Deconstructivism

What is Deconstructivism in architecture?

Deconstructivism is an architectural movement of the late twentieth century that breaks a building into fragmented, non-rectilinear and distorted parts. In Slovak it is called Dekonštruktivizmus. EBSCO Research Starters describes the movement as an attempt to express post-structuralist ideas about diffusion, discontinuity, fragmentation and context. It places the movement in an evolution of postmodern architecture that emerged in the 1980s.

The same overview lists three typical traits: generally non-rectilinear foundations, unusually curved or distorted facades, and unpredictable, almost chaotic structures. It also says that the architects use or refer to non-Euclidean geometry. A deconstructivist building often looks as though it has been exploded, although the designer shapes that look on purpose.

What was the 1988 MoMA exhibition?

The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York held the exhibition Deconstructivist Architecture from 23 June to 30 August 1988. MoMA's fact sheet names Philip Johnson as the organiser. Johnson was an architect and former director of the museum's Department of Architecture and Design. He worked in association with Mark Wigley, an architect and lecturer at Princeton University. Frederieke Taylor coordinated it. It was the third of five architecture exhibitions in the museum's Gerald D. Hines Interests Architecture Program.

The show presented seven architects: Coop Himmelblau, Peter Eisenman, Frank Gehry, Zaha Hadid, Rem Koolhaas, Daniel Libeskind and Bernard Tschumi. MoMA's June 1988 release says that it featured ten international projects from the past decade. It also included a selection of Russian Constructivist paintings and sculptures from the museum's collection. The catalogue has an introduction by Johnson and an essay by Wigley.

How did MoMA describe the style?

MoMA's fact sheet says that the seven architects recognise the imperfectibility of the modern world. In Johnson's words they seek the "pleasures of unease." The fact sheet says that they are obsessed with diagonals, arcs and warped planes. They intentionally violate the cubes and right angles of modernism. The June release adds that they use twisted volumes, warped planes and clashed lines.

The fact sheet also links the work to the Russian Constructivists, whose experiments with structure the architects continue. The goal of perfection from the 1920s is subverted, and disharmony, fracturing and mystery replace the traditional virtues of harmony, unity and clarity. The show opened with the Constructivist works so that visitors could see that link.

Was the show a new style or a debut?

EBSCO's article on the exhibition says that the architects tried to avoid the dead-end restrictions of a "style". It describes the show as the belated public debut of a tendency, and not as the launch of a new school. It adds that the show was widely publicised but almost universally condemned, although critics granted that some designs were exciting and important. EBSCO names Stuart Wrede, the acting director of the museum's Department of Architecture, as the person whom Johnson approached to mount it.

That is why many writers treat Deconstructivism as a shared attitude toward form, and not as a school with a manifesto.

Which architects and works are associated with the movement?

EBSCO's overview calls Frank Gehry's own house in Santa Monica from 1978 the prototypical deconstructivist house, in the view of many architectural historians. The table lists the works that the sources name with a date.

Work	Architect	Place	Date
Gehry house	Frank Gehry	Santa Monica	1978
Loyola Law School	Frank Gehry	Los Angeles	1981–1984
Edgemar Center	Frank Gehry	Santa Monica	1988
Disney Concert Hall	Frank Gehry	Los Angeles	begun 1989
Dancing House	Vlado Milunić and Frank Gehry	Prague	1992–1996

The Pritzker Architecture Prize list shows that Gehry won in 1989, Zaha Hadid in 2004 and Rem Koolhaas in 2000. The prize years date the careers, and they say nothing about the movement itself.

What does the Dancing House in Prague show?

The Dancing House stands at Rašínovo nábřeží 80 in Nové Město, Prague 2. Prague City Tourism says that Vlado Milunić and Frank Gehry designed it and that it was built in 1992 to 1996. The building "danced" onto the embankment in 1996. The same page calls it a unique deconstructive building with plastic elements. Gehry joined the project after Milunić had been chosen.

The tourism office says that the stone tower symbolises Fred Astaire and the glass tower his partner Ginger Rogers. The building is therefore nicknamed after the dancing pair. The MoMA show did not include the Dancing House, since it was built years later, but Gehry took part in the show.

How is Deconstructivism different from Constructivism and postmodernism?

Constructivism was the Russian avant-garde movement whose experiments MoMA links to the show. The fact sheet says that Deconstructivist architects continue those experiments with structure, but subvert the goal of perfection. The table follows MoMA's fact sheet. EBSCO calls Deconstructivism an evolution within postmodern architecture. For the wider period, read the entry on postmodernism.

Aspect	Russian Constructivism of the 1920s	Deconstructivism of 1988
Experiments with structure	Initiated the experiments	Continues the experiments
Goal	Perfection	Perfection is subverted
Replaces the traditional virtues of harmony, unity and clarity with	Not stated by MoMA	Disharmony, fracturing and mystery

The word also looks like another term in the glossary. Building deconstruction is a different subject, and the entry for it explains it. Do not confuse the two when you search.

Can a Slovak family house use the Deconstructivist approach?

Most of the works in the sources are public, cultural or commercial buildings. The Santa Monica house is the one domestic example that EBSCO names, so the approach can work at the scale of one home. For a family house in Slovakia, the style is a formal choice to discuss with the architect early in the design.

A house with tilted and fragmented volumes still has to meet the energy and building regulations that apply to any new house. Ask the architect and the structural engineer to explain how the form is built before you commit to it.