Dazzling fun, but dangerous
“The Culture of Congestion” by Rem Koolhaas was by far the most captivating reading this week. I enjoyed how he described taking nature and replacing it with a machine fabrication; the cow becomes a soda machine, sunbathing at night under artificial lights, horseback riding turns into rollercoasters, typical meet-cute of bumping into a stranger is replaced with Barrels of Love. He muses “Manhattan has become—almost—immaterial,” as we seek to replace nature with artificial means, living in an alternative reality.
When reading Koolhaas’s whimsical descriptions of Coney Island elements, I was immediately reminded of the movie “Charlie & the Chocolate Factory” (the Gene Wilder one, no creepy Johnny Depp), except that movie takes the opposite premise. It takes the artificial and makes it natural; a chocolate mixing bowl becomes a chocolate river, a gobstopper becomes a natural nutritional 3 course meal, quality control of nuts is run by nature’s experts, squirrels, etc. Just like the perilous missteps of 4/5 children in “Charlie & the Chocolate Factory,” I can’t help but feel like the dazzling fun of messing of with the blurring line of artificiality and nature, is also quite dangerous.
Are these substitutions of the same quality and how does it impact the inhabitants? Several studies show natural sunlight is much better for occupants physically and mentally than artificial light. No air conditioning settings can feel the same as a natural breeze and AC can also lead to heat intolerance and the recirculation of air-borne diseases throughout buildings. Taking an elevator is great when you’re in a sky-scraper; but why in low-level buildings is it still center stage while stairwells are hidden in corners in concrete cages only existing by the request of fire codes? Why do we shut ourselves into windowless offices to stare at landscapes as screensavers when we could incorporate biophilia into our buildings by framing views through windows and placing planters at workstations. We spend so much time re-inventing nature only to find our substitutes are inferior. Perhaps sometimes nature knows best and we should not meddle.
I enjoyed reading your post! I was also captivated by the Koolhaas reading this week. I especially liked it in conjunction with Blade Runner, because whenever I contemplate Blade Runner I think about Futurism and one of its few defensible (?) artifacts: the Futurist Cookbook, which is insane and which I adore (with reservations). I bought one of my best friends a copy of it (he has a whole collection of weird cookbooks: he's got, like, 5 that are just aspic recipes), and there's this whole prelude that's been added to it about how that particular movement (Futurism, not stuff-in-aspic) was basically a plot for a pastaless Clockwork Orange fascist dictatorship (I'm paraphrasing, obviously). I've often wondered, though: what would Futurism for good guys have looked like? I think that "Culture of Congestion" is a glimpse.
ReplyDeleteThis was awesome to read. Just the structure alone of your post is great set up to the big conclusion at the end. Regarding the last paragraph, I think this is really transformative thinking and made me sit back and think about some of these concepts. It really doesn't make sense to hide stairwells when you can highlight them, and those moves would probably improve overall health for the users of the building! I agree with your point of view and may even take some of these ways of thinking to my studio project.
ReplyDeleteBiophilic design is a term I've come to have a love hate relation ship with. The sentiment is there, if every building could incorporate the natural world into its design why wouldn't we do so. But sometimes its not as simple as just introducing some "green". Adding natural aspects to a design in an artificial manor doesn't always seem to be the best solution. There is something surreal and elegant about Boston City Hall that is intriguing in its own right, even though it is very far removed from the natural world. Biophilic design definitely has its place, just as long as it isn't inserted into the design in an unnatural way. Very cool thoughts! ...Also, Gene Wilder rocked that purple suit
ReplyDeleteI love this comparison and the way in which you describe it as a sort of inverse to what Koolhaas is describing. I think it is so interesting to consider this inverse view of taking the artificial and making in natural. I seems that, though our role as architects is to take the natural and transform it into a more artificial state, we should still be working to maintain as much of that original, natural state as possible. Instead, it seems that we are headed in the direction of a complete shift from natural to artificial. I think it could benefit designers to consider these alternate realities like “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory” and consider ways in which our designs can start to make that transition back to a more natural state.
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