Dezeen explores postmodernist landmark The Cosmic House
Dezeen takes a look inside the late critic Charles Jencks's architectural masterpiece in this video produced by Dezeen for The Cosmic House.
The Cosmic House is a Grade I listed house and educational foundation, located in Holland Park, London. It was built by architect and theorist Charles Jencks, with his partner, artist and garden designer Maggie Keswick Jencks.
The Cosmic House first opened to the public in 2021 and as part of its role as an educational charity, it runs an ambitious programme of exhibitions, residencies, artistic collaborations and educational engagements with local schools and global universities, following in the spirit of its founder Charles Jencks.
Charles Jencks was known for his study of Postmodernism, particularly for his 1977 book, The Language of Post-Modern Architecture, in which he declared the death of modern architecture.
Outside of his work as a critic, he was also well-known as the co-founder of Maggie's, a cancer support charity, in addition to his landform and landscape art.
Jencks published more than 40 books and countless articles and papers on the topic of architecture, with a career spanning almost six decades.
The Cosmic House was created as a playful experiment and manifesto of postmodernism, designed to be a physical representation of Jencks's study.
The house is heavily influenced by Jencks's love of language and semiotics, with visual and verbal puns, symbols and games throughout. For Jencks, architecture was a meaning-making device, rich with signs and symbols.
Upon entering the house, visitors find the Cosmic Oval, a vestibule designed to mirror the shape of the universe. Jencks intended for this entryway to set the tone for a house that can be experienced and read in many different ways.
One possible reading for the house is as a cosmic metaphor. At the centre of the building is the Solar Stair, a spiral staircase that connects all levels of the house.
The staircase has 52 steps, representing the 52 weeks of the year. It is embellished with symbols representing the astrological signs. 365 grooves symbolise the 365 days of the year, with bannisters referencing the sun, moon and Earth.
Moving through the ground floor, visitors discover five rooms, representing different seasons: winter, spring, summer, Indian summer, and autumn.
Charles and Maggie created the home as both a domestic and social space, hosting salons and debates with peers like Zaha Hadid, Frank Gehry and Rem Koolhaas.
Many of their friends' and collaborators' works can be found within the house. For example, in the spring and winter rooms are fireplaces created by designer Michael Graves, as well as a sculpture of Hephaestus by artist Celia Scott.
Humour is also a key feature of the house's design, with visual jokes and ironic elements throughout. For example, a set of marble "spoon glyphs", fake springs in the spring room, and a staircase that leads to nowhere.
The house was also a site for Charles and Maggie's academic work, which covered topics such as cosmology, landscape art, and health, in addition to architecture.
Outside of The Cosmic House, the Jencks designed several cosmic-informed landscape art pieces together, including the Garden of Cosmic Speculation in Dumfries, Scotland, and Landform at The National Gallery of Modern Art in Edinburgh.
Maggie and Charles were also the founders of Maggie's. Following on from Maggie's own cancer diagnosis at the age of 47, the charity commissioned major architects to design comforting places of respite for those afflicted by cancer, as well as their friends and family.
The charity has collaborated with architects such as Heatherwick Studio, Norman Foster and Frank Gehry, among others.
The Cosmic House works to carry on the Jencks's spirit of curiosity through collaborations and showcases with contemporary artists and makers.
Each year the foundation, which describes itself as a cultural laboratory, develops a specialised programme of commissions, salons and seminars around an annual theme promoting critical experimentation and artistic research.
Currently on show in the house is a site-specific performative and musical video work by artist and composer Lina Lapelytė, in which the artist responds to the concept of Charles' Cosmic Oval.
Lapelytė's piece encourages viewers to see The Cosmic House's interior as a stage for performance.
The foundation also houses Charles's personal archive and library, and aims to open the extensive collection to the public to encourage study of the architecture and culture of the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries.
Dezeen's video coincides with the release of The Cosmic House's new website, which aims to publish collaborative content in a magazine-like form, exploring themes in Charles and Maggie's work, such as Architecture in Dialogue, Cosmology as Landscape, and Health through Environment.
The site aims to highlight and discuss the foundation's learning programs with universities and local schools, such as a recent collaboration with the Royal College of Art's MA writing students.
The Cosmic House is open to visitors from April to December.
To find out more about The Cosmic House, visit its website.
Images courtesy of The Cosmic House and Michael Graves & Associates.
Partnership content
This article was written by Dezeen for The Cosmic House as part of a partnership. Find out more about Dezeen's partnership content here.
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