We need Junkspace!
I am going to take a stance and say that we need to have some “Junkspace” in our world. We need
it like an orange needs its skin. The skin protects the important juicy
deliciousness that lies within its walls, just like Junkspace protects actual
good architecture by proving that it is indeed good architecture. You need the
contrast, the superficial and probably poorly constructed vs. the complete, the thorough, the mature.
Trinity Church - Boston (Junk on the right to emphasize the quality of the Church)
CONTRAST!
As Koolhaas associates modernity’s byproduct to this idea of
Junkspace, he describes a world of globalization – in our airports, hotels, and
malls – spreading and uniting everything. Spending some time in Charleston last
semester, I think that Junkspace is just what the dying city needs. People need
places to live and they want to live on the peninsula, but there are very few
options that make financial sense – yet again producing another city which is
dependent on the car as new residents flock to Mt. Pleasant, James Island and other surrounding areas.
I think that the BAR and the Charleston residents have a
hard time distinguishing what actually is important in and to the city. So what
you’re left with is a place that is beautifully preserved but with no actual
life, because no one can afford to live in these mansions, to fix them up, and
they couldn’t dare change the zoning so that the houses could be split up into
multiple apartments and make them, heaven forbid, affordable…
I think by allowing Junkspace (which I am equating to
affordable places to live) to seep into the fabric of Charleston, it would help
to alleviate some of their issues, make the city actually livable, and perhaps
put a halt to the Disney-esque landscape that surrounds the cruise ship
dependent streets. I can understand trying to protect a culture and the values and architecture that go along with it but the route that they're taking is literally leading to a geriatric monoculture.
The Preservation Society of Charleston trying to keep Charleston "real", when (as an outsider) the city feels artificial
I like the idea of Junkspace as the necessary evil(?) to add 'goodness' to the rest. It is interesting how you define Junkspace as the affordable/sensible replacement to the artificiality, when many would argue that Junkspace is made of the artificially sustained environments. (see Lauren G.'s post)
ReplyDeleteI think you're right in the idea that Charleston seems to be the opposite of junkspace. We could consider a place of entirely junkspace to be one end of a spectrum line and cities that prize preservation above all to be the other extreme. The lesson to be learned here is maybe that, as is often the case, being too extreme on either side doesn't benefit anyone. Rather, a middle path approach that incorporates ideas of both ends of the spectrum might be the best course of action.
ReplyDeleteI like the idea that Junkspace offers a backdrop to other forms of architecture. This may be what Koolhaas had in mind all along in his critical collage of the skyline of competing symbols? This goes into the much debated argument of, "More is More" vs. "Less is More".
ReplyDeleteThis post made me think about my time in undergrad living in Savannah. In downtown Savannah there were few options for groceries. There were a few gas station/convenience stores near the edge of the city, and a few pharmacies with modest grocery sections, but the only true grocery store was a Kroger located a few blocks south of the commercial heart of the city, in the middle of a residential area.
ReplyDeleteThe Kroger was fairly typical, other than its brick facade the store wasn't much different from the Bi-Lo we have here in Clemson. On Sundays, however, something special would happen. Beginning around 11am, the store became as packed as Macy's on Black Friday. Some were the typical shopper seen in any grocery store, there to buy their pita chips and leave. For every one of them, however, there were at least two more who lingered, chatting and interacting with other shoppers. Conversations that had begun minutes before at church, weeks ago at a school event, and new interactions all together would take place.
In a historic, highly walk-able city with more more public green-space than the rest of the state combined (I exaggerate, maybe, idk), this commercial junkspace had become one of the most significant spaces for social interaction in the city.
(TLDR: Junkspace can be good)
DeleteI think you're right about junkspace being necessary in order for us to have something to compare good architecture to. It's just hard to admit it because junkspace sucks and no one really wants it. If all architecture and design is good, then nothing would stand out.
ReplyDeleteAlthough I do think this is a slippery slope; junkspace shouldn't exist simply to keep the artificially elevate the quality of good architecture. Think if buildings like Notre Dame or the Guggenheim were the worst architecture we had... that would be the baseline of junkspace and the good architecture that DOES stand out would be even greater.
I am not sure if BAR regulates what goes inside a building. I an create a empty shell and get it approved from BAR for what they care most about is how facade looks. But the empty shell can also be called a junk space in its own ways maybe.
ReplyDelete