Thoughts on Urban Congestion and Un-modern Architectures
The dramatic
population growth of Manhattan led to a radical change of urban life in the
city. The congestion appeared
accordingly and unavoidably. The invention of elevator, steeplechase, electric bathing in Coney
Island happened in 20th, all those stuff relevant with modernity provides
better superior experience of living there. Koolhaas holds kind of negative
opinions on these since the nature of this place would lost and won't be back,
however, the emergence of new innovation
provided those people with a wonderful solution to several problems on-going at
that time.
As for learning from the pop, whatever it is the
tomato soup can representing the pop culture or the colorful commercial signs
in Las Vegas, those are good vocabularies for showing people's contemporary
life and needs. A building with the form
of donut or duck might be regarded by many architects as "irrational
environmental pollution" due to its over decorative appearance. The
judgement from the "professionals" who value the features of modern
architectures to the ordinary amateur who enjoys those decorative and
straightforward forms should be abandoned (Think of some of those top 10 ugly
buildings in this year picked out by some media). The forms of architectures
should be open and diverse instead of being biased according to some dogmatic
rules.
Coney Island—Dreamland view from the Atlantic Ocean
Midtown Manhattan in 1920s
The Big Duck in Flanders, New York.
I think there is a lot to talk on in respect to this post. I feel that through out short time in class, we have covered this topic in a few different lights. This is great, because I think there is a place in architecture for the ordinary. As you might guess, I certainly think that architectures should not be bound by traditionally bland forms. Where the issue becomes complex is when there is not a distinction between what is truly a decorated shed (say, a duck perhaps) and the Seattle library. Although I personally am not a fan of the library in any facet, that does not mean it is 'unsuccessful' or could be nested with a 'duck'.
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure how much of a negative connotation Koolhaas really has about the emergence of new technologies in New York, although he does seem concerned with the development of Coney Island, I think the potential for limitless programmatic changes in a city was very intriguing to him.
ReplyDeleteI don't think that Koolhaas has negative mind on the emergence of new technologies in New York. And about being open to new inspirations, I completely agree. We can get inspired by Las Vegas or Ancient Greece, the thing is how we will apply them in our design process.
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