Avant Garde In Contemporary Architecture
“Architecture is an expression of values”, said Norman Foster. In order to categorize contemporary architecture, it is important to know the meanings of these categories and how they are applicable to architectural design. Tradition is a long established custom or belief that gets passed on from generation to generation. Avant-Garde is a concept that questions the tradition. It is about pushing the boundaries of what is acceptable. Avant Garde may question the tradition but sometimes still adapts the values of the past. Essentially with the passage of time, the concepts that were considered Avant Garde now may be traditional. A few examples of architectural Avant Garde would be usage of materials like glass, steel & concrete instead of wood, brick & stone; structural deviation from the traditional concepts; asymmetry and development of functions based on forms.
Kitsch is a product of the industrial revolution. It appreciates art in a satirical way. It is a type of art that is simple and easily understood. Kitsch products are often mass produced.
A simple way to understand these concepts would be to consider a few quotes. “Less is more” by Mies van der Rohe would be traditional, “Less is a bore” by Robert Ventauri would be Avant Garde as it is questioning the previous one. A Kitsch version of this quote would be “Yes is more” by Bjarke Ingels which is essentially mocking the previous two.
Contemporary architecture (architecture of the last 20 years) is Avant Garde. Why? Let us study a few examples which would prove this hypothesis.
To begin with, consider the Bird’s Nest Stadium (Beijing National Stadium) at China designed for the Beijing Olympics in 2008 by Herzog de Mueron as shown in figure1. The stadium is designed to function as a public space with restaurants, hotels and superior club post Olympics. It serves as a playing field during Olympics. What is Avant Garde about this stadium is that Façade and structure are one and the same. The roof is integrated into the structure itself which encloses the interior spaces. It could be perceived as a monolithic sculpture. The different components are shown in figure2. If the same stadium was designed traditionally, it would be designed as distinct parts of roof element, structure, interior spaces, façade elements and then assembled together. A Kitsch version of this stadium would probably be an imitation of the traditional kind of stadium but something that would function as a stadium and not a public space. The architect has gone about the process of design in a non-traditional way and has integrated all the elements of the building into a single entity. This makes it Avant Garde.
Consider the Crystal Houses (Chanel Showroom) at Amsterdam by MVRDV completed in 2016. The façade is made up of a number of glass bricks which is an imitation of the existing building build with bricks but with a different material. These glass bricks gradually merge into the brick façade of the above structure. This example can be described as Avant Garde because the tradition is questioned in terms of the material used, and yet the architect is trying to merge the façade with the existing and has adopted the same kind of masonry but in glass bricks as shown in figure4. The design is pushing boundaries to what is acceptable. A traditional version of this example would probably be the continuation of the same façade as the existing building to match the aesthetics of the surrounding. A Kitsch variant would probably be a bright neon colored façade made up of bricks itself similar to the existing building.
Finally, consider the VIA West 57 at New York by Bjarke Ingels Group completed in 2016. It is a housing project that combined the concept of the “European Perimeter Block” and “Traditional Manhattan high rise” as shown in figure5. Factors affecting the overall form of the built include consideration of views of River Hudson, sunlight, transition from high rise to low rise in the surroundings and independent balconies for each unit of housing as shown in figure6. A traditional variant of this project would probably just be a typical Manhattan skyscraper worked out to fit in the functions of a housing project. A Kitsch version of the same would be stacking up a certain floorplan of housing units to form the building (the floorplans would be a repetition & hence mass production). This is Avant Garde because the designer has cleverly merged two traditional concepts and created a new hybrid that functions very well.
From the above examples, we have established why these projects are categorized as Avant Garde. There are concepts of Avant Garde in terms of Structural integration, Façade treatment and overall planning observed in the above examples. The architecture today is conceptualized and realized in similar Avant Garde ideas. Hence, we can conclude that contemporary architecture is Avant Garde.
