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Originally Posted by mrskyline
With Postmodernism the building is no longer abstract. It becomes a "sign" and signifies something. PPG Place is saying "I am a castle." World Wide Plaza makes a reference (some would say crudely) to the classic New York skyscraper top of the 1930's. When you put a spire on a building like One Liberty Place it is no longer pure but instead is making reference to something.
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I think that's the key to it. The 80s were a time when people were trying to make designs more intuitive, so that they became easier to use, without having to learn how to use them - the classic example being WYSIWYG and point and click interfaces on computers.
Modernist buildings from the 60s and 70s (many of which I like) could be difficult to use. For example, the Barbican in London was designed with many fantastic high level walkways, but people used to get lost on the walkways, and stuck to the ground level streets that they could follow on maps, even though these streets were designed primarily for cars. As a result, most people who walk through the Barbican never see this:
my pic
but see this instead:
urban75,
urban75.org
On the scale of a city, having one glass/concrete block after another doesn't tell people much about how to navigate around or behave - if schools, theatres, offices and churches all look the same, it's not clear where to walk, which buildings are open to the public, where the entrance is or how quiet/informal/deferential you should be when inside. At its best, postmodernism tells you how to interact with your environment.
For example, this office in Bristol, England obviously refers to the Royal Crescent in the nearby city of Bath.
flickriver.com, scot howse,
http://www.flickriver.com/photos/psy...an/2789997953/
It is not a replica, but it is a close enough resemblance that it can say "this is a posh office, but there is a public space in front where you should feel relaxed and at home".
The photo doesn't really show it, but this approach works pretty well - there are often public events in front of the building which have a good atmosphere, and people like the way the building creates an attractive & friendly backdrop.