Megalomania

Megalomania
NOUN
1. A psychopathological condition characterized by delusional fantasies of wealth, power, or omnipotence.
2. An obsession with grandiose or extravagant things or actions.


In the reading The Irrational Exuberance of Rem Koolhaas by Ellen Dunham-Jones, the author synthesizes Koolhaas’s evolution of his architectural philosophy. Somewhere along his career there was a shift from creating a world for interaction to the internalization of ecosystems.

I interpret this as a condition of influence by the events occurring during his time. The growing movement of globalization and a capitalistic world spark to reinvent his brand which parallels the methodology of how businesses run in a free market: evolve with the trends to keep up with competition. At first glance, Koolhaas’s radical changes may appear to be symptoms of a megalomaniac condition which requires a biopsy to identify the disease.

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