Single Spaced Single Paragraph No Pictures Response

 

I am not going to lie, but when I first opened up “Junkspace” by Mr. Koolhaas I was a bit overwhelmed. I found myself regressing back to my elementary-age-self, looking for any kind of picture or illustration to break up the never-ending wall of text in front of me. Single space and one paragraph? Brutal. I can imagine Mr. Koolhaas laughing as he wrote this, knowing precisely what he was doing. But more importantly, I wonder how people would respond reading this piece of text who contributed to the “Junkspace”. Koolhaas’ constant jabs at the failure previous architects are because of the buildings they produced that Koolhaas compares to trash, or will soon become trash. Maybe this is a bit of a “my generation is better than the previous generation” attitude, but I digress. One thin that I did not agree with was Koolhaas’ statement, “we have built more than did all previous generations put together, but somehow we do not register on the same scales. We do not leave pyramids.” I believe Koolhaas is expressing that even though he have built and developed more than any other previous generation, nothing that we have built will stand alone as a crowning achievement of our age, like the Pyramids. This could be interpreted two different ways, one being that no building made in the 21^st century will stand as long as the Pyramids have been around; or that no building made in the 21^st century is worthy of praise, recognition, or wander for a similar length of time as the Pyramids. I can see the argument for building materials used now may not be able to last as long as the 2.5 ton limestone blocks used for the Pyramids, so I will tackle the later interpretation. I understand the argument that Koolhaas is making, that Modernization has destroyed the art of building, but to claim that there are no buildings now that are worth anything in comparison to the Pyramids (or other buildings of marvel) is a bit of a stretch. Amongst all of the junk that fills the Earth there are jewels that I believe will be marveled as time continues. When looking up the top 100 most important buildings of the 20^th century, almost every one on my list has come up in some type of class or review in my time here at Clemson as an architectural student. The Guggenheim, Farnsworth House, and Villa Savoye just to name a few. If the buildings in the 20^th century and beyond are junk, then why are we studying them intently in school today?