page_title: Architecture of London
section_title: Postmodern and High Tech Architecture
hierarchical_section_title: Architecture of London / Postmodernism, High-Tech and High-Rise Architecture (1980-Present) / Postmodern and High Tech Architecture
caption_attribution_description: English: The SIS Building (or MI6 Building) at Vauxhall Cross, London, houses the headquarters of the British Secret Intelligence Service (SIS, MI6)
context_page_description: London is the largest and capital city of England and the United Kingdom. Founded as the ancient city of Londinium in the first century CE by the Romans as capital of the Roman province of Britannia, London has been an inhabited settlement almost continuously since. After the Roman withdrawal from Britain in the 5th century, the layout of the Roman settlement became the approximate blueprint of the Saxon and medieval city. This ancient core of London is known as the City of London with Westminster, the ancient centre of political power in London, lying to the west. Relatively few structures survive from London's medieval past due to the city's near-total destruction in the Great Fire of 1666, but notable survivors include the Tower of London, Westminster Abbey, Westminster Hall, Guildhall, St James's Palace, Lambeth Palace and a handful of scattered Tudor survivals. After the Great Fire, London was transformed as it was rebuilt and greatly modernised under the direction of the Baroque architect Sir Christopher Wren, with the new Baroque St Paul's Cathedral as its centrepiece.
context_section_description: The late 1970s is considered to be a stylistic turning point in the history of architecture. Formed in reaction against the austere modernism which had dominated architectural design since the end of world war II, the postmodern school - which first expressed itself in the controversial book Learning from Las Vegas (1973) by Robert Venturi  - was a movement that rejected minimalism by embracing irony, playfulness, pop culture and quoting historical styles in their buildings. The result was an eccentric new style that couldn't be in starker contrast to the rigid post war consensus of the international style. London contains some notable examples of postmodern architecture, mostly from the 1990s. Robert Venturi's Sailsbury Wing of the National Gallery (1991) is an poignant example of postmodern historical pastiche, being built of portland stone and ironically imitating the neoclassical style of the original National Gallery in order to blend in with the older building. Two of the postmodern movement's most influential architects Terry Farrell and James Stirling were both British and many of their most significant works can be found in London. Perhaps London's best-known postmodernist building, Terry Farrell's SIS Building or MI6 Building (1996) in Vauxhall, is a highly distinctive pyramidal design that was heavily influenced by Maya and Aztec Architecture; it is the headquarters of Britain's military intelligence agency. James Stirling's No.1 Poultry (1997) has been highly commended as a masterpiece of the postmodernist style becoming grade II* listed in 2016. Occupying the east corner of Bank Junction, its unusual design incorporates a pink terracotta façade containing equestrian sculptures and an unusual clock tower resembling a submarine conning tower. It controversially replaced a neo-gothic building of the 19th century.
  
  A splinter movement of the postmodern movement that started to become prominent in the 1990s is the high-tech style and the similar neo-futurist style. These two styles embrace much of the eccentricity of the postmodern style in their utilisation of unusual forms and shapes, whilst also taking cues from the modernist movement in their embrace of functionality and utopianism. In terms of construction there is an emphasis on the usage of glass, steel and high-tech production processes, as well as exposing the structural and utilitarian elements of the building as a means of decoration. A revolutionary example of the high-tech movement can be seen in the form of The Lloyd's Building (1986) by Richard Rogers, an unusual ‘inside-out’ design in which all the building's utilities; its lifts, ducts and vents are placed on the outside rather than on the inside of the building acting as an external façade. The building is Grade I listed in recognition of its significance. The pre-eminence of the high-tech style in London began to emerge in the late 1990s and became closely associated with its most prolific architect: Norman Foster and his practice Fosters and Partners. Significant high-tech works by Forster include The Great Court of The British Museum; a distinctive glass dome structure built over the central courtyard of the original 19th century building, City Hall (2002) on the South Bank with its distinctive ovular shape and the iconic skyscraper 30 St Mary Axe (2003) perhaps his most famous building. 30 St Mary Axe – often known colloquially as ‘The Gherkin’ - has been much praised around the world winning the Stirling Prize as well as winning a 2006 poll as the most admired building by the world's leading architects. 30 St Mary Axe was a major turning point in high rise architecture in London with many other buildings following suit with a similar high-tech/neo-futurist style, examples include The Shard (2012), 122 Leadenhall Street (2014) 20 Fenchurch Street (2015) and 1 Blackfriars (2018).
caption: The SIS or MI6 Building by Terry Farrell (1996) is a distinctive example of postmodern architecture.
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