Abusive Architecture
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| 23 East 22nd Street (2008-2010) |
architecture while "ignoring the risks of abuse inherent in restless mobile capital and short-term interests." This offers a solution to "change architecture" but to me minimizes the potential of architecture as a force for good. Koolhaas looks at architecture devoid of context and not as a tool for public good but as another capitalist industry. I can understand the thought process but it goes against the idea of the architect as an optimist and to me is a very grim and reckless way to look at the world. We now can look at history to see the shortcomings and failures of a country purely motivated by growth, bottom lines, and greed. Think of the the stock market collapse and the housing crisis. It was an industry built on deception and predatory methodology. Is this really the future of architecture? Do we really want to focus on profit and getting projects built regardless of the impact that it has on people?
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| Housing Crisis (2008) |
I find myself in a similar conundrum when it comes to Koolhaas, for while he may be critical of the world, his writing style makes it unclear as the whether he is condemning architecture, or praising it. It is perhaps this lack of a solution that leads to misinterpretations of his work, and thus a skewing of what makes architecture into Architecture.
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