Venturi’s influential book, Complexity and Contradiction in Architecture, first published in 1966, had been had been the first shot in the war against Modernism.The Venturi-Jencks-Thatcher axis was reinforced in Britain by an unlikely ally at the end of the Eighties – the Prince of Wales, who had joined ranks with assorted conservationists, idealists, fogeys, courtiers and opportunists to crucify British Modernism and raise a limp flag in support of a return to traditional (ie, Georgian) architecture. For the most part, and certainly in the hands of lesser talents, Po-Mo architecture was a monumental bore. Before the end of the Eighties, the jokes had worn as thin as repeats of On the Buses.The most prestigious commissions of the age went to big boys from across the pond. Fashionable fa-las such as the National Gallery extension in Trafalgar Square and symbols of the new cult of Mammon Unbound such as Canary Wharf were shaped in New York, Chicago and Philadelphia.The National Gallery extension was named after a superstore chain (very Eighties, very Thatcher) and designed by Robert Venturi and Denise Scott Brown from Philadelphia. It owed much to Art Deco, the style of corporate America leading up to the Wall Street Crash; a case, clearly, of architectural and economic history repeating itself.It was all meant to be popular and hugely witty. The skin-thin, jokey Post-Modern cladding and decoration of such swaggering towers was an ideal match for the ambitions of the Thatcher era. You need only glance at buildings such as 1 America Square in the City of London to capture the spirit of this gung-ho Po-Mo style.

New buildings emerging from the offices of American architects such as Michael Graves, Charles More and Thomas Beeby in the Eighties were lurid confections of overblown and brightly coloured, clip- on stylistic details. Outstanding British examples of this essentially American genre include the TV-am building in Camden Town, London (Terry Farrell), Farrell’s Alban Gate office block straddling London Wall, John Outram’s polychrome pumping station in London’s Docklands and the muscle- bound office development known as Canary Wharf.Developers lapped up the style during the Thatcher-Lawson boom (which went bang, and then phut in 1989). There was no longer any need for architects to believe that architecture should develop along a progressive track. Post-Modernist thinking proposed that the architecture of today should be free-ranging, complex and even contradictory. We were now living in a world where anything went, and the design of buildings was supposed to reflect our cultural confusion and diversity. The new architecture was going to be funky, witty, iconic and, above all, ironic, a cut-and-paste game of historic styles.It was also an architecture that found its spiritual home in Margaret Thatcher’s Britain. Thus, enthused Jencks in his epoch-making book The Language of Post-Modern Architecture (1977), the old crisp, white, right-angled certainties of the Bauhaus were exhausted And anathema Post-Modernism was the new creed.

It includes the new grandstand at Lord’s cricket ground (Nicholas Grimshaw); the Walsall Art Gallery (Caruso St John); the English National Opera’s temporary home on the south bank of the Thames (Ian Ritchie); the Tate Gallery of Modern Art (Herzog and de Meuron); and the Earth Centre exhibition hall near Doncaster (Future Systems).Charles Jencks, the American cultural commentator and grand panjandrum of Post-Modernism, claimed Modern architecture popped its pilotis as long ago as 1971, when a vast block of hideous, prefabricated Bauhaus-inspired apartments (Pruitt-Igoe, Chicago) were dynamited. In 1995, more high- quality Modern architectural projects were commissioned in Britain than ever before.
The list is as impressive and glamorous as it is extensive. As the 20th century draws to a close, it looks as though Modern architecture has not only survived, but thrived against the odds. News of the death of the new form of white, functional, purist architecture that emerged from Germany, France and the United States at the end of the First World War has, however, long tended to be premature. It would take a researcher more than an academic year to list the number of books, articles, speeches, squibs and sallies that have appeared over the past 20 years nailing Modern architecture into its coffin.

Modern architecture is dead; long live Modern architecture. Her classmates broke down in tears when the news of her death was announced at a special assembly, and were offered bereavement counselling.”Jessica was an intelligent and talented pupil, who clearly had a promising future, and as with the death of any young person it’s hard for everyone to come to terms with such a tragedy,” said Mark Gibbons, head teacher.”Our thoughts at this time are particularly focused on Jessica’s family.”Jessica’s mother and two older sisters were being comforted at their home yesterday.Her sister, Josie, said: “My mother is devastated by this We are trying to think why Jessie did it She had no history of depression.”An inquest will be held.. “Given the circumstances we’re satisfied the doctors concerned acted quite properly and in consultation with the family,” said a spokeswoman.Jessica’s death stunned friends and teachers at Hounsdown School, Totton, South-ampton, where she was in her final year studying for GCSEs. “We even spoke about the subject, and one of them told me she would never kill herself because she loved her mum and wouldn’t do that to her.”Last night, there was growing concern over why social services were not called in after Jessica’s first suicide attempt.Hampshire County Council, which was not contacted, said it was normal practice for social services to be involved in such cases.”We’d always take any report of suicide very seriously, particularly so in the case of a teenager,” said a spokesman.The hospital denied it had released Jessica too quickly.