An appreciation of Post-Modernist architecture, The de Young Museum
- Xavier Li
- May 12, 2015
- 6 min read
Differentiating from modernist building designed only for conventional use, post-modernist architecture is focused on the symbolic meaning it stands for, and takes advantage of different styles, such minimalism, deconstructionism and bauhaus. And in post-modernist building, you can always feel the contradiction and complexity of the architecture from no matter the exterior or the inner structure. As one of the largest museums in America, the de Young Museum itself is a wonderful place for people to appreciate post-modernism and post-modernist architecture.
The de Young Museum located in Golden Gate Park, the lung of San Francisco. It was designed by Herzog & de Meuron Basel Ltd, which has designed many famous postmodern architectures, including Beijing National Stadium.
The first impression of the de Young Museum for me is the interaction between the building and the nature around it. Every time when I approach the de Young from the north edge of Golden Gate Park, the Hamon Education Tower of course is the first sight I can catch, and it shows up from the top of the trees and makes it looks like it’s a part of the natural scenery.
Apple Map Especially when I go there at noon, the contour of the tower that is curved by the sunlight makes it even more visually like a natural landscape. As I’m getting closer, the giant major structure of the building reveals itself from the trees.
Differentiating from the old one, the current de Young Museum is asymmetric, dark, windowless. As a result of the manufacture technology: (1)ZIRA™, all the copper walls that cover the museum are designed playfully like a huge amorphous irrational cage which is decorated with thousands of holes and dimples that patterned neatly. If you look at the facade on the south of the building really carefully, you can identify the word “de Young” on the dimpled wall. As the daylight changes, the transformation of lights and shadows become one of the decoration of the facades. As the time goes by, some part of the walls are oxidized gradually, and the color even turns darker and greener. The slow transitions of this architecture is like a movie that tells audience its history and how it interacts with the nature and “mother earth” in the park. The whole building of the de Young Museum is like a huge geometric decoration which also implies minimalism in the park.
On the west side of the building, a funny huge eaves unusually extends out of the major building over the patio of the de Young café to the edge of the Barbro Osher Sculpture Garden. This rectilinear and geometric architectural output also reminds me of Bauhaus building, which explains that a post-modernist building also makes references to historical style specifically and playfully. The natural scenery and various of sculptures cooperate with the gigantic metal creature and present a ineffable contradiction and harmony to the viewers both visually and tactilely.
Another artistic setting on the east side of the de Young Museum, the Pool of Enchantment, shows an even more captivating picture of the harmony between man and nature. There are four major components of this spot: The realistic bronze statues of a little boy playing flute and two California mountain lions, an island covered with vegetation and the pool itself.
Glass is an ideal material for creating the interaction between the building and its surroundings. Many modernist buildings have big windows in order to get as much sunlight as possible. However, the exterior of the de Young Museum is almost windowless except a few windows appeared at some unexpected places, such as the big one on the south side of the building. When pedestrians walk through the alley around the museum, they will surprisingly pass by this window from the outside. And they could get a glimpse of the inner exhibition and decoration in the edifice, like the big pedestrian window at the south side of the de Young Museum. By taking advantage of the transition of natural lights, the items on display can magically change their appearance and present themselves differently.
Unlike modernist buildings, the entrances of the de Young Museum are not designed on the exterior facades formally, and it creates a sense of ambiguity to this post-modernist architecture. And it’s up to you to determine how to enter the de Young museum. The entrance on the south side of the building leads the way to the hexagon entry court, from where you can follow the crack on the ground and Drawn Stones in the courtyard to perceive an contradiction and integration between nature and architecture. As you keep entering the museum, you have to enter the lobby through an acute triangle glass space which creates an interesting view of confluence of exterior and interior.
When you are officially in the building, you may or may not find yourself led by the extending glass walls and walking towards the main hall, Diane B. Wilsey and Alfred S. Wilsey Court. You may notice the windows aside the stairways behind the information counter, which provides an integrated expression of nature, architecture and art for viewers to appreciate while they are wandering around this area. You can also experience the sophisticated interior structures of the de Young Museum, no matter from their temporary showrooms or permanent showrooms. For many rotating exhibitions, you can feel that the display spaces are neat and compact, and they are like intestinal structures when you are looking at different works of art consecutively in which you will feel natural and accessible. The visiting routes of permanent exhibitions on the other hand, such as Art of Africa, Art in America to the 20th Century, are either narrowing or expending and create a wonderful art exploring experience from one exhibition to another interchangeably. Robert Venturi, father of postmodernism, said that modernism is about space, post-modernism is about communication. And this saying has been perfectly reflected on the interesting floor plan manipulation of the de Young museum, which creates a montage effect for viewers to communicate the works of art from different eras and areas continuously while they are passing through different exhibition spaces.
The landmark of the de Young Museum, Hamon Education Tower has a twisted and amorphous exterior which is a perfect example of the irrationality in post-modernism, and it’s also a perfect place to have a overview of the entire museum and the landscape of Golden Gate Park.
After mounting the observation deck of the tower, you will find out the roof of the major structures of the de Young Museum is like a railway station, and it is constructed with three narrow container-like buildings underneath. Based on my observation, the three buildings are like duplicated from one, through many times of distortion and displacement. Windows are surprisingly installed on the roof to provide natural lights for the under exhibitions.
Venturi coined two terms, Big Duck and Decorated Shed, in his book Learning from Las Vegas, to describe post-modernist architecture, Big duck refers to the abstract symbolic architecture that is made by high-tech creatively and artistically, and it usually has very sophisticated interior structures and is usually used for multi-functional purposes; Decorated Shed, on the other hands, is the conventional building made with symbolic ornaments decorated in front, and it doesn’t have a consistency looking all around and is usually used for stores. From my observation, the de Young Museum is like a windowless “Duck” building which is symbolic, artistic and original. And showrooms, art store, café, catering and many other diverse events are operating in this building concurrently.
The de Young Museum is not a building you can understand easily and instantly. The closer and deeper you approach it, the more surprise and epiphany you can get. The mysterious and extraordinary exterior of this building makes you want to explore its contradiction and complexity from the inside. As a respond to the famous saying of Venturi, “Less is a bore”, the continuous structural transformation and resonance with nature of the de Young Museum keeps intriguing viewers all over the world every day.
Annotation:
(1)ZIRA™
“The patented ZIRA™ Technology enables artists and architects to automatically translate an image, graphic, or design to metal, using imagery of their choosing onto a metal surface of any size using any combination of selective embossing, cutting, or perforation of the metal. Any image, photograph, drawing, or pattern can be translated to the metal surface using with ZIRA™ technology.”
http://www.azahner.com/sys_zira.cfm
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