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8/20/2019 07 Koolhaas, Junkspace
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8/20/2019 07 Koolhaas, Junkspace
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all conditional space turns in o junkspace
...
When we
think
about
space,
we
have only looked
at
its
containers. As
if
space itsel
fis
invisible, all theory for
the production
of
space is based on an obsessive
preoccupation with ils opposite: substance and
objects, i.e., architecture. Architects couJd never
explain space; Junkspace
is
our
punishment
for their
mystifications.
,
lct's talk
about
space then. Thc
beauty
of
airports, especially after eaéh upgrade. The
luster of renovations. The subtlety
of
the sh0pping
center.
Let
's explore public spac;:e, discover casinos,
spend time
in
theme parks ... Jmikspace is
the
b0dy
dou ble
of
s pace, a territory
of
impaired vision, limired
expectation, reduced earnestness. junkspace is a
Bermuda lriangle
of
concepts, a pe tri dish abanclonecl:
it cancels distinctions. undermines resolve. confuses
intention
with
realization. It replaces hierarchy with
accumulation, composition with addition. More and
more, more is more. junkspace is overripe and
undernourishing at the same time, a colossal security
blanket
that
covers
the earth
in
a stranglehold
of
care ... Junkspace is like being condemned to a
perpetualJacuzzi
wit
millions ofyour bestfriends ... A
fuzzy empire ofblur, it fuses high and lovv, public and
private. straight and
bent
, bloated and starved to offer
.a seamless patchwork of the permanently disjointe:d.
Se:emingly
an
apotheosis, spatially grandiose ,
the
effect of tsrkhness
is
a terminal hollowness, a vicious
parody
of
ambition that systematically erodes
the
credfüility
of
building--. possibly fo,rever
..
. Space was
created
by
piling
matter n
top ofmatter, cemented to
forma solid new whole.Junkspace is additivc, laycrcd
and
lightweight,
not
articulated in different parts
bur
subdivided, quartered thc way a carcass is torn apart-
individual chunks severed from a universal condition.
There are no· vvalls, only partitions, shimmering
membranes frequently covered in mjrror Qr gold.
Structure groans invisibly underneath decoration,
or
w.orse, has
bernme
ornamental; small shiny space
frames support nominal loads, or huge beams deliver
cyclopic burdens to unsuspecting clestinations
...
The
arch, once
the
workhorse ofstructures, has become
the
depleted emblem
of
community, welcoming
an
infinity ofvirtual populations to non'-éxistent there 's.
Where
it
is absent, it is simply applied - mostly in
stucco - as ornamental afterthought on hurriedly
erected superblocks. Junkspace's iconography is 13
Roman. 8 Bauhaus. 7 Disney (neck
and
neck , 3 Art
Nouveau, followed closely by Mayan.
...
Like a substance
that could llave condénscd in any
other
form,
junkspace is a domain of feigned, simulaled order, a
kingdom of morphing. Its specific configuration is as
fortuitous as
the
geometry
of
a snowflake. Patterns
imply repetition
or
ultimately decipherable
ru
les;
Junkspace is beyond measure, beyond code
... Bc
cause
it cannot be grasped, . Junkspace cannot be
remembered.It is flamboyantyet unmemorable, like a
screensave'F; its refusal to freeze ensures instanr
amnesia.- Junkspace does not pretend to create
perfection. only interest. Its geomerries are
unimaginable, only makeable. J\lthough stricrly non
architectural , it tends to the vaulted, to the Dome.
Sectiqns seem to be devoted to utterJnerrness.
in pcrpetual rhetorical turmoil:
the
deadest .resides
8/20/2019 07 Koolhaas, Junkspace
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to
the mosl
hysterical. Themes cast a pall of
interior
s as big
as the
, spawning stillbirths in cvcry cerner. The
is Byzantine, gorgeous and dark, splintercd
o rhousands ofshards, ali visible ar rhc same time: a
universe in
which
all
content
s
lves
in
splil-seconds around the dizzy
of the
beholder. Murals used to show idols;
dimensioned to carry brands;
can be shared,
brands husband
aura
at the
of
focus gro u ps.
Bra
nds
in
junkspace perform
same role as blacl
8/20/2019 07 Koolhaas, Junkspace
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l. There is
no
progress; likc a crab
on
LSD,
sraggers
endl
essly sideways
...
The average
is
a microcosm ofjunkspace:
fctvcnr semanLics
ofhealth
slabs ofeggplant, topped
y thick
layers ofgoat cheese - cancelled by a colossal
ar
the bo LLom ....
Junk
space is draining and is
ed in return. Everywhere
injunkspace
there
ar
e
arrangements, ranges
of
modular chairs, even
if the
experience
junkspace
offers its
is significantlymore exhausting
than
any
s
paLial
sensation;
in
its mosr ahandoned
find buffers: ul ilitarian tables draped in
or black sheets, perfuncrory assemblies
of
ff
cinc and calories- couage cheese. muffins, unripe
- n
ot
ional representations of plenl)
',
wi
thou
t
and
withoutplenty.
Eac
hjunkspace is connected,
or
later, to bodily functions: wedged between
tainless-steel partirions sit rows ofgroaning Romans,
s
bunch
ed
around
Lheir huge sneakers
...
t
is so intensely consumcd.
junk
space is
natically mainrained , t
he
nighl shift undoing
the
of the day shift
in an
endless Sisyphcan replay.
you rccover from Junkspace, junkspace recovers
you: bet\.veen 2and 5 am, yet anoth
er
population,
h
is one heartlessly casual
and
apprcciably darke r, is
hovering, sweepin
g,
toweling. resupplying
..
.
unkspace does
not
inspire loyalty in its cleaners
..
.
d icatecl to instant gratificarion, Junkspace
sceds
of
fulure perfection; a language
f apology
is
woven
through
irs texturc
of
canned
phoria; pardon our a
pp
earance signs or miniaturc
llow "sorry hillboards mark ongoing palches of
announce
momentar
y discomfort
in return
immincnt
shine, Lhe a1lure of improvement.
mewhere. workers sink on rhcir lmees
ro
repair
secrions - as if
in
a prayer - or half-disappear in
iling voids to negoriare
el
usive malfünction -as
if
in
nf
ession.
All
surfaces are archaeological,
perposi rions
of
differenl periods
('.v
hat
do you call
mom
ent
a particular typc ofwall-to-wall carpet
was
urrent?) - as y
ou not
e when they're
torn
..
.
aditionally. typology implics dcmarcarion, the
finition
of
a singular mude
tha
t excludes
other
ngements.Junkspace represents a reverse typology
fcumu larive, approximative identity, less about kind
an
about
quantity. But formlessness is still form, the
mless also a typology ... Take
the
dump, where
trucks discharge
their
loads to
forma
heap,
hole
in
spite ofthc randomness
of
rs contents
and
its
amental shapelessness,
or
that
Óf
the ten
t-
lopc
that
assumes different shapes to
modate variable
interior vol
umes. - Gr
th
e
ero tehes
of
the new generation. Junkspa
ce
can
either
be absolutely chaotic or frighteningly
asepric - like a best-seller -
ove
rdetermined
and
indeterminate
at the
samc rime. There is some
thin
g
srrange aboutballrooms, for instance: huge wastelands
kept column-free für ultim.atc flexibilir
y.
Because
yo u've never been invi ted to that kind of event, you
have never seen thcm
in
use, only being pre
par
ed wilh
chilling precision: a relentless grid of circul
ar
tables,
cxtcnding towards a disLant horizon,
their
diameters
preempting commun ica rion. a dais bigenough for the
polirburo ofa totalitarian stare. vvings
announcing
as
yer unimagincd surprises - acres
of
orga
ni
zation
to
support
future drunkenness. disarray and disordcr. Or
car shows
...
Junkspace is often described as a space of
flows.
but
that is a misnomcr; flows depend on
disciplined mo
vement
, bodies
that
cohere. Junksparc
is a web without spider; allhough it is an architecture
of the masses, each rrajcctory is strictly unique. Its
anarchy is onc
of
the
lasr tangible ways
in
which
we
experience freedom. lt
is
a space of co llision. a
container ofatoms, busy, not dense ..There is a special
\vay
of
moving
injunk
space, ar
the
same time aimless
and purposeful. lt is an acquired culture. Junkspace
fearures
the
tyranny of
thc
obliviou
s:
s
omelim
es an
enlire Junkspace comes unstuck through thc non
conformiryof
one
ofits rnembers; a single citizen
of
an
another culture
- a rcfugee, a mor
her
- can destabilize
an enlire Junkspace, hold it to a rustic's ransom.
leaving
an
invisible swarh
of
obstruction
in
hi
s/
her
wake, a deregulati
on
eventua
ll
y communicated to its
furrhcst extremities. \Nhere movement becomes
synchronized,
it
curdles : on escalators, n
ear
exit
s,
parking machines, automated tellers. Sornet
im
es,
under
durcss,
in
di
viduals are channeled in a flow,
pushed through a single door or forced to ncgot
ia
te
rhc
gap
ben
veen two lemporary obstacles (an invalid's
bl
eeping chariot
anda
Christrnas trcc): rhc manitest
ll
will
such narrowing provokes, mocks
the
notion
of
flmvs. Flows injunkspace lead
ro
disaster:
department
stores
at the
beginning
of
sal
es,
th
c stampcdes
tr i
ggered by warring c:ompartments of soccer fans,
dead bodies piling
up
in front
ofthe
locked eniergenry
doors of a disco: evidence of the misfiLbetween the
portals ofjunkspace and the narrow ca librations
ofthe
old world. Theyoung instinctively avoid the Dantesque
manipulations/containers ro
wh
ich
Jun
kspace has
conclemned
their
elders
in
perpetui
ty.
Within che
mcra-playground of Junkspace exist small
er
pla
ygrounds ,
Junk
space for
chi
ldren (usually
in
rhe
leasl desirable square footage) : sections
of
sudd
en
miniaturization
-oftcn underneath slaircases, alwa
ys
near
dead ends - assemblies
of
under-dimensioned
plastic srrucrnres-slides, seesaws, sw
in
gs -shunnecl by
165
8/20/2019 07 Koolhaas, Junkspace
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their intended audi
ence -kids -
turned in
o
junkniche
for
the
old,
th
e lost.
the
forgonen,
the
insane
..
last
hi
cc
up of humanism ...
Traffic is junkspace, from
airspace to [be subway: the
entire
highway system
is
pace, a
v
ast polenlial ulupia
clogged
y
its users,
notice
when the
y've finally disappeared
on
acation
... Like
radioactive waste,
junkspace
has
an
insidious half-life. Aging
injunkspace
is
nonexistent
or
an entire junkspace
- a
epar
tment store, a
ni
ghtcl
ub
, a bachelor pad -
turns
inro a
slum
overnight without warning: wattage
imperceptibly. leners
drop
out ofsigns,
air
ditioning units slarL dripping, cracks appear as if
rwise unregis[ered earthquakes; sections rot,
e no longer viable,
but remain
joined to the flesh of
he
main
body via gangrenous passage
s.
Judging the
uilt presumed a static condition; now each
embodies opposi te conditions
old
and
new,
permanent and
emporary, flourishing and
at
risk.
..
Sections undergo
n Alzheimer-like deterioration as
others
are
endless, it is never
... Renovation and restoration were
procedur
es
hat
took place in your absence; now you re a wimess, a
eluctant participanr.... Seeing Junkspace in
is like inspecting an
unmad
e bed, someone
se's .Say
an
airport needs more space. In the past new
erminals were added, each more or less characteristic
f
its own age. leaving
the
old
one
s as a
readab
le
eco
rd
,
e v i d ~ n e of
progress. Since passengers have
strated
their
infinite malleability,
he
idea ofrebuilding
on the spot
has gained currency.
are
thrown in reverse. signs taped, potted
(
or
very large corpses) covered
in
body
bag
s.
oftaped
sheetrocksegrcgare two populations:
wel, one dry
one
hard. one flabby one cold, one
hcatcd.
Half
the
population
produces new space,
more affluent
half consumes old space.
To
a nether world
of manual
labor,
the
e
suddenl
y turns
into
casbah: improvised
breaks, smoking, even real
fires ... The ceiling is a crumpled plate like the
grids of unstable tiles alternare wirh
onogrammed sheets of black plastic. improbably
unctured by grids ofcrystal chandeliers ... Metal ducts
ced by brealhing textiles. Gapingjoint'i reveal
iling vo ids (former canyons ofasbestos?}, beams,
insulation, fireproofing.
string
;
gled arrangements suddenly exposed ro daylight.
, tortured and
co
mplex. they exist only because
were never consciously plotted. The floor
is
a
ent
texrures -concrete, hairy,
heavy
h
iny plastic. metallic,
mudd
y -alternare randomly, as
if
dedicated to different species
...
Thc
ground is
no
more. There are too
many
raw needs to be realized on
only
one
plane. The absolute
horizontal
has been
abandoned. Transparency
has
disappeared, replaced
y
a
den
se
crust of provi
s
ional occupation
: kiosks.
carts, strollers,palms,
fount
ains ,bars. sofas, trolle
ys ...
.
Corridors
no
lo
nger
simply
link
to
B. but have
become dcstinations. Their
tenanr
lite tcnds to be
short:
the
most srngnant windows.
the
most
perfunclory
dresscs, the most implausible flowers. All
perspccrive is gone, as
in
a rainforest (itse
lf
disappearing, they keep saying ..). The formerly
straig
hr
is coiled into ever more complex
configurations. Only a perverse modernist
choreography can explain the twists and turns, ascents
and
descent
s.
s
udden
reversals
that
comprise the
typical path from check-in (misleading name) to apron
of he average contemporary airport. Beca use we never
reconstruct
or
question the absurdity ofthese enforc
ed
dérives, we meekly submit to grotesque journeys past
perfume. asylum seeker, building site, underwear.
oysters, pornography, cell phone - incredible
adventures for the brain, the eye, the nose. the tongue.
the womb, the resticles ... There was once a polemic
about
the right angle
and
the stra
ight
linc; now
th
e
90th
degree has become one
among
many.
In
fact
remnants
of former geomerries create evernew havoc
offering forlorn nodes of resistance that creare
unstable eddies
in
newl
y
opportunistic
flows
...
Wh
o
would dare claim responsibili ty for this sequcnce?The
idea that a profession once dictated, or at leasr
presumed to predict, pcople's movements, now seems
laughable,
or
worse: unthinkable. Insrcad of desi
gn
,
there
is calculation: the more erratic
the path.
eccentric thc loops, hidden
the blueprint
,
the
m
ore
efficient the exposure,
ine
v
it
able the transaction. n
this
war, graphic designers are the great turnco;us:
where
once signage promised
to
deliver you to
wher
e
you wanted to be, il now obfuscates and entangles you
in
a thicket ofcuteness
that
forces you past
unwanr
ed
detours,
turns
you back
vvh
en y
ou re
lo
sL
Postmodcrnism adds a crumple-zone
of
viral po
tha:
fractures
and
multiplies
the
endless frontline
o:
display, a peristaltic shrink-wrap crucial to aL
commercial exchange. Trajectories are launched as
ramp, turn horizontal
without
any
warnin
g, intersea:.
fold down, suddenly emerge on a vertiginous balcony
above a large void. Fascism minus dictator. From rbe
sudden
dead
eu
d where you were dropped by
2
monum
e
ntal
. granite staircase,
an
escalator
tak
es
you
toan invisible destination, facing a provisional vista
plaster, inspired by forgettable sources. (There is C
datum level; yuu always
inh
abita sandvvich. Space-
8/20/2019 07 Koolhaas, Junkspace
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out ofJunkspace as from a soggy block of ice
has langu ishcd too long
in
the freezer:
ndrical. cone shaped, more or le
ss
spherical,
ver ...) Toilet groups murare inro Disney Store
morph ro become meditation center: successive
mock rhe word "plan." The plan is a
n vvhere individual pulses survive for
of
Lime
in
a Bacchanalian free-
In this srandoff berween
thc
redundant and
inevitable. a plan would actually make matters
, drive you to
instant
despair. Only
the
diagram
a bearable version.There is zero loyalty-and zero
- toward configuralion, no "original"
ndition; architecture has turned into a t m
e l a p s e
to revea a "perman
ent
evolution" ... The only
is conversion -continuous - followed, in rare
by "restoration
,
t he process that claims ever
sections
of
history as extensions
of
Junkspace.
corrupt
s,
absolute history corrupts absol'utely.
r and matter are eliminated from these bloodless
the bland has become the only meetingground
the
old and
the
new ... Can
the
bland be amplified?
exaggerated? Through height?
Len
gth? Variation? Repetition? Sometimes
not
but
its opposite. an absolute absence
of
detail,
Junkspace. A voided conditionof frighrening
hocking proof that so
much
can be
by
so
lillle. Laughable emptiness infuses
thc
e
or
rentative embrace
that
maintain in
Lhe
presence of the past,
or not. Invariably,
the
primordial decision is
intact; the formerly residual
is
larecl the new essence, focus
ofthe
intervention. As
,
thc
substance to be preserved
is
wrapped
in
of
commerce a
ncl
catering - like a
luctanr skier pushcd downhill by responsible
To show respect, symrnetries are rnaintained
helplessly exaggerated; ancient building
resurrected and honed to irrelevant
quarries reopened to excavate the "sarne" stone,
names chiseled prom
in
ently
in the
of typefaces; the courtyard covered
by
a
l, strncn1ra "filigree·· emphatically
-so that conlinuity may be established
the
"rest" of
Junk
space (abandoned galleries.
slums,
jurass
ic conc.:epts ...). Conditioning is
filterecl daylight reve als vast, antiseptic
panses of monumental rcticence and makes then1
as a cornputer rendering
...
The
of public space: latent fascism safely smothered
signagc, stools, sympathy
...
junkspace is post
i makes you un
ce
rtain where you are.
res where you go, undoes where you were. Who
do you
thinkyou
are? Who do you want to be? (Note to
architects: you thoughl
that
you could ignore
Junkspace, visit it surreptitiously, treat it with
condescending contempt or enjoy it vicariously ..
because you could
nor
understand it. you've thrown
away the keys
....
But now your own architecrure
is
infected, has become equally smooth , ali-inclusive.
continuous, warped, busy, atrium-ridden
...
,
junkSignaturen• is the new architecture: rhe former
megalomania of a protession contracted te
manageable size. junkspace rninus its savingvulgarity
Anything stretche
cl
- limousines, body parts. planes ·
turns
into
Junk
space. its original concept abused
Restore. rearrange . reassemble, revamp, renovare
revise, recover, redesign,
return
- the Parthenor.
marblcs - redo. respect. rent: verbs that starl with re
producejunkspace ...Junkspacewill be
our
tomb. Hal:
of
mankind pollutes to produce.
the other
pollutes te
consume. The combined pollution of all Third Worlc
cars, mororbikes, trucks, buses, sweatshops pales in
tc
insignificanc.:e compared
to
the heat generated b)
Junkspace. Junkspace is political: it depends on
th<
central removal of the critical faculty in
th
e name o
comfort and pleasure. Politi
cs
has become manife
stc
by
Phot
os
hop, seamless blueprints of the m u r u l l
exclusive, arbitrated by opaque
NGOs.
Comfort is th(
new Justice. Entire miniature states now adop
Junkspace as political program, establish regimes o
engineered disorie
ntation
, instigare a politics o
systematic disarray. Not exactly "anything goes";
l
fact,
the
secret of Junkspace is that it is hotl
promiscuous and rcpressive: as the formles
prolifera es,
the
formal withers, and with ir
all
rules
regulations, recourse
...
Babel has bccn misunderstood
Languagc is not
the
problem, just the new frontier o
junkspace. Mankincl, turn by eternal dilcmmas, th1
impasse ofseem ingly endless debates, has launched ;
new
language that straddles unbridgeable divides lik
1
a fragile designer's footbridge
..
coined a proactiv.
wave
of
ncw oxymorons to suspend forme
incompatibilicy: life/style, reality{TV, world/music
museum/store. food/court , health/carc
waiting/lounge. Na
ming
has replaced class srruggle
sonorous amalgamations of status, high-conccpt an
history. Through acronym, unusua1
import
atior.
su ppressing letters, or fabrication of non-existen
plurals, they aim to shed meaning
in rcturn
for
spacious new roominess .... Junkspace knows all you
emotions, all your dcsircs. It is the interior
of
Bi
Brother's belly.
t
preempts people's scnsations. l
comes wilh a soundtrack, smell, captions; i blarancl
proclaims how
it
wants
to
be read: rich, srunning, coo
hu
ge, abstract, "minimal." historical. It sponsors
ó
8/20/2019 07 Koolhaas, Junkspace
7/11
collective
ofbrooding
consumers in surly anticipation
of heir
next
spend, a mass of efractory periods
caught
in
a Thousand Year Reign ofRazzmatazz, a paroxysm
of
prosperiry.The
subject
is stripped of privacy
in
return
for access to a
credir nirvana.
You are complicit
in
the
tracing of the fingerprints
each
of your transactions
leaves;
[hey
know everything about you,
except
who
you are. Emissaries
of
Junkspace pursue you in the
formerly imperVious privacy of the bedroom: the
minibar, prívate fax
machines,
pay TV ofkring
compromised
pornography
, fresh plastic veils
rapping toilet seats, courtesy condoms:
minia
Lure
profit centers coexist with your bedside bible
..
.
unkspace
pretends to unite,
but
i t actually splinters. It
creares
conununities
not
of shared interest or free
association, butofidentical statis.tics and unavoidable
demographk-s,
an
opportunistic weave
of
vested
inrerests. Each man,
woman
and child is individually
targeled, tracked, split
off
from the rest.... Fragmenls
come
together
at
"security" only, where a grid ofvideo
screens clisappointingly reassembles individual frames
into
a banalized, u t ilitarian cubism that reveals
overall coherence
to
the dispassionate
glare ofbarely trained guards: videoethnography in its
brute form. Just as junkspace is unstable , its actual
ownership is forever being passed
on
in
parallel
disloyalty.Junkspace happens spontaneously
tluough
natural
corporate
exuberance - the unfettered play
of
the market - or is generated through the combined
actions oftemporary 'czars'wüh longrecords ofthree
dimensional philanthropy, bureaucrats (often former
leftists)
that
optimistically sell off vast tracks
of
waterfront. former hippodromes, military bases
and
abandoned airfields to developers orreal estate rnoguls
that can accommodate any deficit in futuristic
alances,
or
through
Default
Preservation
rn (the
maintenance of historical complexes
that
nobody
ants
but
the Zeitgeist has declared sacrosanct).As its
scale
mushrooms
- rivals ancl even exceeds
that of the
Public -
it
s ec
onom
y becomes
more
inscrutable. Its
financing
is
a deliberate haze, clouding opaque deals,
dubious
tax breaks, unusual incentives, exemptions.
Lenuous legalities, Lransferred air rights. joined
properties , special zoning districts, public-private
i ies. Fundecl by bonds, lottery, subsidy, charity,
an erratic flow ofyen , euros and dollars (Y€$)
financia envelopes that
are
as fragile as their
Because
of
a structliral shortfall, a
tal dcficit. a
contingent bankruptcy
,
each
inc
h becomes a grasping,
needy
surface
on
coven
or
overt
suppon, discount
,
and fundraising. For culture, "engraved
onor bricks": for everything else:cash, rentals , leases,
franchises, the underpinning of
brands.
Junkspace
expands with
the economy
bul iLs fooLprint cannot
contract
..
when it is
no
longer needed ,
t
thins.
Because
of
its
tenuous
viability, Junkspace has to
swallow more and more program
to
survivc; soon , we
will be able
to
do any
thing
anywhere. We will have
conquered place. At the
end
of Junkspace, the
Universal?
Through
Junkspace old aura is transfused
with new
luster to spa\vn suelden comrnercial viability:
Barcelona amalgamatcd with the Olyrnpics, Bilbao
with Guggenheim, 42nd with Disney. God is dead,
the
author
is clead, historyis dead ,onlythe architect is lefr
standing
.. an
insu
lting evolutionary joke ...A shortage
of masters
has
not stopped a
proliferation of
masterpieces. "Masterpiece"
has
be
come
.a definitive
sanction, a
semantic
space that saves the object from
criticism, leaves its qualities unproven, its
performance untest
e
cl
, ts motives
unquesrioned.
Masterpiece
is
no
longer
an
inexplicable fluke. a roll
of
thé
dice,
but
a consistent typology:
its
mission
to
intimidare
, most
of
i ts exLerior surfaces bent,
hu
ge
percentages
of
its
square
footage dysfunctional. its
centrifuga
components barely hekl
together
by the
pull of the atrium, dreading the
imminent
arríval of
forensic accounting ... The more indetermi
nate the
city, the more specific its Junkspace; all Junkspace's
prototypes
are urban - the Roman Forum, the
Metropolis; it is only their reverse synergy that makes
them suburban, simultaneously swollen and shr un k.
Junlcspace reduces
what
is urban to urban ity . lnstead
of public life, Public Spacen
1
:
what
remains
of the
city
once the unpredictabk has been removed ... Space for
"honoring," "sharing," "caring," "grieving" and
"healing" .. civili ty imposed by an overdose
of
s rif
. ..
n
the third
Millennium, junkspace will assu
me
responsibility for
pleasure and
religion, exposure
aud
íntimacy
pub
lic life
and
privacy. Tnevitahly,
the
death
ofGod (and the
author
)has spawned orphaned space:
Junkspace is
authorless,
yeL surprisingly
authoritarian
...
At
the mom
e
nt
of
its
greate
sr
emancipation,
humankind
is subjected to
the mosr
dictatoria
l scripts: from the
pushy
ciration of the
waiter, to
the
answering gulags
on Lhe olher end
of
h
e
telephone, the safery instructions
on
the
ai
rplane.
more
and more insiste¡:it perfumes, mankind is
browbeaten to submit to the most harshly engin
eered
pl
otline ..
. The chosen theater of
megalomaní
a - the
dictatorial - is no longer politics,
but
entertainmenL
Through Junkspace , entertainment organizes
hermetic
regimes
of
ultimare exclusion and
concentration:
concentration
gambling.
concentration golf. concentration convention.
concentralion
rnovie, concentration
cultu
re.
8/20/2019 07 Koolhaas, Junkspace
8/11
concentration
holiday. E
nt
ertainment is like watching
a once hot planet cool off; its majar
invent
ions are
ancienr: rhe moving image, the roller coaster, sound.
cartoons
. clowns, unicycles. dinosaurs, news, war.
Except celcbritics -
of
wh1ch
there
is a
dramatic
shortage - we have
added
noLhing, jusl reconfigured.
Corporainmcnt is a
galary
in contraction , forced ro go
rhrough the
motions by ru hless
Copernican
laws. The
secret
of
corpo
r
ate
aesthetics was
rh
e power
of
elimination,
thc
cckbration of
the
efficient, the
eradication of
excess:
abstraction
as camouflage,
the
search
for a Corporate Sublime. On
popular dcmand,
organized beauty has become warm. humanist,
inclusivist, arbitrary, poelic and unrhreatening: water
is pressurizcd through vcry small hoJes,
then
forced
into rigorous
hoops: straight palms are
bent into
grotesque poses, air is burdenecl
wilh
added oxygen- as
if
only forcing mallcable substances
into
the
most
drastic
contortions
main
ains control, sa
isfies
thc
drive
to
get rid of surprise. Not canned laughter,
but
canned euphoria ... Color
has
disappcarcd to
8/20/2019 07 Koolhaas, Junkspace
9/11
=:.::: =. 2.:bcr:eal Ba roque.... Ou tside,
between
the
:onn
rains
projecr en ire Stalinist buildings of
: t p i i ~ ejacul
aced
in
a split-second,
hovering
. Lhen
withd
rawn with an amnesiac
ncy-.
... Air, water, wood: all
are
enhanced to
Hyperecology
1
M • a parallel Walden, a new
t. Landscape has become j unkspace, foliage as
o
ilage: trees
are tortured,
lawns cover
human
like thick pelts
or
cven toupees,
rinklers
water accorcling to mathematical
..
Seemingly
at
the
op
posite
end
of
the golf
course
is
in
fact its
conceptua
l
le; empty, serene, free ofcommercial debris. The
lative evacualion ofthe golf
coursc
is achieved bythe
charging
ofJunkspace. The methods of their
and realization
are
similar: erasure, tabula rasa,
fi
guratio
n.Junkspace
rurns
in o biojunk; ecology
ecospace. Ecology
and
ec
onom
y have
bonded in
as ecolomy.
The economy
has become
;
hyperdevelopment
depends on artificial
a
huge
global
bureaucracy
is in
making to settle, in a colossalyin/yang, the
balan
ce
nkspace
and
golf. betwecn the scraped and
scaped. trading che right to despoil for the
tion to create steroid rainforests in Costa Rica.
cn banks, Fort Knoxes ofchlorophyll, eco-reserves
blank
check
for fürther
pollution.
Junkspacc is
che apocalypse; we may die of oxygen
... In the
past
, the complexities ofjunkspace
nsated
by the st
ark
rawness
of its
adjunct
parking garages, filling stations,
centers
that
routinely displayed a
purity
that was the original aim of
Now, massive injections oflyr icism have
infrastructure - the one domain previously
to design, laste or the markerplace - to join
e world of unkspace. and for
Junkspace
to
extend
its
tions under the sky. Railway stations unfold
n butterflies,
airports
glisten like cyclopic
bridges s
pan
often negligible banks likc
uely
enlarged
versions of the
harp.
To each
ils own Calatrava. (Sometimes when
there
is a
wind, this new generation of insrruments
if being played hy a giant, or maybe a God,
manki
nd
shudders
...)Junkspace
can
be
airborne,
malaria to Sussex; 300 anopheline mosquitoes
e each day ar GDG
and
G1W wich the theoretical
ro infect 8
to
20 locals
in
a 3 mile radius, a
a
za
rd
exacerbated by
the
average passenger's
ctance, in a
misplaced gasp
of quasi-autonomy, to
disinfected once
he
or she has buckled up for thc
rn journey from the dead cnd of the tourist
destination.
Airports, provisiona l accommodarion for
those going elscwhere, inhabiled by assemblies united
only
by the imminence of
thcir
dissolution, have
turned
into
consumption gulags, demo
cratica
lly
distributed across
the
globe to givc every citizen
an
equal
chance of admission ... MXP looks as if all thc
leftovers
of
East Germany's reconstruction - whatever
vvas
needed to
undo the
deprivations
ofCommunism
have b
een
hurricdlybulldozed together according to a
vaguely rectangular blueprint to form
a
botched
sequence ofdeformed, inadequate spaces,
apparently
willed into
being
by the current
rulers
of
Europ
e,
cxtorting limitless euros from rhc conununity s
regional funds, now
causing
endless delays for irs
duped
taxpayers too busy
on
cell phones to notice.
DFW is composed of three elements only, repeated ad
infinitum . nothing else: one kind ofbeam,
on
e kind of
brick,
one kind oftile,
ali
coated
in
the
same
col
or-is
it
teal? Rust?Tobacco? Its symmetries scaled beyond
any
recognition, rhe endless curve ofits terminaIs forces its
users to
enact
reJativity
thcory
in their quest for the
gate. Its drop-off is the seemingly
harmless
bcginning
ofa journey to the heart of unmitigated nothi ngness,
beyond animation by Pizza ut Dairy
Queen
... Valley
cultures were thought to
be
the most re
sistant
to
junkspace: at VZ
you can still see a universe ofrules,
order, hierarchy,
neatness
,
coordination,
poised
moment
s before irs implosion.
but
ar Z
HR
huge
timepieces hover in front ofinterior waterfalls asan
essay in Regionaljunk. Dury-free is
Junk
space,
]unkspace is
dut
y-free space. Where culture was
thinnest, will
i t
be the first to run out?
Is
emptiness
local?
Do
wide
open
spaces demand
widc open
Junkspace? Sunbelt:
huge
populations where
there
was nothing; PHX: warpaint on every
terminal,
dead
lndian outlines on every surface · carpet, wa llpaper,
napkins -
lik
e frogs
flatten
ed by car tires. Public Art
distributed across
LAX:
the fish that have disappeared
from
our
rivers
rcturn
as public
art
in the
concourse;
only
whal
is dead
can
be resurrecred. Memory
itself
may have turned
in
to Junkspace; only those murder
ed
will be remembered ... Deprivation can be ca used by
overdose or
shortage
; both co
nditions
happen in
Junkspace
(often
at
the same time). Minimum is the
ultimare
ornament,
a self-righteous crime, the
conte
mporary
Baroque. It
8/20/2019 07 Koolhaas, Junkspace
10/11
the
sublime,
but
to minin1ize the shame
consumption, drain embarrassment, to lower the
imum now exists in a state ofparasitic co-
pendency
with
overdose: to have and not to have,
and owning, finally collapsed in a single
... Museums are sanctimonious Junkspace; no
aura than holiness.
To
accommodate
the
they have attracted by default, museums
turn bad space
in
o good space;
the
more
the
oak.
the
larger
the
profit center.
ies inflated to the scale
of
clepartment stores:
is the
third millennium's entropy,dilute
or
to respectmostly the dead,
no
cemetery
d dare to reshuff1e corpses as casuallyin the name
f current
expediency; curators plot hangings
and
in
a donor-plate labyrinth with
finesse
of
the retailer: lingerie becomes Nude,
tion,
Body,
cosmetics Histor
y,
Memory, Society.
paintings based on black grids are11erded together
a single white room. Large spiders in the
conversion offer delirium for
the
....
Narrative reflexes
that
have enabled us from
beginning
of time
to connect dots, fill
in
blanks,
turned against us: we
cannotstop
noticing:
no
, meaningless, insulting ..
ugh
our
ancient evolutionary equipment, our
rrepressible attention span, we helplessly register,
rovide insight, squeeze meaning, read intention;
we
annot stop making sense outof he utterlysenseless ...
On its
triumphal march
as
content
provider. art
cxtends
far
beyond the museum's ever-increasing
boundaries. Outside, in
the
real world,
the
art
planner spreads Junkspace's fundamental.
incohei,-ence by assigning defunct mythologies to
residual
:su
rfaces and plotting three-dimensional
works in leftover
empt
iness.Scouting for authenticity,
their touch seals the
fa
te
of
what was real, taps it for
incorpo
ralion
in
Junkspace. Art galleries move
en
masse to
where
it is edgy, then convert raw space
in
o
white cubes
...
The only legitima e discourse is loss; art
replenishcs Junkspacc
in
dircct proportion to its own
morbidity. We used to renew
what
was depleted, now
we try to résurrect what is gone.... Outside, the
architect's fo0tbridge is rocked to
the
breaking point
by a stampede of enthusiastic pedestrians; -the
designers' init ial audacity now await5 the enginee.r's
application
of
dampers. Junkspace is a look-no-hands
world
...
The constant
threat
ofvirtuality in.Junkspace
is no longer exorcized by pettochemical products,
piastic, vi
ny.l or
rubbér;
the
.syn
th
etic cheapens.
junkspace has to exaggerate its claims to
the
authentic.
Junkspace is like a womb
that
organizes the transition
of
endless quantilies
of
the Real - srone, trees.
go1
daylight. pcoplc-into theunreal . Entire mountaim
dismembered to provide ever-greater quantitie·
authenticity, suspended on precarious bracl
polished to a blinding state of flash thal renders
intended earnestness instantly clusive. Stone •
comes in lightyellow, flesh, a violent beige, a soap
green.
the
colors
of
CommunisL plastics
in
the
lS
Forests are tellcd,
their
wood is all pale: maybe
origins of junkspace go back to
the
Kindergart
( Origins is
a mint shampoo
that
stings
the
region). Color
in the
real world looks increasi
unreal. drained. Color
in
virtual space is lumir
therefore irresistible. A surfejt of reality
TV
has n
us in to
amateur
guards
monitoring
a junkunive1
From the lively breasts
of
the classical violinist,
t
designer stubble
of
the Big Brother outcast,
contextual pedophilia
ofthe
former
e v o l u t i o n r ~
routine addictions
of the
stars, the runny make1
the evangelist, the robotic body language o1
conductor.
the
dubious benefits
of the
fundra
marathon, the futile explanations ofthe politicia1
swooping movement
of heTV
cam-era suspended
its
boom
- an eagle
without
beak or claws,
ju
optical stomach - swallows images and confes
indiscriminately, like a trash bag. to propcl thE
cyber-vomit
in
space.
TV
studio sets - gai
monumental
are
both
Uie
culmination and the
E
perspectival space as we've known it: an
geometric remnants -invading
s ~ r r y
infini t es
space editedfor smooth transm.issiou in virtual s
crucial hinge in
an
infernal feedback loop
vastness ofjunkspace extended to the edges
oftl
Bang. Beca use we spend our life indoors -like an
in
a
~
-we are obsessea
with
t h ~ wealher:
4
TV
consists
of
presenters
of
Jesser attractiv
gesturing helplessly in front ofwindswept forma
through
which you recognize, sometimes,
you1
destination/
current
position. Conceptually,
monitor, each
TV
screen is a substitute for a vvü
real lifc s inside, cybcrspacc has become
the
outdoors.... Mankind is always going on .
arch itecture. What
if
space started looking atman
Will Junkspace invade the body?Through
the v
the cell phone? Has t alrcady? Botox injec
Collagen? Silicone implants? Liposuction?
enlargements? Does gene therapy announce a
reengineeril1g acc0rding to Junkspace?
Is
each a
mini-constructionsite?Mankind
the
sum of3
to 5
l
individual upgrades? Is
ita
repertoire
of
reconfigu
that facilitates the intromission of a new species i
self-madeJunksphere? The cosmetic is the ne\\ cos
8/20/2019 07 Koolhaas, Junkspace
11/11
sublime. but to minimize the shame
consumption, drain embarrassment, to lower the
r. Minimum now exists
in
a state
of
parasitic
co
with
overdose: to ha
ve
and
not to
have,
nd awning, finally collapsed
in
a single
... Museums are sanctimoniousJunkspace; no
th n holincss. To accommodate the
have attracted by default, museums
ly
turn
"bad" space in to "good" space; the more
the oak, the larger the profit center.
to the scale ofdep rtment srores:
is
the thi rd millennium's entropy. dilute
or
to
respect mostly the
clead,
no cemetery
dare to reshuffle corpses as casually in the n me
f current cxpcdicncy; curators plot hangings
nd
encounters
in
a donor-plate labyrinth with
of
the retailer: lingerie becomes "Nude,
Body,
" cosmetics "History, Memory, Society."
i paintings bascd on black grids are herded together
a single white room. Large spiders in the
conversion offer delirium for the
... Narrative reflexes
th t
have enabled us from
of time to connect dots, fill
in
blanks,
against u
s: we c nnot
stop noticing: no
too absurd, trivial, meaningless, insulting
..
our
ancient evolutio
n ry
equipment,
our
span, we helplessly register,
insighL, squeeze meaning, read intention;
we
ot stop making sense
outof
he
utterlysenseless
...
its triumph l m rch
as
content provider,
rt
beyond the museum's ever-increasing
Outside, in the re l world, the "art
spreads Junkspace's fundamental
by
assigning dcfunct mythologies to
surfaces nd plotting three-dimensional
in
leftov
er
cmptiness.Scouring for authenticity.
touch seals the f te
of wh t
was real , taps it for
in
Junkspace. Art galleries move en
ro
where
i t
is
edgy, t
hen
convert raw space in to
cubes ...The only legitima te discourse is loss;
rt
shes junkspacc
in
direct proportion to its own
We
used to renew
wh t
was depleled, now
try
to resurrect what
is
gone.... Outside,
the
footbridge
is
rocked to the breaking point
a srampede of
enth
usiastic pcdcstrians; the
ers' inicial audacity now awaits the engineer's
of
dampers. Junkspace
is
a look-no-hands
...The constant threat ofvirtuality injunksp ce
no longer exorcized by petrochemical products,
, vinyl
or
rubber; the synthetic cheapens.
exaggerate its claims to the
u
thentic.
is like a womb th l organizes the transition
of
endless quantities
of
the
Real
- stone. trees. goods.
daylight, people-into the unreal.
En
tire mountains are
dismembered
to
provide ever-greater quantitics of
authcnricity, suspended
on
precarious brackets,
polished to a blinding stale uf Oash LhaL
re11ders
rhe
intendcd earnestness instantly elusive. Stone only
comes in lightyellow, flesh, a violem beige, a soap-like
green,
Lhe
colors
of
Communist plastics in rhe 1950s.
foresrs are felled , their wood
s
all pale: maybe the
origins of Junkspace go back to the Kindergarten
..
("Origins"
is
a mine
sh m
poo
th t
stings the anal
region). Co lor in the real
worlcl
looks increasingly
unre l
, drained. Color in virtual space is luminous,
therefore irresistible. A surfeit
of
reality TV has made
us
in
o amateur guards monitoring a Junkuniverse ...
From the lively breasts
of the
classical violinist, to
the
designcr srubble
of
the Big Brother outcast, Lhe
contextual pedophilia
of
he
former revolutionary.
the
routine addictions
of
the stars, the runny makeup
of
the evangclist, the robotic body language of che
conductor, the dubious benefits
of
the fundraising
marathon, the futile explanations ofthe politician: the
S\-vooping
movement of he TV camera suspended from
its boom - n eagle vvithout beak
or
claws, just n
optical stomach - swallows irnages
nd
confessions
indiscriminately, like a trash bag, to propel
them as
cyber-vomit in space.
TV
studio sets - garishly
monumental-are both the culmination nd the end
of
perspectiva space as we've known
ir:
angular
geometric remn nts invading starry infinities; real
space edited for
smooth
transmission in virtual space,
crucial hinge
in
n infernal feedback loop
..
.
the
vastness ofjunkspace extended to the edges of the
Big
Bang.
Beca
use
we
spend
our
life indoors -like animals
in a zoo -
we
are obsessed with che weather: 40%
of
all
TV consists of presenters
of
lesser attractiveness
gesturing helplessly
in
front ofvvindswept formations,
through which you recognize, sometimes. your own
destination/curre
nt
position. Conceplually, each
monitor, each V screen
is
a substitute for a window;
real life is inside, cyberspace has become the gre t
outdoors.... Mankind
is
always going
on
about
architecrure. What
if
space started looking ar mankind?
Will Junkspace invade rhe body? Through
the
vi bes
oí
che cell
phone?
Has
it
already? Botox injections?
Collagen? Silicone implants? Liposuction? Penis
enlargements? Docs gene therapy announce a toLal
reengineering according to junkspace? Is each
of
us
mini-construcúon site? Mankind the sum of3 to 5 billion
individualu pgrades?
Is
it
repertoire
of
econfiguration
th t facilita
tes
the intromission
of
new species imo l:.s
self-madcJunksphere?The cosmetic
is
the newcosmic
...
171
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