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Junkspace represents a reverse typology of cumulative, approximative identity, less about kind than about quantity. But formlessness is still form, the formless also a typology…Take the dump, where successive trucks discharge their loads to form a heap, whole in spite of the randomness of this contents and its fundamental shapelessness, or that of the tent-envelope that assumes different shapes to accommodate variable interior volume.
The first chapter of Rem Koolhaas's Mutations book (published by ACTAR in 2001) is a manual for building your own Roman city (thank you Ewa M. for pointing it out to me!). The chapter discusses the way Roman cities were planned and created in a DIY style of writing which tempts you to go out there, buy a plot of land, and actually try it out!
The birth of the Roman cities were all the same: using the axial cross - called the cardo and ducumanus - to align themselves to the heavens above, then generating a grid, and finally placing the buildings. In a way, this planned view of city building is very simple and strict, however the romans knew that rules where meant to be broken, and that the basic form of the city had to co-exist with the specific conditions each individual city presented. The argument is that Roman cities were "100% generic" - thus having common principles making them all the same - but equally, they were"100% specific" as they each reacted and adapted to local environmental, typographical, site specific situations as well as diverse cultures which spread across the empire. This makes the Roman city a successful tool...
If an architecture is a product consumption it need to be a recyclabe product. Get the ability to evolve. Get speed flow. Give an answer for today.
Rome ville Générique
Ville Générique
