Paulo Martins Barata Proposes Metamodern Architecture as Post-2008 Style

Architect Paulo Martins Barata, a founding partner of Promontório, argues in a new book that European architecture since the Great Recession constitutes a distinct movement he calls metamodernism. Published by Circo de Ideias, 'The Language of Metamodern Architecture' borrows its title from Charles Jencks' 1977 'The Language of Post-Modern Architecture'. Barata claims that around 2008, another death occurred—analogous to Jencks' declaration of modern architecture's demise with the 1972 demolition of Pruitt-Igoe—and that architecture has since been unknowingly inhabiting a new paradigm. The slim volume features a yellow-edged cover and is written by Diogo Borges Ferreira.