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Cll 3 ~ o ;: DI DI C/1

Sempre m' ha inquietar el tipus esdndard d'arquitecte amb una carrera d'exit. S' inclou en una tipologa estranya pero ben definible: pots fer el que vols fins als 45 anys, i no tens feina, i aleshores, de sobte, als 45, comences a rebre muntanyes d'endrrecs, pero ja no tens res a dir. Aixo s una caricatura, pero passa sovim en la seva formulaci ms pura.

He intentar analitzar i esbrinar com es genera aquest fi-nal, i penso que un dels moments fatals en la carrera de l'arquitecte s quan comenc;:a a prendre's a si ma-teix massa seriosament -aBa on la seva idea d'ell coin-cideix amb allo que els altres pensen d'ell-, quan se li acaben els secrets.

Sempre he mirat de trabar tactiques i maneres d'evitar aquest resultat. Una d'elles, evidentmem va ser, al prin-cipi, crear una entitat anomenada O.M.A., on la meva identitat quedava submergida en un grup. s aix com hem treballat sempre, en equip. Pero d'alguna manera el mn insisteix en la individualitat. A la segona eta-pa de la meva carrera, he volgut molt consciemment evitar d'envoltar-me noms de gent massa jove, que no-ms s'esd tres o quatre anys treballant al nostre des-patx i desprs marxa. D 'aixo en resulta que sempre et trobis voltat de gent entre 22 i 25 anys, i penso que d'aquesta manera no es pot mai generar la base crti-ca, !'ambici com nuada, la memoria que s del tot

' . necessana.

Per aixo ha estat molt excitant per a mi que recentment, algunes de les persones que havien estat a les primeres fases del despatx, i que l'havien abandonar perque no els agradava Rotterdam, d'altres perque no els agrada-va el nostre despatx, o perque volien la seva llibertat per tal de manifestar-se ells, han estat tornant, no de manera permanent pero s amb la seva presencia a una serie de seminaris de cinc dies on treballem simuldt-niament en aquells projectes que hi ha al despatx en un moment determinar.

En aquest sentit, he de dir que aquest any ha estat un experiment particularment interessant perque, per coin-cidencia, hem participar en cinc concursos importants (l'ampliaci de l'aeroport de Frankfurt, l'ampliaci de l'estaci de Karlsruhe, l'escola d'Enginyers de Camins, Canals i Ports de Pars, la Biblioteca de Pars i la ter-minal de transbordadors a la costa belga), i en lloc de dispersar tata la feina, vam organitzar una mena de camp militar per mirar de produir en dues o tres set-

manes les idees, conceptes i progressos per a tots els esquemes, per tal de veure tamb com es poda defi-nir un esquema en relaci amb un altre, quines con-nexions sistematiques i diferencies sistematiques hi po-da haver. Tenia la curiositat de saber com funcionaria, en el sentit que si parteixes d'un esquema horitzon-tal, d'un de vertical, d'un esquema rod i d'un esque-ma foradat, si formules quatre esquemes com aquests, aixo vol dir que gaireb cada gest es converteix en una cosa molt clara, perque alhora has de treballar en tres altres esquemes: tots sn en el mateix espectre.

s per aixo que hem cridat gent d'abans. Aquesta reno-vaci externa genera una mena de discurs intellectual que si no es veuria amenac;:at per l

al .....e: .....J ~

' I've always been very anxious about the standard

Cl) al u typology of the average architect with a successfub ....

.....J ~ >o

...-4 Q) Q) career. lt's a strange, though very definite, typology: "5 '") ~ .....J Q) you can do whatever you want until you're 45 but you E ...-4 ~ get no work; then, at 45, you get vast amounts of work ca

.....e: "t:l ~ but you have nothing to say any more. That's the .. {/) G) .. u u caricature, but it occurs often in its pure form . .. ~ o a: ~ I've always tried to analyze how this happens. I think one i o ~ ~ '

...-4 ~ of the most fatal things that occurs in an architect's > career is the moment when he begins to take himself .. ~ G) Q) (.) too seriously -where his idea of himself coincides with ca q M V) .. V) what the others think of him- when he runs out of .. ~ ca ~ ::E ~ ~ secrets. >o (...) .a Q) I've always tried to find means and tactics w ith which

~ q (...) G) > ~ to avoid this. Of course, at the beginning one of these ; Q) .. ~ was the creation of something called OMA, where my G) Q) V) .. ..5 identity was submerged in a group, and t hat's how 111 ....D Q) ~ we've always worked, as a group. But somehow, the ca ca

.....e: world insists on the individual. In the second part of .l! o {/) o

:>.... .....J .....e: my career I've also wamed very consciously to avoid :.:: E ~ .....J being surrounded only by people who are very young G) ~.....+--( ...-4 a: ~ o and by people w ho stay for three or four years and ~ then go. In this situation you find you're always sur-

_.......

rounded by people between 22 and 25. That can never ~ :>.... M generate the kind of critica! background, the con-Q) o

t inuous ambition, the memory that is necessary.

> Therefore what's very exciting for me is the fact that _....... .... o recently, sorne of the important people who were pre-~ sent in the earl ier phases of OMA, and who then

~ ~ became independent and left either because they didn't :>.... like Rotterdam or because they didn't like the office, .....J or else because they wanted more freedom to reveal

-o themselves, have been coming back, not permanent-~

ly but in the form of a series of five-day seminars where

~ we work simultaneously on all the work that happens

-o to be at the office at a given moment. In this sense this year has so far been a particulary in-q teresting experiment because, by coincidence, we've ~ taken part in 5 majar competitions at the same time .....J (the extension of Frankfurt Airport, the extension of {/) Karslruhe Station, the Civil Engineering School in Q) Paris, the Paris Library and the Terminal for the

.....e: Belgian Coast Ferry). Rather than split up all the work, .....J we organized it like a military campaign to see whether

in two or three weeks it would be possible to generare the ideas, concepts, breatthroughs for all the schemes

una interpretaci de la realitat.

En canvi, malta gent considera que la vostra arquitectura s utopica, un

trcball sobre papcr. Potscr aixo s dcgut als trcballs de fa uns anys.

Des de fa un parell d'anys (desprs del Teatre de Dansa, o potser amb l'Ajuntament de La H aia), instimiva-ment, intuivament o subconscientment, hem comen-r;at una nova etapa en la nostra feina, que mai no he formular explcitament, pero que s ben notable. El nostre treball s diferent, en el sentir que ha estar in-flu per !'experiencia de construir. Tenim ms segu-retat en nosaltres mateixos, ms coneixement sobre cer-tes circumsrancies.

Per a nosaltres, ha estar molt interessant treballar amb en-ginyers, amb gent com Arup, que ens ha ajudat molt a elaborar elemenrs concrets, precisos alhora que atre-vits i sorprenents (de vega des tan sorprenentment bru-talistes o sorprenentment estpids com hem pogut).

Pero tamb penso que fins i tot treballs inicials, com per exemple elllibre Delirious New-York, que tot hom ano-mena utopics, sn ms aviar crtiques als arguments incre"iblement superficials i desqualificadors de l ~>. En el conrext ho landes, molts atacs a la nos-tra tasca sn simplement una resistencia a entendre i a considerar les nostres ms precises, real istes i lcides propostes: el terme utopisme s la manera ms facil de no acceptar una altra analisi de la realitat. I cada vegada que ltimament alg ha titilar els meus pro-jectes d ~< utopics ha estar amb mala fe, com per evitar descobrir certs aspectes o condicions que oferien.

Ara b, per a mi els projectes de l'Ajuntament de La H aia, el de M elun Snart i potser tamb el de la Bibl ioteca de Pars, sn projectes ami-utopics, encara que cap d'ells no pugu i ser realitzat.

H i ha uns clcmcms que repeteixes com a matrius o constants de projcctc: el buit, com a generador de buit, o el pie generador de buit. Sembla com si necesitcssis cspais buits per comcn~ar a trcballar.

En primer lloc, aixo t a veure amb el fet que no em cos-ta gens sentir claustrofobia quan sc en un lloc massa dens.

Pero el meu gran descobriment del buit es pot relacionar amb l'opressi creixent i la fatiga dels instruments tra-dicionals de !'arquitectura i de l'urbanisme, que han

arribar a extrems problematics. Un dels aspectes ms preocupants s el dels intents persistents per contro-lar grans parts de ciutat mit janr;ant sistemes de com-posici arquitecto nics o urbanstics -encara que siguin deconstrus- clarament incoherents amb les forces que ara operen.

H e estar treballant per tal de trobar altres elemems capa-r;os de ser controlats amb aquestes forces millor que en contra. Amb La Villette, vaig iniciar el desenvolu-pament d'una intui'ci : que el buit s ms Hcil de do-minar, particularment perque no s material i es ma-nipula amb instruments i interpretacions no arquitectonics que, per definici, sn ms senzills.

Amb Melun Snart, la investigaci sobre el buit va per-metre ja imaginar-lo com a nic element de control, i abandonar els sistemes classics de control per mitja de la forma constru'ida. Amb la Biblioteca probable-ment aquesta descoberta s'ha desenvolupat amb el fet que hem treballat en tres dimensions (a Melun S-nart es tractava d'un concepte territorial en dos dimen-sions), i hem pogut veure que aquesta idea es podia traslladar tamb a un edifici.

Potser vaig comens;ar a pensar-hi analitzant la dificultar arquitectonica d'imaginar -avui- espais d'aquesta es-cala monumental, simbolica. Com que sentem una cena fatiga treballant en cinc projectes diferents, em va semblar molt ms excitant de plantejar arees de res, o buits esculpits en blocs de coses, i aquesta manera de pensar va funcionar, per a sorpresa nostra.

La terminal de t ransbordadors de Zecbrugge m'ha semblat sorprenent en

el conjunr de la vostra obra. Penso que les condicions portaven a fer una enrcrrainmcnt architecture.

La pregunta s, com dissenyar en un context en el que tot sembla bonic i r idcul ahora, on res s ms apro-piar que una altra cosa.

El segent pas va ser pensar que volem posar en aquell lloc un o bjecte amb el mnim possible de referencies. Hi ha un gran nombre d'objectes dispersos, grues i han-gars, i va ser difcil fer quelcom que no connects amb cap d'ells. (Probablement dubtaras sobre aixo, proba-blement no s possible aconseguir-ho.) Volem fer quel-com que combins el sentir artstic i la maxima efi-ciencia. El tema s una mena de torre de Babel invertida.

No puc dir si s un proecte formalment bo o dolent.

81-

and even whether we could define one scheme in terms of another. There could be systematic connections and systematic differentiations. I was curious to see how it worked, in the sense that if you have a horizontal scheme, a vertical scheme, a round scheme and a hollow scheme, if you formulare four schemes like that, it means that almost every gesture becomes something very clear because at the same time you 're working o n the other three: they're all in the same spectrum.

This is why we called back sorne people. This externa! renewval generares a kind of intellectual discourse which is otherwise endangered by the unbearable heaviness of the profession.

So, rather than suffer alone and put up with your own contradictions, it's essential to insist on these kinds of injections that expand our thinking.

We've also rearranged the office so that now, in the same building, we've got an area for the professional -the day shift- separated from a kind of experimental play room-atelier where we can organize perpetua! chaos, which I think is a great notion, and one of the things that made it possible is the fact that no matter how many fears or frustrations there are, what's important is that people feel involved with what they're do ing.

One of thc things that strike me about OMA is the way you stan to plan a project. Therc's undoubtedly an initial basic architectu ral concept, but also from the very beginning you fo rcefully introduce the work st rategy and the way tO make the realization of the project possible. You take reality and organizc it, paying spccial attention to the socioeconomic circumstances, which might not always be particulary favourable.

This question has a lot to do with my realationship with architecture, in the sense that I still don't feel very deep-ly that I'm an architect, because besides my great in-terest in architecture, I also feel an incredible resistance against architecture. I could say that for me architec-ture is a way of interpreting the world, of commen-ting on the world, and it has nothing to do with an eagerness to be involved in and resolve all those aspects that seem threatening o r dangerous, if o nly to ourselves. My genuine motivation is that architecture is no more than a commentary on and an interpreta-tion of reality.

-82

Even so, a lot of people consider your architecture to be Utopian, work on paper. Perhaps this is duc tO thc nature of sorne of your carlicr projects.

I should say that after the D ance Theatre or perhaps the City Hall of The H ague, maybe two years ago, in-tuitively, instinctively or subconsciously we've begun a new phase in our work which I've never formulated explicitly but which is very noticeable. Our work is different in the sense that it has been influenced by the experience of building and constructing. We're more self-confident, we've surer knowledge about cer-

. .

tam quesuons. For us it 's been very stimulating to work with engineers,

with people like Arup, in making these elements con-crete and precise, as well as surprising and daring (sometimes as daringly brute or as daringly stupid as we could).

However, I believe that our early works, like the book Delirous New York, w hich everyone calls Utopian, are rather critiques of the incredibly superficial and des-qualifing in arguments against Utopianism. In the Dutch context a lot of criticism of our work is simp-ly an unwillingness to understand and consider our most precise, realistic and lucid p roposals. To use the term Utopian as a weapon of attack is the easiest way not to accept another analysis of reality.

, Recently, whenever someone has called my projects Uta-pian, it's been with a kind of bad faith, a refusal to discover cenain aspects or conditions they offer.

H owever, I think that the p rojects for the City H all of The Hague, for Melun Snart, and possibly for the Pars Library, are all ant i-Utopian projects, even if we assumed that none of them could be built.

ln OMA's way of working there are a number of elements that are repeated, like matrices or constants in a project: the void as the generator of a void, or the full generator of a void. lt's as if you needed voids in order to start work.

In the first place, this has got a lot to do w ith the fact that I soon feel claustrophobia if I find myself in a place that's too dense.

However, my great discovery of the void can be related to the growing oppressio n and fatigue with the tradi-

Pero m'agradara veure que passara si aconseguim guan-yar el concurs.

Q ui na pan prendra Pars en el tcu llibrc sobre la ciutat contemporania?

No hi considero pas Pars, pero s les noves ciutats del seu voltant, i la ra per la qual ho faig s per explicar la situaci europea, molt ms habitada i molt menys desenvolupada que als Estats Units o Toquio. Es pot dir que a Toquio s'han abandonat tots aquests temes composit ius arquitecturals. A Adama, per exemple, no-ms trobem episodis de coherencia enmig de grans arees de res. A Par s, en canvi, l'interes maxim s que cada petit element sigui un intent de crear coheren-cia, i cadascun falla a la seva manera. s com un es-trany caraleg d'abortament successius. Pera mi, s !'evi-dencia que hi ha quelcom de perdut per a sempre, ms que no pas una promesa per al futur.-

AUana. Foto: Oulm Nona.

83-

tional instruments of architecture and city planning, which has by now reached truly problematical pro-portions. One of the most disturbing aspects is the persistent attempts ro control large parts of the city by systems of urbanistic or archirectural composition -even if they are deconstructed- that clearly have absolutely nothing ro do with rhe forces rhat now opera te.

I've been working to find elements that can be control-ed, wirh these forces rather than against. With La Villette, I began to develop something I felt by intui-t ion: that the void is easier ro domnate, particularly because ir isn't material and is manipulated by non-architectural instruments and interpretations wh ich, by definitio n, are simpler than mass -all the effects of architecture without the substance.

In the case of Melun Snart, research had already made ir possible to imagine rhe void as the only controll-ing element and to abandon classical systems of con-trol through built form. T his discovery>> was further developed in the Paris Library, since we were work-ing in three dimensions (Melun Snart was a territorial concept of two dimensions), and we realized that this idea could also be transposed to a building.

Maybe I first started t hinking about this when I was analyzing the architectural difficulty involved in im-agining -today- space of that monumental, symbolic scale. Since we felt a fatigue with imagining five dif-ferent spaces, it struck me as much more exciting to p lan areas of nothingness, or voids carved out of a block, and ro our surprise, ir somehow worked.

Thc Zccbruggc Ferry Terminal strikes me as surprising withi n the con

text of your work as a whole: 1 feel that the conditions called for a kind

of entertainmcnr architecture .

Here the question is how to design in a context in which everything seems pretty and ridiculous at the same time, where nothing is any more appropriate than anyrhing else.

The second step was to think that what we wanted to place here was an object with the smallest possible number of references. There are lots of objects scat-tered about, cranes and hangars, and it was difficult to build something that wouldn't connect with any of rhem. (You've probably got your doubts about that,

-84

probably it isn't possible to achieve it). We wanted ro produce something that would combine the arristic sense with maximum efficiency. The subject is a kind of upside-down Tower of Babel.

I can't say whether the project is good or bad from the formal point of view, but I'd like to see what happens if we win the competition.

\Xihat part do you think Paris will play in your book on thc contcmporary

city?

Rather than Paris herself, I consider the new cit ies 'on the outskirts, and the reason I'm doing this is to ex-plain the European situation, which is much more in-habited and much less developed than, let's say, in the United States or Tokyo. Ir could be said rhat in Tokyo all these architectural, compositional themes have been abandoned. In Atlanta, for example, we find coherent episodes only in the midst of great expanses of noth ingness. On the other hand, in Paris the greatest concern is that each tiny element should be an attempt to create coherence, but each one fails in its own way, so it's an astonishing catalogue of successive abort ions. For me it 's more the evidence that something is forever lost, rather than a promise for the future.-

~ ., .

~ o

TreS pro j e e te S pe r Ro t t er da m El M useum Par k const iwira un elemem de connexi en-t re l'Institllt d'Arquitectura i el M useu Boymans al nord, i el Centre d 'Art al sud. El seu eix enllac;:a una cadena de sitllacions diverses: un hort de parets emblanquinades davam de les parets de ma del projecte de Coenen i del Museu Boymans, un podi elevar i asfaltar pera mani-festacions i una zona on el pare existent ha sofelr una serie de nous tractaments de superfcie. Continuant aquest eix, un pont vidrat s'estn sobre parterres nous fins a una illa de pedra que uneix el Museu d'Historia Natural, el Centre d'Art i el dic . El programa del Centre d'Art contempla una galera que pot rebre exposicions temporals. Les sales poden funcio nar juntes o separades, l'auditori i el restaurant compren amb una entrada a part. L'emplac;:ament se situa a l'angle sud del pare, al llarg d'una carretera principal: U na fac;:ana de l'edi fi-ci mira al pare, contemplaci convencional; la fac;:ana contraria -a un nivell superior- mira cap a la massa i cap a la carretera que discorre per dam unt d'un dic. U na rampa per a vianants que t ravessa l'edifici connecta la carretera amb el nivell inferior del pare. El concepte de l'edifici s un circuir continu. L'Inst itut H olandes d'Arquitectura sorgeix de la confrom aci de dos elements: un podi rectangular -per a rotes aquelles acrivitats que necessiten concentraci- disposat sobre una forma t riangular, de tal manera que genera les parts pbl iques del projecte: espais d'exposici i biblioteca. El podi simbolirza recopilaci, possessi i investigaci; l'espai que l'envolta l'accs. La coberta inclinada assenyala la transici del Pare del Museu a la ciutat.

T h re e P rojee t s f o r Ro t t e rd a m T he M useum Park will form a connecting element ber-ween the Archirecture l nstitute and rhe Museum Boy mans in the norrh and the Kunsthal in rhe south. lts axis binds a chain of various conditions -a white- washed orchard facing the brick walls of the Coenen project and t he Museum Boy mans, a raised tarmac podi um for manifestat ions, an area where the existing park is revised through a series of new surface treatments. Following rhis axis, a glazed bridge spans over new flowerbeds ans arrives a srone island that joins rhe Nawral History Museum, Kunsthal and dike. T he Kunsthal programme is for a gallery that can receive remporary exhibitions with a different extent, rhe halls can funcrion together or separare entrance. The si te is rhe southern edge of the park, along a main road: one fac;:ade of the bui lding is towards the park, convemional com emplarion, the opposite fac;:ade is, at a higher leve!, towards

Projecte per l'lnstitut d'Arquitectura a Rotterdam Project for the Architectural lnstitute in Rotterdam

Empla~amont Sito plan

P,-;- Rotlerdam __.

Arqu itectas Architects

Rem Koothaas.

Xaveer do Goytor. Luc Reuse,

Gregor MescheroW$ky,

Ron Stelner, Jeroen Thomas.

Alexander Nowotny.

Cot laboradors Collaborators

Consul1or: Ove Arup and Partners

Data d el projecte Proect

1988

87-

1 1 1

Al~t.s 1 seeel Elevations and secton

-8 8

Sec~lons 1 esquema general de l'lnsUtut Ho lands d 'Ar ultectura Secttons and se heme lor the Outch Architecture lnstitutc. q .

89-

Tractaments de s uperficies al Pare. Sutace lrealmenls m lho Park

-90

Projecte pel Pare del Museu, Rotterdam Proj ect for the Museum park in Rotterdam

Empla~ament S1te plan

P..-;- RoUerdam _ ,

Arqu1tec1es Archit&ets

Rom Koolhaas, Yves Brunler, Gregor

Mescherowsky

Col ' laborados Collaborators

Petra Blalse, artis ta

Data del pro)ect e Projoct

1988

Esquema general del Centre d 'Art. Scheme lor the Ar1 Centre.

: 1

==\: . ' 1 i 1

~ ~ = . . i :-;--------.---------.------:1

: 1 L.----------------------- _J Nlve ll O. Servels, aecs lsala d'exposlclons 1. Level O. Facilities. access and exhibit ion hall 1.

Seccl pe l Centre dArt, cara oest. Section through the An Centre, racing west

----r-'r-=r-=r-,....,__~.1 11 ~ QJ -A;L...,;.__,!~

Nlvell 2- Hall d 'entrada, c entre d 'lntormacl 1 u la d 'exposlclons 2. Level 2. Entrance haJI, inlormation cent re and cxhbihon hall 2.

r-------------, 1 1 L-------------J.

r------------, 1 1 L ____________ J

r ------------, 1 1 L ____ ________ J

Nlvell 3. Sala d 'exposlclons 3 1 d ob le e spal sala 2 . level 3. Exhibition hall 3 and space ovar hall 2.

Seccl pel Centre d 'Art, cara est. Section through the Art Centre. tacng east.

Projecte per Galeria d'Art, Rotterdam Project for Art Gallery

Empla~ament Sito ptan

Rotterdam

Arquitectos Architec1es

Rem Kool haas

Fumlnorl Hoshlno, Tonl Adam,

Marc Peeters, Ron Stelner

Col'laboradors Collaborators

Hans van der Born,

Alexa Hartlg, Jaap van Heest,

Gregor M escherowsky,

Alexander Nowotny

Consultor: Ove Arup and Partners.

Data del pl"o]ecte Project

1988

93-

Empla~ament $110 plan

Selne-etMarne, Fran~

Arqultectes Archllocts

Rem Koolhaas,

Xaveer de Geyter,

Yvos 8orles (AFM),

Yves Brunler, Fran~olse Debuys.t (AFM),

Mlke Guyor.

Data del projec:te Projoct

1987

Projecte de ccVille Nouvelle L'emplas:amcnt d'aqucsta ltima Ville Nouvelle parisenca de Melun Snart s massa bell com per limitar-se a concebre simplement una altra Ville Nouve-lle amb innoccncia i impunitat . Es requereix u n segon t ipus d'innoccncia per a creure, a la fi d 'aqucst scglc, que el dcsenvolupament urba i les arces edificades poden ser projectats i des-prs raonablement cont rolats. El constrult, el pie s controlable - subjecte al remoH de les forces polt iques, financeres i culturals- en perpetua transformaci. Aixo mateix no es pot afir-mar del buit; potser el buit s el tema en el qual les certeses arquitectoniques continuen essent convincents. L'esscncia del nostre projecte s un sistema de buits i de cintu rons que forma un car:lcter xincs i que travessa l'empla~ament. La hipotesi basica s que, si es respecta aquest complex buits/cinyells, estan garant ides les qualitats de bellesa, serenitat i accs a ser veis urbans -desitjadcs pera Melun Snart-, ms enlla de la possible arquitectu ra que amb el temps hi aniria emcrgint entremig. Aquest esquema per a la Ville Nouvelle concentra l'energia en la situaci de les diferents illes i en la relaci que tenen amb els buits i entre si.

Project for a ccVille Nouvelle The site of th is last Parisian Ville Nouvelle of Mlun Senart is too beaut iful to conceive jus tas another Ville Nouvelle with innocen cc and impunity. A second type of innocence is required to believe at the end of this century that urban devclop-ment and bu ilt arcas can be projected and then reasonably cont rolled. The built, the full, is incontrollable - subjected to the maelstrom of political, financia( and cultural forces- in a perpetua) transformation . Of the void the same is not true; maybe the void is the subject where architectu ral certitudes are still convincing. The essence of our project is a system of voids -in belts- in the form of a C hinese character, that crosses the site. The basic hypothesis is that , if this complex of voids/belts is respected, the qualit ies of beauty, serenity and of access to ur-ban services -wanted for Melun Snart- are guaranteed, beyond the possible architecture that will eventually emerge in between. This scheme for the Ville Nouvelle concentrates its energy on the location of the different islands, their relationship to the voids and to each other.

1

1 1 1 1 l .

1

1 - 1

1 1

Emp ta~ament Site plan

Zeebrugge, Blgica

Arquitectos Architects

Rem Koolhaas,

Xaveer de Goyter,

Jaap van Heest, Erlk van Daele,

Ramon Kleln, Wlm Kloosterboor,

Maartfe Lammers,

Luc Reuse, Ron Stelner,

Yushl Uehara

Col' laborados Collaborators

Consultor: Ove Arup & Partners

Data del projecte Project

1989

Planta d'accs 1 desc3rrega. Acccss and unloading level.

Aparcament en espiral. Parking in a spiral.

Seccl Section.

Projecte de terminal de transbordadors Amb !'obertura del tnel sota el ca-nal de la Mimega, el t ranspon per fe rry sembla dest inat a patir una crisi. s per aixo que, a la curta costa belga (de tan sois 60 km.), es planteja la construcci d'un edifici que suposi un focus d 'atracci cap a aquest servei, alhora que afegeixi altres activitats al funcionament classic d 'una terminal de vaixells. Com afegir un altre signe en un territori en el qua!, a causa de !'escala i de l'atmosfera, cada objecte es transforma en evident i arbitrari? L'edifici s la intersecci d'una esfera un con. Als dos nivells ms baixos es dirigeix el transit des deis vaixells i cap a ells. Sobre aquesta maquina de classificaci, s'ordenen en espiral unes 270 places d'aparcament. Aquest espai helico"idal culmina en una gran sala pblica. En continuar pujant, el con es divideix en segments verticals: una torre d'oficines, un hotel i un edifici representatiu. La coberta de !'hotel s equipada per ser el Casino del Mar del Nord, i l'amfiteatre que baixa des del Casino sera utilitzat com a gran sala d'actes. Constructivament, l'edifici es pot analitzar com una envoltant portant i una estructura independent per als espais interiors. La fa;:ana, de formig in situ, es revesteix amb una capa transparent que es neteja sola. La cpula es podria real irzar com una conti nuaci d 'aquesta capa, refor;:ada amb una armadura prima.

Pro j e e t f o r a Fe r r y termina 1 The opening of the English Channel Tu nnel would seem to place the ferry service in a situation of crisis. For this reason the plan is to build o n the short Belgian coasd ine {only 60 km. in length) an edifice that would attract people to this service, while at the same t ime offering other activit ies beyond those of a normal terminal of this kind. H ow is it possi-ble ro add another sign to a territory in which, due to the scale and atmosphere, each object becomes evident and arbitrary? The building is the intersecrion between a sphere and a cone. On the two lowest levels traffic flows to and from rhe ships. Above this classification machine 270 parking spaces take place turning in a spiral. This helicoidal space culminares in a large public hall. Continuing upwards, the cone becomes divided into vert ical segments: an office tower, a hotel and the representative promotion bui lding. T he roof is equipped ro become the Casino del Mar del Norte, the amph itheatre descending from this, will serve as a large conference hall. From the constructional point of view, the building can be analysed as an outer bearing swathe and an independent strucrure fo r the inner spaces. T he bearing fa;:ade is in concrete, laid in si tu . T he concrete is waterproofed by the application of a self-washing transparent coat. The dome could be erected as the continuation of this transparent coat, which would be reinforced by a thin framework.

Empla~ament Site plan.

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Empla~aent Sita plan

Parls

Arquitectas Architects

OMA (Ro erdam)

Collaboradors Collabofators

Ove Arup and Partners

Data del projeete Project

1989

Grande Bibliotheque de France En un momem en que la revoluci de l'electronica sembla que fon tot el que s salid, s perills imaginar l'edifici que allotgi la biblioteca ideal. nar l'edifici que allotgi la biblioteca !deal. El projecte aspira a eximir l'arquitecura de responsabilitats que no pot assumir per ms temps i a explorar agressivament aquesa llibertat tot just estrenada. El nostre projecte es basa en arguments tecnologics per tal de que la imegraci de tots els sistemes d'informaci permeti una lectura simulrania i equivalent de llibres, pellcules, msica i ordinadors. La biblioteca s'interpreta com un bloc salid d 'informaci, un diposit de totes les formes de memo-ria. En aquest bloc, els espais pblics principals es defineixen com a absencies de construcci, buits excavats en la part solida de la informaci. Floten en la memoria, i sn com mltiples embrions, cadascun amb la seva placenta tecnologica. Donat que es defineixen com a buits, les biblioteques individuals poden ser espais definits estricta-mene d'acord amb la seva propia logica, independents entre elles i de l'embolcall extern. L'nica connexi entre els interiors ms importants de la biblioteca s una batera de nou ascensors que penetra en el bloc d'emmagatzemament a intervals regulars. La divisi de l'edifici en espais d'emmagatzemament i espais pblics es troba ratificada pel concepte de !'estructura i els serveis. Una serie de parets paralleles, perforades per allotjar els buits pblics, defineix les zones en els seus diversos tipus d'emmagatzemament. En essencia, l'edifici s un gran cub seccionar en diversos talls verticals. Aquestes seccions transfor-men l'edifici, en termes arquitectonics, en sis edificis separats que comparteixen les parets mitgeres. S'ha tirat el formig per a les parets perque serveixin de tallafocs, amb la qua! cosa s'eliminen les elevades despeses d'una divisi especial. Les parets actuen tamb com a profundes bigues gegants que defineixen un sistema estructural autosuficient.

Grande Bibliotheque de France Ata moment where the electronics revolution seems ro melt all that is solid, it is dangerous to imagine the building of the ultimare library. The ambition of the project is to rid architecture of responsabilities that it can no longer sustain and to agressively explore this new freedom. Our scheme is based on technological to assure that allows the an integration of all information systems, simultaneous and equivalem reading of books, films, music and computers. The librry is interpreted as a solid block of information, a repository of all forms of memory. In this block, the major public spaces are defined as absences of building, voids carved out from rhe information solid. Floating in memory, they are like multiple embryos, each with their own technological placenta. Since they are defined as voids, the individual libraries can be spaces defined stricdy according to their own logic, independent of each other, of the externa! envelope. The only connection between the major interiors of the library is a battery of 9 elevators that penetrares the storage block at regular intervals. The division of the bui lding in storage and public space is reinforced by the structure and services concept. A series of parallel walls, perforated to accomodate the public voids, defines the zones for various types of storage. T he building is essentially a large cube cut imo severa! vertical slices. These slices transform the building in engineering terms into six separare bui ldings sharing common walls. The walls are chosen to be in concrete to serve as fire compartmems. The walls also act as giant deep beams defining a self sufficient structural system.

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lmatge 1 so : foyer lmage and sound: foyer.

Adqulslc:lons rec:ents: audltorl 1 ula de lectura. Aecent adquisitions: reading room and auditorium.

Fa~ana al c:lntur perlf8rlc Elovalton Pnphnque.

lmatge 1 so : cinemas, sal es de c:ontere nc:l .. 1 cabinas lmage and sound: cinemas, conference halls a.nd booths.

Biblioteca d'estud ls: foyer, sa les d e confer.nc:les 1 magatzems. Rolerence hbrary: lounge, conlerence rooms and various SIOfage.

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Fa~ana a Tolblac. Elovalton TolbtaC

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Mag au em tlpus. Typical storage.

Fa~ana a Parls Elevation Paris

Fa~ana al Sena Elevation Seine.

Murs estructurals Structural walls .

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Seccl Sec11on

103-

' INTRODUCTION The concept of Centrality is becoming essential to the determination of new contents and strategies in the change of urbanisation models in which western cities are enveloped. It is a useful category for both great metropoli and large cities.

A clear process can be observed during the last decade that nevertheless does not explain why the strong rhythm of change is to be found no longer in the residence sector, but rather that of services. With the industrial and manufacturing recession, the renovation of the economic basis has halted the flow from the country to the city of a labour force which became the work force for industry and services, and which during the first half of this century was the main pro-tagonist of urban growth.

It must be pointed out that, like on other continents, the manufacturing industry is undergoing changes provok-ed by new technological conditions: instead of transfer-ring the work force, it is machinery that is being transponed to areas w here labour costs are low.

The problem in our cities will no longer be of great demographic growth. Population growth and move-ment wilJ obey a much more balanced system. On the other hand, new issues are emerging that are opening up new potential for cities. lndeed, great changes are occurring in the services sector as part of the radical renovation of the economic basis of cities.

Just as the telephone caused a great revolution in urban organisation, we know that new systems of com-munication are going to introduce new changes. The telephone is a clear example of how offices and in-dustry, which hitherto had been together, were able to separare. Furthermore, it allowed the office sector to form conglomerations -office blocks- which could not possibly exist without the telephone. Thus a technical innovation led to a vast transformation in ar-chitectural systems and types.

Our cities can adapt in a thoroughly useful way to future needs, so long as these new systems can be incorporated into existing urban fabrics. A need will arise for pro-viding replies on the basis of existing built systems, since the most important urbanistic heritage we possess is cities: our countries, lacking great natural resources, possess a collective heritage which is not only historical but also functional: the city. It is our greatest fixed capital asset and we must make use of it.

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NEW CENTRALITY This tendency in our cities is expressed in the trans-formation of commercial sectors, of offices related to the service industry, and of the tourism-leisure sector.

In the commercial sector, for example, great changes are taking place not only in distribut ion circuits but also in sales forms. It still remains to be seen which archi-tectural models can provide the correct urbanistic ans-wer to this transformation. H ypermarkets outside the city are an obvious alternative, since they do not fit in with other proposals that are more integrated into the commercial and urban fabric; nevertheless, the pro-cess of disintegration is advancing and although there are one or two outstandingly audacious architectural solutions, more are needed. Last century, the emer-gence of a new system of commercial distribution through municipal markets introduced strong chan-

. . . . .

ges -1ron constructwns, someumes occupymg enure squares- that provided a coherent general reply that has !asted over severa! decades.

In the field of offices for new service industries, the si-tuation is similar. are difficult to in-corporare in XXI-century city centres which are cram-med full of good, living architecture. The new demands of these buildings require larger central urban sites.

There are models of office nuclei outside the city: the best known of these is Silicon Valley in California, which in recent years has become the paradigm of the