Ingrid Böck. Six Canonical Projects by Rem Koolhaas : Essays on the History of Ideas. — Berlin, 2015

  

 

 

 

 

Rem Koolhaas has been part of the international avant-garde since the nineteen-seventies and has been named the Pritzker Architecture Prize for the year 2000. This book, which builds on six canonical projects, traces the discursive practice behind the design methods used by Koolhaas and his office OMA It uncovers recurring key themes—such as wall, void, montage, trajectory, infrastructure, and shape—that have structured this design discourse over the span of Koolhaas's oeuvre. The book moves beyond the six core pieces, as well:

 

It explores how these identified thematic design principles manifest in other works by Koolhaas as both practical reapplications and further elaborations.

 

In addition to Koolhaas's individual genius, these textual and material layers are accounted for shaping the very context of his work's relevance. By comparing the design principles with relevant concepts from the architectural Zeitgeist in which OMA has operated, the study moves beyond its specific subject—Rem Koolhaas—and provides novel insight into the broader history of architectural ideas.

 

Ingrid Böck is a researcher at the Institute of Architectural Theory, Art History and Cultural Studies at the Graz University of Technology, Austria.

 

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Acknowledgments 8

Introduction 9

Biographical Notes 25

 

1. WALL: EXODUS, OR THE VOLUNTARY PRISONERS OF ARCHITECTURE, London 1972 31

 

The Wall as a Means of Division, Exclusion, and Difference 33

 

The Ideal City and Other Models of Utopian Life 63

 

Utopia Zero Degree, or Freedom Beyond Planning 73

 

2. VOID: VILLE NOUVELLE MELUN-SÉNART, PARIS 1987 87

 

Failed Agencies of Modern Urbanism 89

 

Void and Future Development 105

 

Void as Environment of Control and Choice 116

 

The Armature of Genericity 125

 

3. MONTAGE: MAISON À BORDEAUX, FRANCE 1994–1998 139

 

Dismantling Modernist Fragments 141

 

The Rational and Irrational Side of Architecture 168

 

Montage and Filmic Reality 181

 

4. TRAJECTORY: DUTCH EMBASSY, BERLIN 1999–2003 199

 

The Trajectory as Lived Experience of the Body 201

 

Identity and Aura, or The Trajectory as Historical Narrative 227

 

Junkspace as the End of the Typical and the Generic 241

 

5. INFRASTRUCTURE: PUBLIC LIBRARY, SEATTLE 1999–2004 261

 

Expanding the Program of Semi-Public Space 263

 

Infrastructure Diagrams of Circulation 277

 

Technological Determinism and the Public Sphere 294

 

6. SHAPE: CCTV, BEIJING 2002–2008 305

 

The Outdated Typology of the Skyscraper 307

 

Neo-Liberal Conditions of Architectural Practice 317

 

Conclusion 329

 

Bibliography 338

Name Index 355

Imprint 368

 

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