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Architecture 2000 and Beyond: Success in the Art of Prediction
This classic of prediction, written in 1969, has now been brought up to date, the prophecies judges, and the omens extended to 2030.The success rate of Jencks' forecasts and his method of combining expert prediction with structural analysis make this book an important contribution to the art of conjecture. Not only did he predict the a series of innovations that have changed the world, such as the Internet, but he identified six main architectural traditions that continuously transform over time. This provides a method of gauging what are likely to be the future movements in architecture, a useful and fascinating tool for speculation. No other book of forecasting is like it, a hypertext of retrospection, judgement and further prophecy.
- GenresArchitecture
144 pages, Paperback
Published August 16, 2000
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About the author
Charles Jencks
93 books59 followersCharles Alexander Jencks (born 21 June 1939) is an American architecture theorist and critic, landscape architect and designer. His books on the history and criticism of modernism and postmodernism are widely read in architectural circles. He studied under the influential architectural historians Sigfried Giedion and Reyner Banham. Jencks now lives in Scotland where he designs landscape sculpture.
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July 20, 2021
(This review is of 'Architecture 2000: Predictions and Methods', published in 1971, which this book is a later amendment of. Unfortunately it's not listed separately on Goodreads.)
A concise and accessable book, Architecture 2000 presents an account of contemporary architectural trends in symbiosis with politics and society, all informing one another in making predictions for the architectural landscape of the coming decades.
The system of prediction is founded in a basic principle that certain disparate and often contradictory "traditions" of civilisation (logic, intuition, revolution, conservatism, etc.) will pulsate in relevance but can be assumed broadly to remain. Trends are found within each tradition and are projected out to a reasonable end.
For me there are two main merits of the book. One is this system's implicit admission of contradiction and opposition, leading to a diversity of visions rather than the uniformity often found in science fiction but never reflected in modern history. The other is in the array of cultural and architectural sources it draws on. They form a blurred snapshot of the past, it's distinct identity and it's huge momentum both present in the objects it contains. Sharp writing from the perspective of a genuine member and critic of that moment is engrossing throughout.
For a modern reader there is a deep nostalgia for the world Jencks is writing from, and the future it births, precisely because we do not live in that future. The actual accuracy of its predictions should not be the main judge of this book. It's value lies in its instruction to us of how we might interpret our own culture, the acknowledgement of the rich possibilities of the present, and a reminder of our own power to participate in it.
A concise and accessable book, Architecture 2000 presents an account of contemporary architectural trends in symbiosis with politics and society, all informing one another in making predictions for the architectural landscape of the coming decades.
The system of prediction is founded in a basic principle that certain disparate and often contradictory "traditions" of civilisation (logic, intuition, revolution, conservatism, etc.) will pulsate in relevance but can be assumed broadly to remain. Trends are found within each tradition and are projected out to a reasonable end.
For me there are two main merits of the book. One is this system's implicit admission of contradiction and opposition, leading to a diversity of visions rather than the uniformity often found in science fiction but never reflected in modern history. The other is in the array of cultural and architectural sources it draws on. They form a blurred snapshot of the past, it's distinct identity and it's huge momentum both present in the objects it contains. Sharp writing from the perspective of a genuine member and critic of that moment is engrossing throughout.
For a modern reader there is a deep nostalgia for the world Jencks is writing from, and the future it births, precisely because we do not live in that future. The actual accuracy of its predictions should not be the main judge of this book. It's value lies in its instruction to us of how we might interpret our own culture, the acknowledgement of the rich possibilities of the present, and a reminder of our own power to participate in it.
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