Postmodernism
Postmodernism is a collective term for very different styles in post-1980 architecture. Common sources of inspiration are architecture from other eras and contemporary society with its rapid visual culture, artificiality and permanent changes. In Zoetermeer, the cinema at Duitslandlaan and the Forum-Fontanum in Rokkeveen are examples of postmodern architecture.
Postmodernism gained a late foothold in the Netherlands, with a half-hearted variation on the postmodernist architecture so popular abroad that uses many elements from classical antiquity. In the mid-1980s, this translated in the Netherlands into neo-nationalist buildings with a temple front, columns and a symmetrical design. In the 1990s, this classicist variant developed into a mature style.
Building in homegrown historic styles also took off starting in the 1990s. Rokkeveen, with its Amsterdam and Haagsche School neighborhoods, was one of the earliest examples, but now 1930s homes are springing up all over the country, as are houses in historic styles from before the 1930s, such as in Dorpsstraat or, just outside Zoetermeer, the new shopping center in Nootdorp.
Consumerism
Of a very different postmodern slant is Consumerism. Consumerism is not so much for a style with fixed characteristics as a design attitude that has similarities to deconstructivism, which produced the Floriade in Zoetermeer in the early 1990s. Like neomodernism, a building is designed as a powerful and original image that expresses its own atmosphere or lifestyle. This involves the free use of architectural elements from other eras or countries. Multiple contrasting styles, materials and colors can be united in a building. Consumerism is highly associative.
Examples
