Yet again, literature was brought briefly into talking about architecture with the quote by F. Scott Fitzgerald at the beginning of Koolhaas’ excerpt from “Delirious New York.” Fitzgerald says that in his opinion “Architecture is the business of manufacturing adequate shelter for human activities,” leading into a discussion about Raymond Hood (Koolhaas 162). This idea of architecture definitely seems like a simplification to me based on all of what we have read and learned in this class but I still agree that this is one of the functions of architecture and ties well into Raymond Hood.
One thing I appreciate about Hood is what I understood as his sense of practicality. When designing in accordance to his City of Towers plan he “perforate(s) the west facade with windows” creating an interior design that “makes pragmatic and financial sense; the quality of the office space increases, therefore the rents, and so on” (Koolhaas 165). In my architecture studio this semester, a very minimal program was provided, leading some of the students to start out very abstract, which I struggled with because I was trying to make things too practical and realistic right off the bat. I find the idea of Manhattanism quite interesting because its designs are rationalized and it is “the only program where the efficiency intersects with the sublime” (Koolhaas 174).
In Koolhaas’ “Typical Plan” he describes that the Typical Plan is “the plan without qualities” and is very common to office buildings. While this seems super simple, the rationale behind it is compelling as he says “the office building represents the first totally abstract program — it does not demand a particular architecture, its only function is to let its occupants exist. Business can invade any architecture. Out of this indeterminacy Typical Plan generates character” (Koolhaas 337). I appreciate the use of the word “character” in this quote because in the first lecture when Professor Han asked us each “What is architecture?” I responded that architecture is defined by the character of the building and after all we have learned so far in this class I still stand by my response.
Citations:
Koolhaas, Rem. “How Perfect Perfection Can Be: The Creation of Rockefeller Center.” Chapter in Delirious New York, 161–77, 1978.
Koolhaas, Rem. Typical Plan, 1995.
As always, great to see how you’re threading topics throughout the various sections. The summary of the readings is spot on, and it would interesting to hear you elaborate on this idea of ‘character’ in the context of Corporate Architecture, namely because its role, which is somewhat abstract, doesn’t necessarily fit in easily with an architecture born of a “business of manufacturing adequate shelter” – yet, as I think you’d agree, character can still play a vital role.