Liquid Architecture

As defined by Zygmunt Bauman, contemporary society is in a liquid state of existence, exhibiting the characteristics of fragility, temporariness, vulnerability, and an inclination to constant change. Society suffers from an acute malaise: one that leaves architecture ill-suited to contend with rapid and uncertain changes. The principles of architectural modernism have traditionally meant to present an ephemeral snapshot of the creativity of the era, however, the style of modernism quickly became monumentalized and thus became misaligned with the initial ideological spirit of a fluid and light modernity. The dilemma between “modern” and “-ism” shows that modernist architecture is merely an image of modernity, but was not itself actually modern. In today’s liquid modernity, architecture needs to become synchronized with the true character of liquidity and be responsive to and reflective of the characteristics of this hyper-modernity. To contend with the plasticity of society, architecture also needs to instill within itself the nature of liquidity, ephemerality, flexibility, adaptability, and resiliency to rapid and constant change, and embody the liquid spirit of the times. Liquid architecture aims to respond to this dialectic of ephemerality, fragility, and ambivalence, to reconstruct the fundamentals of architecture itself.