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Arts feature

Jonathan Meades on the postmodernist buildings that we must protect

The best of postmodernism – and no, that’s not an oxymoron – should be preserved from philistine politicians, developers and architects

21 May 2016

9:00 AM

21 May 2016

9:00 AM

In any epoch most of what is built is mediocre, though we may not realise it at the time because our neophilia persuades us of merit where there is none. Equally, we may fail to distinguish the few exceptions — those instances where architects and builders have ascended to a higher standard of mediocrity or have even escaped its dulling clasp.

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The Twentieth Century Society’s Postmodernism Conference is on 21 May at the University of Westminster’s School of Architecture, London. Jonathan Meades's new documentary about Mussolini and architecture, Benbuilding, is on BBC4, 1 June, at 9 p.m.

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