very bold characteristics such as the curvatures and the some decorative style, but Post Modernism has more sleek and can be more natural and lacks some decorative elements. If the two styles are joined together it would give a very interesting outcome. 

Reference: 

Dezeen. (2015). Calatrava's City of Arts and Sciences is "amazing" says Clooney. [online] Available at: http://www.dezeen.com/2015/05/21/calatrava-city-of-arts-sciences-valencia-tomorrowland-george-clooney-brad-bird/ [Accessed 1 Jun. 2016].

MaltaToday.com.mt. (2011). Ambitious completion deadline for National Aquarium. [online] Available at: http://www.maltatoday.com.mt/news/national/13925/ambitious-completion-deadline-for-national-aquarium#.V08djJF97IU [Accessed 1 Jun. 2016].

Aquarium.com.mt. (2016). Malta National Aquarium. [online] Available at: http://www.aquarium.com.mt/about-us/ [Accessed 1 Jun. 2016].