Modernism dominated design from the 1920s to the 60s. One of the most iconic Modernist designs was the Villa Savoye by Le Corbusier [Fig. 1], which embodies all the attributes of Modernism: it is rational, the form has been dictated by function and it has been purged of ornamentation. There is no trace of historical reference, because Modernism was obsessed with being up to date.
Fig. 1 Villa Savoye by Le Corbusier, 1923
In the 1970s there was a reaction against the Modern Movement. The obsession with order and rationality began to seem inhumane. Modernism came to be seen as a social failure, a revolution that went wrong. The reaction against it was known as postmodernism, which means "after modernism." The name assumes that Modernism has ended and been replaced by something different.
One of the first people to use the term was Charles Jencks, who was an architectural critic. He stated that Modernism ended at 3:32 pm on 15 July, 1972. That was the moment when the mass housing development of Pruitt-Igoe at St. Louis, Missouri (1956) demolished [Fig. 2]. This was the most famous public housing project in the United States and it was designed on Modernist principles. Within a few years it became plagued by vandalism and crime, so it came to symbolise the failure of the Modern Movement. In 1972 the building was demolished and Charles Jencks saw this moment as the symbolic beginning of postmodernism.
Fig. 2 Demolition of Pruitt-Igoe at St. Louis, Missouri, 1972
