VIRTUAL JUNK

“Junkspace cannot be remembered. It is flamboyant yet unmemorable […] Junkspace does not pretend to create perfection, only interest. Its geometries are unimaginable, only makeable.” (Koolhaas 177)

“What reigns there is actuality, the urgency of the present moment. Since non-places are there to be passed through, they are measured in units of time. […] They are lived through in the present. Actually there is nothing to be seen; once again, the spectacle is only an idea, only a word.” (Auge 104)

In the virtual worlds of video games, Junkspace and non-space can truly and perfectly exists. The building simply acts as the scenery for the quest you have been tasked with, and games only exist for you to solve some quest. With that in mind, little attention is paid to the areas that are not used while playing. Even when a building interior is used, the same pattern, texture, furniture, etc… are used as the rest of the game. The building where you find your advanced weapon looks very similar to the one where you pick up a potion. In the gaming world, the building only exists to enhance your gameplay through scenery – aka – interest.  Once you leave the scene, you forget everything about it. It only becomes that general area where you found an extra life. When you are so focused on the task at hand, everything becomes a backdrop. Everything becomes junkspace or non-places.

When applied to reality, I’m still not entirely sure Junkspace or Non-spaces truly exist. Instead, I think it is the perception of the authors who have little time or interest in the world around them to actually spend time and focus on the spaces they inhabit. Unlike the gaming world, people can touch and manipulate anything. The creators of real buildings cannot create invisible physical limits as the designers can in games. Therefore, the interaction in the space is entirely up to the user. To me, Junkspace and non-space are not physical manifestations of a poor architectural design, rather a psychological phenomenon created by the user’s disregard to focus on their surroundings.