{"id":6194,"date":"2026-05-10T13:06:05","date_gmt":"2026-05-10T12:06:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/birmingham-future.com\/?p=6194"},"modified":"2026-05-10T13:10:24","modified_gmt":"2026-05-10T12:10:24","slug":"modernism-is-dead-long-live-postmodernism","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/birmingham-future.com\/en\/eternal-6194-modernism-is-dead-long-live-postmodernism","title":{"rendered":"Modernism is dead; long live postmodernism!"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Architectural styles rarely ‘take over\u2019 cities on their own\u2014as if they were travelling salesmen with a suitcase full of concrete or Gothic arches. Usually, it is the city itself that chooses what to dress in at one stage or another of its history. And it is not just a matter of fashion. Although architects, like all creative people, also love to collectively become so enamored with something that they then spend half a century trying to tear it down.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Similarly, Birmingham\u2019s choice of modernism was by no means accidental. A city that grew up on factories, smoke, railways, and industrial pragmatism could hardly pretend to be a picture-postcard museum forever. By the mid-20th century, it was already thinking in terms of speed, transport, production, and efficiency. You can read more about the city\u2019s architectural history and individual buildings at birmingham-future.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Second World War played a significant part in this, providing a convenient excuse to radically rebuild everything: part of the old town was destroyed by bombing during the infamous ‘Blitz,’ whilst another part was enthusiastically condemned to demolition by the city planners themselves\u2014hello to the city\u2019s chief engineer, Herbert Manzoni.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For Birmingham, modernism became not merely an architectural style<\/a> but almost an official ideology for the city\u2019s future. Concrete was meant to symbolise progress, roads freedom, and high-rises a new era.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This immediately brings to mind John Madin\u2019s famous library and the Bull Ring. Although they were demolished amidst loud protests from architects and defenders of modernism, they were nevertheless torn down with the tacit consent of the majority of the townspeople. It seemed as though they truly hated ‘grey concrete.’ But that is another story.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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