--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Post-Modern space is historically…" description: "\"Post-Modern space is historically specific, rooted in conventions, unlimited or ambiguous in zoning and irrational or transformational in its relation ..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ce4/charles-jencks-18110_ambiguous_post-modern-space-is-historically-specif_1791089.jpg" --- # Post-Modern space is historically specific, rooted in… ![“Post-Modern space is historically specific, rooted in conventions, unlimited or ambiguous in zoning and irrational or transformational in its relation of parts to whole……. …skew or distorted spaces, created by sharp angles which exaggerate perspective…. …always keep a mental coordinate system no…” quote by Charles Jencks](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ce4/charles-jencks-18110_ambiguous_post-modern-space-is-historically-specif_1791089.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ce4/charles-jencks-18110_ambiguous_post-modern-space-is-historically-specif_1791089.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ce4/charles-jencks-18110_ambiguous_post-modern-space-is-historically-specif_1791089.jpg) > “Post-Modern space is historically specific, rooted in conventions, unlimited or ambiguous in zoning and irrational or transformational in its relation of parts to whole……. …skew or distorted spaces, created by sharp angles which exaggerate perspective…. …always keep a mental coordinate system no matter how free- form and baroque they become. The reference plane is always an implied frontality, and the route through the building or the curvilinear elements then relate to this conceptual cage” [Charles Jencks](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-jencks/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Post‑Modern architecture emphasizes context, contradictory forms, and a mental map despite free‑form designs. **In simple terms:** Design balances chaos with an imagined order. Key Takeaway Maintain a mental coordinate system in complex spaces. Themes architecture context perception design spatial theory Mood analytical curious reflective Type philosophical inspirational When to use this quote - urban planning - interior design - architectural education - museum layout Key Concepts post‑modernism semiotics visual cognition Questions to Reflect On - How do you navigate spaces that defy conventional axes? - What role does personal perception play in interpreting architecture? A Different Perspective Over‑reliance on imagined grids can limit creative spontaneity. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Baroque](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/baroque/) [Elements](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/elements/) [Irrational](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/irrational/) [Perspective](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/perspective/) [Planes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/planes/) [Routes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/routes/) [Space](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/space/) ## Related quotes > [I love visiting the Air and Space Museum. It always blows my mind how far we've come from the Wright Brothers in 1906 to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ryan-merchant/i-love-visiting-the-air-and-space-museum-it-always-blows-my-mind-how/) Ryan Merchant > [Bureaucracies have a natural tendency not to cooperate, coordinate or consolidate with each other. They won't cooperate with each other - unless they are…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-holbrooke/bureaucracies-have-a-natural-tendency-not-to-cooperate-coordinate-or/) [Richard Holbrooke](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-holbrooke/) > [Our principles fix what our life stands for, our aims create the light our life is bathed in, and our rationality, both individual and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-nozick/our-principles-fix-what-our-life-stands-for-our-aims-create-the-light/) [Robert Nozick](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-nozick/) > [The introduction of numbers as coordinates is an act of violence.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hermann-weyl/the-introduction-of-numbers-as-coordinates-is-an-act-of-violence/) [Hermann Weyl](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hermann-weyl/) > [It seems a little paradoxical to construct a configuration space with the coordinates of points which do not exist.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/louis-de-broglie/it-seems-a-little-paradoxical-to-construct-a-configuration-space-with/) [Louis de Broglie](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/louis-de-broglie/) > [Like a human being, a company has to have an internal communication mechanism, a "nervous system", to coordinate its actions.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bill-gates/like-a-human-being-a-company-has-to-have-an-internal-communication/) [Bill Gates](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bill-gates/) > [Each ray of light moves in the coordinate system 'at rest' with the definite, constant velocity V independent of whether this ray of light…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/albert-einstein/each-ray-of-light-moves-in-the-coordinate-system-at-rest-with-the/) [Albert Einstein](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/albert-einstein/) > [My home is a little more complicated than coordinates on a map.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jay-crownover/my-home-is-a-little-more-complicated-than-coordinates-on-a-map/) [Jay Crownover](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jay-crownover/) > [When you're trying to coordinate four separate shows together, it's pretty Herculean.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/matt-letscher/when-you-re-trying-to-coordinate-four-separate-shows-together-it-s/) [Matt Letscher](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/matt-letscher/) > [My friends drink everywhere. They even drink at the laundromat. I tried drinking at the laundromat, and I thought I was in a submarine,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mike-birbiglia/my-friends-drink-everywhere-they-even-drink-at-the-laundromat-i-tried/) [Mike Birbiglia](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mike-birbiglia/) > [A dissection of music perception and creation that starts slowly and inexorably builds to a grand finish. 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For…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/arundhati-roy/thousands-of-years-of-ideological-philosophical-and-practical/) [Arundhati Roy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/arundhati-roy/) > [The US has developed two coordinate governing classes: the one, called 'business,' building cities, manufacturing and distributing goods, and holding complete and autocratic power…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thurman-arnold/the-us-has-developed-two-coordinate-governing-classes-the-one-called/) [Thurman Arnold](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thurman-arnold/) > [ \[States and the Federal government are\] coordinate departments of one simple and integral whole... The one is the domestic, the other the foreign branch… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-jefferson/states-and-the-federal-government-are-coordinate-departments-of-one/) [Thomas Jefferson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-jefferson/) ## More by Charles Jencks > [If you can't take the kitsch, get out of the kitchen.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-jencks/if-you-can-t-take-the-kitsch-get-out-of-the-kitchen/) [Charles Jencks](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-jencks/) > [Like our attitude to love, truth and goodness, we seem to be confident about knowing what beauty is - certain, even dogmatic - until…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-jencks/like-our-attitude-to-love-truth-and-goodness-we-seem-to-be-confident/) [Charles Jencks](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-jencks/) > [If you look at any leaf on any tree branch, it's similar to but not exactly a repetition of the previous branch. So the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-jencks/if-you-look-at-any-leaf-on-any-tree-branch-it-s-similar-to-but-not/) [Charles Jencks](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-jencks/) > [I do believe architecture, and all art, should be content-driven. It should have something to say beyond the sensational.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-jencks/i-do-believe-architecture-and-all-art-should-be-content-driven-it/) [Charles Jencks](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-jencks/) > [You have to believe in a placebo or it won't work, but if it works, it's obviously working in some indirect way, through feedback…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-jencks/you-have-to-believe-in-a-placebo-or-it-won-t-work-but-if-it-works-it/) [Charles Jencks](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-jencks/) > [Cant you see, we are in a dialogue with the universe?](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-jencks/cant-you-see-we-are-in-a-dialogue-with-the-universe/) [Charles Jencks](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-jencks/) > [What is a garden if not a miniaturization and celebration, of the place we are in, the universe?](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-jencks/what-is-a-garden-if-not-a-miniaturization-and-celebration-of-the/) [Charles Jencks](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-jencks/) > [Beautiful people are always with us, as evolutionary psychologists and a trip to the news-stand confirm.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-jencks/beautiful-people-are-always-with-us-as-evolutionary-psychologists-and/) [Charles Jencks](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-jencks/) > [The cell is a city of production centres, each part working away like mad, and it's co-ordinated. Six trillion cells in a body -…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-jencks/the-cell-is-a-city-of-production-centres-each-part-working-away-like/) [Charles Jencks](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-jencks/) > [“There is an unalterable and widening gap between exterior and interior, symbol and content, form and function -a gap which is making the environment…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-jencks/there-is-an-unalterable-and-widening-gap-between-exterior-and/) [Charles Jencks](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-jencks/) > [The singular point of beautiful objects, and people, is that they are experienced not as parts, or ratios between cheekbones and chin, but as…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-jencks/the-singular-point-of-beautiful-objects-and-people-is-that-they-are/) [Charles Jencks](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-jencks/) > [What is the most interesting thing to people? Other people.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-jencks/what-is-the-most-interesting-thing-to-people-other-people/) [Charles Jencks](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-jencks/) > [A sign to me is a one-liner, a symbol is very complex and my house is a series of symbols.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-jencks/a-sign-to-me-is-a-one-liner-a-symbol-is-very-complex-and-my-house-is/) [Charles Jencks](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-jencks/) > [“Whereas art critics are ready to accept-indeed are looking for-the new fabrication of a consistent visual language, architectural critics, like the general public, are…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-jencks/whereas-art-critics-are-ready-to-accept-indeed-are-looking-for-the/) [Charles Jencks](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-jencks/) > [“A recurrent theme of this book is that architects, fairly low in the chain of command and needing jobs, are prone to compromise with…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-jencks/a-recurrent-theme-of-this-book-is-that-architects-fairly-low-in-the/) [Charles Jencks](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-jencks/) [Explore all 35 Charles Jencks quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-jencks/) ## More Ambiguous quotes > [Virtually every major technological advance in the history of the human species- back to the invention of stone tools and the domestication of fire…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/daniel-dennett/virtually-every-major-technological-advance-in-the-history-of-the/) [Daniel Dennett](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/daniel-dennett/) > [Happiness can be bought with a bottle of wine and has become ambiguous through overuse.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/happiness-can-be-bought-with-a-bottle-of-wine-and-has-become/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [Somehow, in the novel format, I don't really like to do upfront, ideological discussion. 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Except that something unusual happens-usually .](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nassim-nicholas-taleb/redundancy-is-ambiguous-because-it-seems-like-a-waste-if-nothing/) [Nassim Nicholas Taleb](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nassim-nicholas-taleb/) > [“In general we are reminded that the word heimlich is not unambiguous, but belongs to two sets of ideas, which, without being contradictory, are…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sigmund-freud/in-general-we-are-reminded-that-the-word-heimlich-is-not-unambiguous/) [Sigmund Freud](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sigmund-freud/) > [I want each poem to be ambiguous enough that its meaning can shift, depending on the reader's own frame of reference, and depending on…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/james-arthur/i-want-each-poem-to-be-ambiguous-enough-that-its-meaning-can-shift/) [James Arthur](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/james-arthur/) > [Photography appears to be an easy activity; in fact it is a varied and ambiguous process in which the only common denominator among its…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/henri-cartier-bresson/photography-appears-to-be-an-easy-activity-in-fact-it-is-a-varied-and/) [Henri Cartier-Bresson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/henri-cartier-bresson/) > [My drawings inspire, and are not to be defined. They place us, as does music, in the ambiguous realm of the undetermined.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/odilon-redon/my-drawings-inspire-and-are-not-to-be-defined-they-place-us-as-does/) [Odilon Redon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/odilon-redon/) > [Words are such gross machinery, so primitive and ambiguous.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/frank-herbert/words-are-such-gross-machinery-so-primitive-and-ambiguous/) [Frank Herbert](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/frank-herbert/) > [Wave particle duality is a core feature of our world. Or rather, we should say, it is a core feature of our mathematical descriptions…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/margaret-wertheim/wave-particle-duality-is-a-core-feature-of-our-world-or-rather-we/) [Margaret Wertheim](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/margaret-wertheim/) > [Humor is really one of the hardest things to define, very hard. And it's very ambiguous. You have it or you don't. You can't…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/heinrich-b-ll/humor-is-really-one-of-the-hardest-things-to-define-very-hard-and-it/) [Heinrich Böll](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/heinrich-b-ll/) > [I was perceiving myself as good as a man or equal to a man and as powerful and I wanted to look ambiguous because…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/annie-lennox/i-was-perceiving-myself-as-good-as-a-man-or-equal-to-a-man-and-as/) [Annie Lennox](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/annie-lennox/) > [I was always, like, ambiguous. Is that how you say it? 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