Defining the Elevator Through the Occupation of Interstitial Space

Koolhaas sees the elevator in terms of its reclamation of "the innumerable planes that had so far been purely speculative." The idea that these planes existed as latent space concealed by our technological infancy was in itself revolutionary. To that point, we understood space in terms of our physical effort to acquire it. From its roots in the Archimedean screw - itself a multiplication of effort that freed us from gravity and the bucket - we have struggled with defining the artificial space of the elevator. The first occupiable elevators were a "plane" themselves. In Versailles, they were a "flying chair." In London, it was the "ascending room" - a liberator of perspective in which the elevator and the destination were one and the same. Otis's "safety" elevator, while promising the aversion of catastrophic failure, simultaneously freed us from our fear of what was between the floors.