Radical Eclecticism and Post-Modern Architecture

Abstract

Charles Jencks' The Language of Post-Modern Architecture – first published in English in 1977, republished in 1978, 1980, 1984, 1987 and 1991 – was commissioned by Architectural Design editor Haig Beck on the strength of Jencks' article, “Isozaki and Radical Eclecticism.” This article featured in AD's special issue on the Japanese architect Arata Isozaki, published in January 1977. According to Beck, the book was expected to develop the article. This paper considers the relationship between “Isozaki and Radical Eclecticism” and The Language of Post-Modern Architecture. It interrogates the nature of the link between ostensible progenitor and product, focusing on the use of the term and concept Radical Eclecticism in both texts. The paper finds substantial differences between the respective positions of “Isozaki and Radical Eclecticism” and The Language of Post-Modern Architecture. It argues these differences are such that the latter is not best considered as a development of the former. The nature of the differences between article and book gives cause for a reappraisal of the rhetorical basis to The Language of Post-Modern Architecture.