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REM KOOLHAAS
Life in the Metropolis
In the text of Rem Koolhaas, he
refers to metropolitan life as a
culture of congestion which you
exploit and as a result of it, you
get chaos and then you get
benefit from the chaos. When
we look at the examples in the
text, we can see that in the preindustrial society, there was a
hierarchical urban plan in the
city and it turns out to be grid
form which contains blocks
(building lots) in the modern
ages. He gives Manhattan as a
case study to examine which he
describes the city as a laboratory
for metropolitan life style; an
archetype of planning which
they test many things in it.
According to him, metropolitan
life is not only about grid itself
but also about sharing the
utopias. He gives Coney Island as
a
miniature
version
of
Manhattan. He says that they
built new roads, amusement
parks, residential parts etc.; all
in one. Therefore it became a
laboratory
of
collective
unconscious which they can
share the desires in a utopia.
If we look at the contemporary
examples of these utopias, we
can talk about amusement
parks. It can be also counted as
a junkspace which all people go
and consume money and time
to be able to meet their utopias.
Being in an amusement park will
turn the utopias out to be real.
Moreover, there are other
examples such as artificial cow,
evening sunbathing and artificial
horse transportation system.
Those irresistible synthetics
were put forward in order to
become superior to the nature
and as we all know, modernism
was the time that people try to
push the limits. Therefore,
people tried to simulate nature
through consumption.
__________________________
Koolhaas, Rem. ‘’Life in the
Metropolis’’ or ‘The Culture of
Congestion’’, pp. 320-331, in K.
Michael Hays (ed.) Architecture
Theory Since 1968 (Cambridge
Mass: The MIT Press, 1998)
BEYOND ARCHITECTURE | SUMMER 2015 | ISSUE 1