Is "Bigness" Our Fate?

The concept that continued to stick in my mind throughout this segment is what Rem Koolhaas calls “bigness,” It’s a thread you can see through each reading and certainly in Blade Runner. Los Angeles in Blade Runner has become a kind of mass with few discerning characteristics, or anything you could call architecture, everything blends together with the exception of some scattered mega-skyscrapers. This fictitious environment represents a time where the urban environment transcends architecture and moves into something different, more of a greater whole, Koolhaas would call this bigness. In his writing he refers to bigness in regard to modern skyscrapers because of their almost super-human quality and the sheer effort and manpower it takes to produce such a behemoth of urbanity. It is impossible to boil them down to one person or “starchitect” like you can with a house or museum.

The ‘Made in Tokyo’ reading speaks on this concept in a different way but becomes a great companion piece to Koolhaas writings. In Tokyo, buildings also transcend architecture because of the need for pure functionality with very limited space, most buildings were built recently and look to be more of a continuation of their environment rather than trying to make any kind of statement or gesture. In that way you can say the city of Tokyo becomes a kind singular megalith much like Los Angeles in Blade Runner. Could this be the fate of cities all around the world? Will the job of architects change to that of a support position in a much larger megastructure?