The Lloyds Building of London Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

The Lloyds Building of London - Essay Example These features are made to represent and replace decorative elements for the outer faà §ade. The focus on the mechanical elements is a distinguishing feature of the Modernist movement while its recognition that everything is in a constant state of change, requiring the ability to quickly change out parts, is a characteristic of the Postmodern. Located in the center of London’s financial district and originally intended to serve as headquarters for a large insurance firm, the context of the structure again emphasizes Modern ideals with its focus on monetary, capitalistic values. Yet its design functions to make the building highly flexible, quickly and easily converted into any number of different uses and ready for the addition of any newly developed technology, such as fiber optic internet which wasn’t developed until well after completion, placing it again within the realm of the Postmodern. It is only through a very close examination of the building that one can det ermine the structure is actually more Modern than Postmodern even though it reflects the major attitudes and emphasis of each era. Modern ideas suggest that everything important to human life can be categorically classified into specific categories and definitions. â€Å"Modernity is a project, and not only a period, and it is, or was, a project of control, the rational mastery over nature, the planning, designing and plotting which led and technocracy† (Beilharz, 2001: 6). The basic ideas of Modernism were to analyze the various processes that comprised human existence in the mechanized and standardized world to discover the universal truths that could then be applied to all cultures. Clean lines and clear boundaries were expected to be found that would then be canonized and applied throughout the world as a means of developing a perfect global civilization.