Epilogue for World Architecture

Architectural history generally proceeds uneventfully, interrupted now and then by individual events which are, however, only turning points in the course of long-term cultural developments. The attention paid to certain developments vanishes, others are discovered or revived. I believe that we are at such a turning point presently. In the second half of the 20th century we experienced post-war modernism, structuralism, metabolism, and brutalism. In the 1970s these movements were followed by political agitation, a demand for greater participation, and the re-conquest of urbanity of the European city, known as postmodernism. From the 1980s onward the individual genius of the architect was also awakened, the star architect was invented who, having emancipated himself from all the rules through deconstructivism, aimed solely at personal fulfilment. The star architects experienced their heyday and ended with iconic manifestations, most recently in Asia, the Gulf States and a number of post-Soviet despotic states, wherever totalitarian decisions could be made, and unprotected labour was available.