The Cosmic House

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The Cosmic House

Photography: Sue Barr.
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The Cosmic House, one of the world’s most important examples of Post-Modern architecture, was designed by Charles Jencks and in collaboration with other Post-Modern architects.

19/07/2024

The two facades - two faces - of The Cosmic House.

The building that Charles and Maggie bought in 1978 was built in 1840 with a low studio and a garage added in the 1950. Its more traditional north facade (first slide) has undergone some minor changes, but still reflects the spirit of the home that once stood there.

The rear facade of the house (second slide), on the other hand, reveals the intricacy of the design. Even though it shares the adjacent buildings' white brick and stucco, it follows a symbolic scheme that transforms it into an anthropomorphic representation of the family that inhabited it. Four figures, each crowned by a Jencksiana (a face motif), draw focus to different parts of the building and garden.

17/07/2024

🚨 Want to visit us in August? Tickets will be released this Friday at 12 pm. 🚨

With The Cosmic House ticket you get access to our exhibitions:

✨ Tai Shani, ‘The World to Me Was a Secret: Caesious, Zinnober, Celadon, and Virescent' responds to the unique context of The Cosmic House and traces the connections between the artist’s thinking and that of Charles Jencks, touching on anthropomorphism, Ad-Hocism, surrealism and the Promethean impulse.

✨ Madelon Vriesendorp's 'Cosmic Housework' offers a playful (re)interpretation and humorous subversion of the symbolism imbued in the architecture of The Cosmic House, densely packed with ideas and motifs embracing an entire cosmos of architectural allusion, history, metaphor and reference. Humour is central to the exhibition, echoing Madelon and Charles’s friendship that was voraciously productive for them both.

🎟️ Pre-booked entry is required. Tickets are released on a monthly basis, head to our website for more information.

exhibition is on view until 20 December.
exhibition is on view until 13 September.

📸 Thierry Bal.

10/07/2024

There are no doors on the ground level of The Cosmic House since it is intended for guests to freely transition between the five rooms: five seasons of the house.

Worth noting that the dining room, Summer room, and kitchen, Indian Summer, can be divided by pulling out a row of mirrored doors. These reflect the views of the garden seen through the windows opposite and thus create a double version of one of the basic themes of the house - windows on the world.

📸 Sue Barr

05/07/2024

In this unrealised proposal for the Time Garden at The Cosmic House, the Scottish poet and artist Ian Hamilton Finlay designed a series of classical elements (a sundial, an obelisk, roman fragments, stone benches, and a pair of herms) which would correspond to the seventeen themes of the house as outlined by Charles Jencks in the epigraph in the Cosmic Oval, the original entrance of the house.

The typewritten proposal is accompanied by watercolour drawings by Ian Gardner, a frequent collaborator of Finlay’s. This initial proposal was followed by an exchange of letters between Finlay and Jencks, refining the design, but ultimately the proposal was never realised.

02/07/2024

‘Semiology and Architecture’ is Charles' essay from the 1969 volume titled 'Meaning in Architecture', co-edited by Charles Jencks and George Baird. The essays contained in this book explore the relationship between architecture and its social meaning with recourse to semiology, linguistics, cybernetics, and information theory.

In his contribution, Charles put forward his ideas about architecture’s capacity to act as a language, communicating meaning to its users and surroundings. The relationship between architecture and meaning continued to be of central concern in Charles' work in the following years.

Follow the link in our bio to read the essay.☝️

30/06/2024

A flower bouquet by Madelon Vriesendorp arranged using colourful plastic bottles, nets, sponges, and other packaging material.

‘We are living in the plastic age. We are ingesting plastics, we are filling our bodies and our food with it and we are creating entire islands out of our plastic waste. And yet I want to show how every bit of plastic packaging can potentially become something wonderful. It can take on a life of its own. I think this rethinks our relationship to plastic: to respect it rather than consume it. I'm sharing my attempts at, not so much recycling as, reinvigorating these momentarily useful but generally catastrophic objects.’ - says artists.

‘Cosmic Housework’ is on view at The Cosmic House until 13 September.

25/06/2024

🎉 Robert Venturi was born on this day in 1925 🎉

'Really sorry we just couldn't fit a reunion into our crazy schedule after the conference: lots to talk/argue about. Let's hope next time' - wrote Venturi to Charles after a conference in 2004.

Numerous fascinating connections between Charles and other architects are hidden in our archive. Click the link in our bio to view our catalogue.

21/06/2024

🎉 Charles Jencks was born on this day in 1939. 🎉

‘His designs were attempts to reinscribe our contemporary understanding of space and time, as the builders of everything from Stonehenge to the Gothic cathedrals have done throughout history.’ - Edwin Heathcote.

📸 Charles Jencks at the Time Garden at The Cosmic House. Photographer unknown.

19/06/2024

Charles' tea and coffee service design for Alessi, 1983.

In his essay ’An Internal Dialogue: Architect vs Critic‘, Charles writes: "My coffee and tea set for Alessi, for instance, combines the Orders — Ruined Tuscan, Doric, Ionic and Corinthian — with a new function, pouring liquid, and it does this in an ingenious way: you hold the volutes, or Ram's horns, and pour out of the mouth opposite."

Images:
1. Complete set, 1983.
2. Sketch with volutes made from black plastic and ebony.

10/06/2024

Tai Shani's exhibition ‘The World to Me Was a Secret: Caesious, Zinnober, Celadon, and Virescent‘ is on view at The Cosmic House until 20 December.

While exploring the mimesis between the house and the body, Shani’s poetic intervention connects adhocism to artistic creation. The exhibition’s title directly quotes Shelley’s novel ‘Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus‘, and the four different hues of green read like an incantation that references the viridescent cinematic depictions of the Monster.

Tickets to visit The Cosmic House are released regularly every third Friday of the month at 12 pm.

1 📸

06/06/2024

Charles' models for the Crawick Multiverse are on display at the exhibition Landscape & Imagination: From Gardens to Land Art 🌳 at .

The Crawick Multiverse opened to the public in 2015 and consists of a series of paths that link together landforms that represent the sun, universes, galaxies, black holes, and comets. 🪐

The exhibition is coming to an end on 16 June so make sure to book a ticket to see it!

📸 Installation view, Landscape and Imagination ©Compton Verney

05/06/2024

Due to emergency building work on our roof, the top floor of The Cosmic House will not be accessible for visitors until 19 of June. We appreciate your understanding.

The rest of the house will be open as usual, and we very much look forward to welcoming you at The Cosmic House in June. Our tickets are released monthly on the third Friday of the month at 12 pm.

Please email us on [email protected] if you have any further questions.

03/06/2024

Charles Jencks, Evolutionary Tree published in the first edition of ‘The Language of Post-Modern Architecture’, 1977.

In an attempt to grasp and reckon with the historical moment that he was living in, Jencks built on his earlier Evolutionary Tree diagrams, which laid out six ideologies that allowed him to categorise all the ‘isms’ (and the ‘wasms’) of architectural culture on a divergent and diverse map. Architects, buildings, social trends, and technical innovations were plotted on a timeline in relation to these ideological streams.

Learn more about Chronograms of Architecture by following the link in our bio. ⬆️

31/05/2024

📚 The evolution of the cover for Charles' book ‘The Language of Post-Modern Architecture’.

In the 1977 book ‘The Language of Post-Modern Architecture’, Charles declared the death of modern architecture. For many decades to come, in seven subsequent editions of this seminal book, he kept refining, mapping and diagramming his theory of Post-Modernism.

Which cover is your favourite?

➡ The Language of Post-Modern Architecture, 1977.
➡ ポスト・モダニズムの建築言, 1978.
➡ El Lenguaje de la Arquitectura Posmoderna, 1980.
➡ The Language of Post-Modern Architecture, 1981.
➡ The Language of Post-Modern Architecture, 1984.
➡ The Language of Post-Modern Architecture, 1987.
➡ The Language of Post-Modern Architecture, 1991.
➡ 後現代建築語言 The Language of Post-Modern Architecture, 1998.

29/05/2024

Body parts have been continuously appearing in 's work, and for her exhibition ‘Cosmic Housework', the artist decided to create a few as pillows. These are playfully spread around the house, appearing individually or falling into surreal compositions.

Which body part pillow do you like best? ➡️

‘Cosmic Housework’ is on view at The Cosmic House until 13 September. Follow the link in our bio to learn more.

23/05/2024

The Spring Room at The Cosmic House would have looked very different!

The house is the result of numerous collaborations by the artists, designers and architects commissioned by Maggie and Charles Jencks. These designs for the Spring Room by Rem Koolhaas were rejected by Charles, who thought they were ‘not symbolic enough’. Eventually the commission was given to Michael Graves, who designed a fireplace crowned with three sculpted busts, representing the three ages of Venus and the three months of Spring: April, May and June.

Images:
1.-3. Rem Koolhaas, Design for the Spring Room of The Cosmic House, c. 1978-1983.
4. Michael Graves, Design for the Spring Fireplace, c. 1978–1983. Courtesy of Michael Graves Architecture & Design.

16/05/2024

Visit us in June ☀

We are now releasing tickets to The Cosmic House monthly, every third Friday of each month from April to December. Ticket release for June is scheduled for tomorrow at 12 pm!

🔗 link in our bio.
📅 Wednesday to Friday.
🎫 £8.

See you at The Cosmic House!

Image: Spring Room at The Cosmic House. Slide from the Jencks archive.

14/05/2024

Adhocism: The Case for Improvisation (1972) was one of Charles’ earliest responses to the orthodoxy of Modernist architecture and design. Written almost a decade before the Language of Post-Modern Architecture, adhocism advocated the joining of disparate parts and systems, individual creativity and meaning produced through making.

You can read the Adhocist Manifesto on our website, follow the link in our bio. ☝️

11/05/2024

Sunny days are finally here, and it's the perfect time to enjoy the outdoors! ☀️🌺🌱

Here are a few slides of The Time Garden, designed by Maggie Keswick, at The Cosmic House, taken throughout the years.

07/05/2024

📣 Event: The winners of the 2023 RIBA Charles Jencks Award, Brussels-based practice Dogma, will host a lecture on their significant portfolio of work and approach.

Given annually, the award recognises an individual or practice who has made a major contribution to both the theory and practice of architecture.

📍Royal Institute of British Architects, 66 Portland Place Westminster London W1B 1AD
📆 Thursday, 16 May
🕖 6 pm
🎟 £12.00, book trough the link in bio ⬆️

Images: House for Living and Working, Edersee, by Dogma.

06/05/2024

’A sign to me is a one-liner, a symbol is very complex and my house is a series of symbols.’ — Charles Jencks.

Most furniture in The Cosmic House was designed by Charles Jencks, and like the rest of the decorative scheme, followed a strict symbolic programme.

Sketch: Charles Jencks, Design for Spring table, c. 1978–1983. Pencil and crayon on paper.

01/05/2024

Today we re-open our doors to the public! 🎉 We’re looking forward to having you back at The Cosmic House.

💫 We are opening with a new site-specific exhibition, ‘The World to Me Was a Secret: Caesious, Zinnober, Celadon, and Virescent‘ by Tai Shani. On view until 20 December.

💫 You'll also see the extended site-specific exhibition ‘Cosmic Housework’ by Madelon Vriesendorp. On view until 13 September.

💫 You can also engage with Marysia Lewandowska‘s sound installation ‘how to pass through a door’ (2022), which became part of our collection and is available to listen when visiting The Cosmic House.

💫 Lastly, you'll have a chance to enjoy our garden, which is in full bloom now!

If you missed out on our ticket release for May, our next batch of tickets for June will go out on 17 of May at 12pm. We are now releasing our tickets regularly on every third Friday of the month.

Images:
1. and 3. Madelon Vriesendorp, installation view of ‘Cosmic Housework’ at The Cosmic House. Photo by Thierry Bal.
2. Tai Shani, The World to Me Was a Secret: Caesious, Zinnober, Celadon, and Virescent, 2024, installation view. Photo by Thierry Bal.
4. Marysia Lewandowska's picture of her work table during her research at The Cosmic House.
5. The Time Garden at The Cosmic House. Photo by Charles Jencks.

29/04/2024

Bahbak Hashemi-Nezhad’s project Skylarking became the first furniture commission at The Cosmic House since its opening to the public! 🪑

Invited with an open brief, designed a growing collection of furniture that responds to the evolving public programme, while engaging with the ideas, symbols, and physical elements within The Cosmic House. 'Skylarking' was devised for Maggie’s Study on the first floor of the building, used for both the display of temporary exhibitions and the study of archival material from the Charles Jencks Archive.

The benches and chairs incorporate an ad-hoc collection of backrests reflecting different design values, from a Danish modern classic to ubiquitous IKEA and anonymous Amazon pieces. The skirt-like trim nods to scalloped lead flashing found on traditional facades across the city, while the gloss sheen of the soft rubber surfaces speak of metal and automotive paint.

Head to the link in our bio to learn more. ⬆

Images:
1. Bahbak Hashemi-Nezhad, Skylarking. Photograph by Giulio Sheaves.
2. Bahbak Hashemi-Nezhad, Skylarking. Photograph by Giulio Sheaves.
3. Bahbak Hashemi-Nezhad, Skylarking. Photograph by Bahbak Hashemi-Nezhad.

23/04/2024

The new site-specific exhibition ‘The World to Me Was a Secret: Caesious, Zinnober, Celadon, and Virescent‘ by Tai Shani () previewed last night at The Cosmic House!

Tai Shani’s newly commissioned multimedia installation takes its starting point from a text by the artist, tracing links between The Cosmic House and other historical and mythical houses that anthropomorphise architecture – such as the houses of Carlo Mollino, King Ludwig’s operatic castles, and Dali’s dream of Venus Pavillion.

Shani writes: “This is a dream, a synchronous opportunity to further extend the shared sensibilities and themes that run through the house, Jencks’ vision and thinking, and my own.”

Images: Tai Shani, The World to Me Was a Secret: Caesious, Zinnober, Celadon, and Virescent, 2024, installation view. Photo by Thierry Bal.

19/04/2024

The Cosmic House is re-opening to the public on Wednesday, 1 May and we are very much looking forward to welcoming you back! to visit The Cosmic House is happening today at 12 pm! 💫

Due to emergency building works on our roof during the month of May, we won’t be able to allow access to the top floor of the building.

From now on, tickets to visit The Cosmic House will be released regularly every third Friday of the month at 12 pm.

⏰ Wednesday to Friday at 3:30 pm
🎫 Pay what you can

Slide from the Jencks archive.

17/04/2024

🎉 💫 We are thrilled to announce that Crawick Multiverse in Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland, has become the UK’s first 21st Century designated landscape, after being nominated by members of the general public as part of Historic Environment Scotland ‘Designed Landscapes of the Recent Past’ initiative.

In 2005 Charles Jencks was invited to re-imagine an abandoned open-cast coal site in Southern Scotland. The mine was closed in the 1980s, like many others in the surrounding area. Inspired by the landforms left over from the coal mining process, Jencks’ design focused on ecological and astronomical themes, connecting the post-industrial site with neighbouring landscape, and seeking to put into form the latest thinking in astronomy and cosmology. Crawick Multiverse opened to the public in 2015 and consists of a series of paths that link together landforms that represent the sun, universes, galaxies, black holes, and comets.

Images: Mike Bolam for Crawick Multiverse.

13/04/2024

Spring is here, the sun is out, city streets are covered with white petals and the air carries a sweet fragrance.

One of Charles’ favourite music pieces was Stravinsky’s ‘The Rite of Spring’. ‘You really have to turn up the amplifier when you listen to it. It's a Cosmic piece for me, and I think for Stravinsky. You can really feel nature roaring back in the Spring.’ - said Charles.

We hope you'll find time to turn on Stravinsky and enjoy the nature roaring around you.

Image: The Sundial Arcade with the window down, photograph by Sue Barr.

08/04/2024

🎉 Kisho Kurokawa (黒川紀章) was born on this day in 1934 🎉

‘At first glance Kisho Kurokawa seems more like a statistic dreamed up by the Japanese Board of Trade than a living person. Press reports invariably start with a roll-call of triumphs achieved at the age of forty: thirty-five major buildings designed and built, seventeen books written, four new towns of his design under construction, head of an architect’s firm with one hundred employees and an urban design office of forty.’ - that's how Charles opened an introduction he wrote for the book ‘Kurokawa Kisho: Metabolism in Architecture’, 1977.

Kisho and Charles were good friends from their first meeting in 1966. In this slide from Charles' archive, Kurokawa is standing in front of his Nakagin Capsule Tower (1970-1972) in Tokyo. The Nakagin Capsule Tower was demolished in 2022, but 23 of the capsules were preserved. If you’re in Tokyo, two can be seen at .

Interested in exploring the ? Head to the link in our bio ⬆ and search on our catalogue for Kurokawa or Japan.

#メタボリズム #黒川紀章 #建築写真 #建築 #建築家 #中銀カプセルタワー #中銀カプセルタワービル

07/04/2024

Join the ‘Oblique Histories: Nigerian Indigenous Architecture With and Against Zbigniew Dmochowski’ symposium on April 11!

As part of our theme ‘1980 in Pallax’ we launched an essay series addressing the question ‘Whose Post-Modernism?’ and invited multiple voices to collectively remap the year 1980 from various geographical and cultural perspectives beyond the West, while reflecting on its legacies today.

Our resident, Professor of Architectural History, Łukasz Stanek, participated in this series by writing an essay ‘1980 in Parallax: Zbigniew Dmochowski in Nigeria’. Stanek chose to write about Polish architect and scholar Zbigniew Dmochowski’s research on traditional architecture in Nigeria and the contradictions and complexities behind his decolonizing ambitions. We are pleased to share that the symposium is organised in continuation of this essay.

The symposium will take place in Ann Arbor, Michigan, on April 11. Visit a link in our bio to learn more about the symposium and to read the essay by Łukasz Stanek.

03/04/2024

Charles‘ studio at Cape Cod, where he spent summers with his family, was the first design experiment in which he used ad-hoc and bricolage concepts to create a cheap, metaphoric shed, which he titled The Garagia Rotunda.

‘Entrance shows frontal layering of space accented by various shades of blue. Double split pediment, mass produced mouldings and balustrades are composed of Modernist principles. The red indicates power supply; blue the changing sky.’ - explained Charles.

1. Charles Jencks, The Garagia Rotunda, 1975. Cape Cod.
2. Charles Jencks, Interior of The Garagia Rotunda, 1975. Cape Cod.

Address

19 Lansdowne Walk
Hammersmith
W113AH

Website

https://www.jencksfoundation.org/cosmic-house

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