Modernism: The best thing for the 20th century
To be honest, Koolhaas’ rant on junkspace made my eyes glaze over
and drove me to pour a strong drink. I believe that he is entitled to his
opinion that “it was a mistake to invent modern architecture for the twentieth
century”, but if we are a profession that boasts the iterative process, and
that it is through failing that we learn, then isn’t the invention of modern
architecture one of the best things to happen for the twentieth century?
I saw Koolhaas’ text as a rant of regurgitated comparisons; ultimately,
in my mind, becoming annoying and pointless. By page five my interest was
hanging by an almost expired tether and the white painted gypsum beyond the
page started capturing my attention (the reading was making me side with the
junkspace around me). Maybe this is the feeling that Koolhaas wanted us to have
as it becomes the point he is trying to make. He tells us what “Junkspace is” repeatedly,
which is what we are doing with modern architecture. “Regurgitation is the new
creativity; instead of creation, we honor, cherish, and embrace manipulation”.
If Koolhaas keeps rewording how he describes junkspace, he is pointing out
exactly what’s happening with modern architecture. Nothing is new, everything has already been thought of, so now we just paint old ideas with a new color.
I’m not sure where I stand on the idea of Junkspace. I can see the
points that Koolhaas makes, but I still don’t believe it devalues us as
architects or that it is necessarily a bad thing. If my goal is to please my
client and make something that I think looks cool in the process, then I’ll be
quite content to design more junkspace. Maybe I’ll design as much junkspace as
possible since Koolhaas made me sit through this reading.
As a side note I find it interesting that without having
junkspace, people like Koolhaas would not be able to write about it. He can
disregard the modern era of architecture, but he too has capitalized on this
period by selling his views on the subject.
(Images: regurgitation in action)
I appreciated your post James. Regardless of how one feels about modern architecture, the point you made about an iterative process is well made, and if we can only learn and progress through trying (and inevitable failure, at times), then I would agree with you that modern architecture is the best thing to happen to the 20th century.
ReplyDeleteI'm also glad you pointed out the irony of exhaustively repeating oneself communicating how an idea is repetitive. But again, just because an idea (such as junkspace) may be repetitive, that does not mean it deoesn't have value. Is value based on utility? Or is it based on innovation? Could it be both, or neither? Sorry, just some of my thoughts as I read and process your post.