Dezeen has released a comprehensive video exploring The Cosmic House, the extraordinary postmodern architectural landmark created by the late critic and theorist Charles Jencks. Located in Holland Park, London, this Grade I listed house serves as both an educational foundation and a living testament to postmodern design principles.

The Cosmic House was built by Charles Jencks in collaboration with his partner, artist and garden designer Maggie Keswick Jencks. The house stands as one of London's most celebrated examples of postmodern architecture, embodying Jencks' revolutionary theories about architectural meaning and symbolism. After opening to the public in 2021, the house has operated as an educational charity, hosting an ambitious program of exhibitions, residencies, artistic collaborations, and educational partnerships with local schools and global universities.

Charles Jencks gained international recognition for his groundbreaking study of postmodernism, particularly through his influential 1977 book "The Language of Post-Modern Architecture," in which he famously declared the death of modern architecture. Beyond his role as an architectural critic, Jencks co-founded Maggie's, a cancer support charity, and was renowned for his innovative landform and landscape art projects. Throughout his career spanning nearly six decades, he published more than 40 books and countless articles on architectural theory.

The Cosmic House was conceived as both a playful experiment and a physical manifesto of postmodernism, designed to serve as a three-dimensional representation of Jencks' theoretical studies. The house reflects Jencks' deep fascination with language and semiotics, incorporating visual and verbal puns, symbolic elements, and intellectual games throughout its design. For Jencks, architecture functioned as a meaning-making device, rich with signs and symbols that could be read and interpreted on multiple levels.

Upon entering the house, visitors encounter the Cosmic Oval, a carefully designed vestibule that mirrors the shape of the universe. Jencks intended this dramatic entryway to establish the tone for a house that can be experienced and interpreted in numerous ways. One primary reading of the house presents it as an elaborate cosmic metaphor, with each element contributing to this overarching theme.

At the heart of the building stands the Solar Stair, a magnificent spiral staircase that connects all levels of the house. This central feature contains 52 steps representing the 52 weeks of the year, embellished with symbols depicting astrological signs. The staircase incorporates 365 grooves symbolizing the days of the year, while its banisters reference the sun, moon, and Earth, creating a comprehensive astronomical narrative.

The ground floor features five distinct rooms representing different seasons: winter, spring, summer, Indian summer, and autumn. Charles and Maggie designed their home to function as both a domestic residence and a vibrant social space, regularly hosting salons and intellectual debates with prominent figures including Zaha Hadid, Frank Gehry, and Rem Koolhaas. Throughout the house, visitors can discover works by many of their friends and collaborators, including fireplaces in the spring and winter rooms created by designer Michael Graves, and a sculpture of Hephaestus by artist Celia Scott.

Humor plays a crucial role in the house's design philosophy, with visual jokes and ironic elements woven throughout the structure. Notable examples include a set of marble "spoon glyphs," fake springs installed in the spring room, and a whimsical staircase that leads nowhere, demonstrating Jencks' belief that architecture should engage visitors intellectually and emotionally.

The house also served as a center for Charles and Maggie's extensive academic work, which encompassed topics ranging from cosmology and landscape art to health and wellness, in addition to architecture. Beyond The Cosmic House, the couple collaborated on several cosmic-inspired landscape art installations, including the renowned Garden of Cosmic Speculation in Dumfries, Scotland, and the Landform at The National Gallery of Modern Art in Edinburgh.

Following Maggie's cancer diagnosis at age 47, the couple founded Maggie's, a charity dedicated to commissioning major architects to design comforting spaces of respite for cancer patients and their families. The charity has collaborated with renowned architects including Heatherwick Studio, Norman Foster, and Frank Gehry, among others, creating a network of architecturally significant healing environments.

Today, The Cosmic House continues to honor the Jencks' legacy through ongoing collaborations and showcases with contemporary artists and makers. The foundation describes itself as a cultural laboratory, developing specialized annual programs of commissions, salons, and seminars around specific themes that promote critical experimentation and artistic research.

Currently, the house features a site-specific performative and musical video work by artist and composer Lina Lapelytė, displayed across 12 screens throughout the building. Lapelytė's piece responds directly to Charles' concept of the Cosmic Oval, encouraging viewers to perceive The Cosmic House's interior as a dynamic stage for performance and artistic expression.

The foundation also maintains Charles's extensive personal archive and library, with plans to make this valuable collection accessible to the public for research into late twentieth and early twenty-first-century architecture and culture. Coinciding with Dezeen's video release, The Cosmic House has launched a new website featuring collaborative content in a magazine format, exploring key themes from Charles and Maggie's work, including Architecture in Dialogue, Cosmology as Landscape, and Health through Environment.

The Cosmic House welcomes visitors from April through December each year, continuing its mission to inspire curiosity and critical thinking about architecture, art, and the cosmos. The house stands as a lasting tribute to Charles and Maggie Jencks' vision of architecture as a meaningful, symbolic language that can transform how we understand and experience the built environment.