Rossi, Ungers and Koolhaas

Delft University of Technology
Rossi, Ungers and Koolhaas

Three positions on the relation between Architecture and Planning
Marzot, Nicola
Publication date
2017
Document Version
Final published version
Published in
Delft Lectures on Architectural Design 2017/2018
Citation (APA)
Marzot, N. (2017). Rossi, Ungers and Koolhaas: Three positions on the relation between Architecture and
Planning. In S. Komossa, E. Gramsbergen, E. Schreurs, L. Spoormans, & H. Teerds (Eds.), Delft Lectures
on Architectural Design 2017/2018 (Revised and updated ed., pp. 72-94). TU Delft Open.
Important note
To cite this publication, please use the final published version (if applicable).
Please check the document version above.
Copyright
Other than for strictly personal use, it is not permitted to download, forward or distribute the text or part of it, without the consent
of the author(s) and/or copyright holder(s), unless the work is under an open content license such as Creative Commons.
Takedown policy
Please contact us and provide details if you believe this document breaches copyrights.
We will remove access to the work immediately and investigate your claim.
This work is downloaded from Delft University of Technology.

For technical reasons the number of authors shown on this cover page is limited to a maximum of 10.
2017 / 2018
DELFT
LECTURES ON
ARCHITECTURAL
DESIGN
I NTRO D U C TIO N I. D E PA R TE M E NT O F
4
AR C H ITE C TU R E
13 Susanne Komossa AR C H ITE C TU R AL

Introduction — Different C O M P OS ITIO N &
architectural positions, PU B LI C B U I LD I N G
process as a common 27 Michiel Riedijk
ground Raw steak on the drawing
board; On conventions and
identity in Architecture
43 Susanne Komossa
Who’s afraid of red, yellow and
blue? Colour and identity in
architectural design
73 Nicola Marzot
Three positions on the relation
between Architecture and
Planning
A R C H ITE C TU R E &
D W E LLI N G
97 Dick van Gameren
Revisions of space; Positioning
and repositioning space in and
around buildings
127 Dirk van den Heuvel
As Found Aesthetics; Notes on
the formation of the (British)
context debate in architecture
A R C H ITE C TU R E O F
TH E I NTE R IO R
155 Daniel Rosbottom
Towards a Congruent
Architecture
173 Mark Pimlott
Fiction and significance
in the public interior
I I . D E PA R TM E NT O F
5
Table of content
AR C H ITE C TU R AL
E N G I N E E R I N G AN D
TE C H N O LO GY
C O M PLE X A R C H ITE C TU R E &

PROJ E C TS ENGINEERING
197 Kees Kaan 293 Thijs Asselbergs
The Building site of modern The New Architect: Integrating
architecture; On Louis Sullivan innovation into architectural
in Chicago assignments; In search of a
219 Henk Engel new role
The rationalist perspective
H E R ITAG E &
M E TH O DS & AR C H ITE C TU R E
AN ALYS I S 315 Wessel de Jonge
237 Tom Avermaete Sleeping Beauty
Reader Architectural Design
From Unité to Jussieu;

The Public Realm as
Frame, Substance and Goal
of Architecture
261 Klaske Havik
An introduction to literary
methods in architectural design
TH E W H Y
FAC TO RY
277 Susanne Komossa
Interview with Winy Maas
Delft Lectures on Architectural
6
Design Edition 2015/2016 revised

and updated August 2017
Editors: Susanne Komossa, Esther

Gramsbergen, Eireen Schreurs,
Lidwine Spoormans, Hans Teerds
Reviewers: Patrick Healy and

Cor Wagenaar
We thank Frank van der Hoeven for

his support and Dirk van der Heuvel
as a former editor.
Design: Hans Gremmen, Amsterdam

Edition: academic year 2015/2016
Publisher: TU Delft Open
ISBN 978-9461865861
Copyright © 2017 the authors
This work is licensed under a

Creative Commons Attribution
4.0 International License.
Nicola Marzot
72
Nicola Marzot (Imola,1965) He works internationally as Masters Teaching

graduated from the University lecturer and advisor on complex
of Florence at the Faculty of urban projects. As a (co-) edi- — AR3AP130 Seminar Research
Architecture in 1994. In 2001 he tor he published ‘The new City. Methods Public Building
received his first PhD at the Italia-y-2026. Welcome to Vema’ Graduation studio’s
University of Bologna Faculty of (2006), ‘Architecture for a sustain- — AR4AP100 Public Building
Engineering, and his second in able territory. City and Landscape Graduation Studio: Architec-
2014 at the Delft University of between technological innovation ture & Public Buildings
Technology, Faculty of Architec- and tradition’ (2010), ‘GROOT/ — AR1AP011 Public Building
ture and the Built Environment. GREAT, Tekenboek stadsgebou- MSc1 Design Studio:
Since 1994 he is partner of the wen, functiestapelingen, publieke Architecture & Public Building
architectural firm Studio PER- binnenwerelden, in een blok’ — AR1AP030 Seminar
FORMA A+U, based in Bologna, (2011), and published together Architectural Studies
Italy. Currently he is appointed as with colleagues the proceedings — AR1AP040 Seminar
an assistant professor of architec- of the2012 EAAE-ISUF confer- Architectural Reflections
tural design, Chair of Architectural ence ‘NewUrban Configurations’ — AR3DI0020 Delta Interventions
Composition /Public Building at (2014). He is currently working on MSc3&4 Design Studio:
the Faculty of Architecture and the new edition of “interpreting North Sea. Landscape of
the Built Environment, Delft basic buildings” (2017). He is Coexistence
University of Technology. Since member of the Editorial Board of — AR4EX300 Explorelab Thesis
2006 he participates in the PhD several international Journals. Project 2 ExploreLab
& MSc. Architecture research
program ‘Architecture and the
City’, which researches the role of
the changing public realm within
contemporary cities. He mostly
focuses on process-based
typology, hybrid buildings and
regeneration processes of wait-
ing lands and vacant buildings.
He is member of ISUF, the Inter-
national Seminar on Urban Form,
a research network operating in
the field of typology driven Urban
Analysis and Design methods.
Rossi, Ungers and Koolhaas Nicola Marzot
73
Architectural Composition & Public Building

I — Departement of Architecture /
Three positions on the relation between
Architecture and Planning
Nicola Marzot
*This text is based on the PhD thesis of Nicola Marzot, Beyond the
typological discourse, The creation of the architectural language and the
type as a project in the western modern city, which has been defended at
TU-Delft 4 December 2014
I NTR O D U C TI O N imental process eventually led towards the status
74
The persistent condition of crisis of the building of a new temporary “conventional decision”, of
market has foremost affected the western world which the former was considered the legitimating
over the last decade. Notwithstanding, this crisis process.
seems to offer a stimulating challenge to current In that respect, Manfredo Tafuri’s seminal
architectural practice by multiplying the number idea to distinguish between Architecture and Plan-
of vacant buildings and waiting lands in the ur- ning, is still a crucial critical threshold to un-
ban “brownfields”. This increasingly constitutes derstand the condition prompted by Modernity
an urban phenomenon that is widespread because (Tafuri, 1976). In fact, according to Tafuri, the
of the internal dynamics of the Network City as two disciplines of Architecture and Planning, that
a global given (Marzot, 2006). In addition, this are based on the founding principles of the Euro-
situation potentially offers a new generation of pean Enlightenment, are intended to be perceived
experimental opportunities, which can be widely as two independent domains. They respectively
found in the European context and has been ac- address private entrepreneurship on one hand
companied by a broad spectrum of interesting and public policy management on the other; i.e.
design initiatives (Oswalt, 2013)1. In fact, beyond locating architecture in the public realm and un-
a certain temporal threshold, any crisis (from the derstanding the urban plan as a governmental
old Greek krin, to choose, to take decisions) at a issue. This observation explains why attempts to
certain moment shifts from a temporary state into reflect on the role of contemporary design during
a permanent condition of structural deficiency. a period of persisting crisis should, first and fore-
While the former situation turns out to be typical most, assume and question the relation between
for existing urban form development, the latter “Architecture and Planning”. As a grounding
expresses a pathological situation that affects the premise this relationship has to be critically ques-
city’s overall systematic quality. This includes tioned as such.
also the expected role performed by each building This paper aims at tracing back the origin
within the local community and within the exist- of this embarrassing impasse of the distinction
ing urban framework. Basically, this condition of between architecture and planning to Modern
crisis leads to an irreversible loss of “commonly thinking. Subsequently it will discuss the forma-
shared rationality”, which had been required to tion of Urban Morphology and Building Typol-
achieve a general agreement about what the city ogy as promising fields of investigation. In ad-
should be. This agreement is entirely historical dition, this paper investigates the post-modern
and, therefore, limited in value and by space and struggle of overcoming the enduring dichotomy
time constrains. This becomes evident through between Architecture and Planning upon which,
the study of urban form and is based upon the re- in fact, Modernity founded its questionable legiti-
currence of specific building types within clearly macy, i.e. basing itself on premature judgment.
defined historical conditions. Not by chance the In conclusion, this paper will demonstrate how
notion of ‘building type’ defines the conventional this opposition has affected, and still affects, the
aspect of architecture, which is based upon re- possibility to reach coherent urban form trans-
peatability (Caniggia, Maffei, 1979). formations, especially within existing contexts
However, within the aftermath of the Modern (Conzen, 1969).
legacy, the notion of ‘Planning’ as an expression
of a presumed “universal rationality”, which 1 2
claimed to be capable to cross harmful histori- Many of them, not by Modern Planning is based
chance, are present in the on the sheer distinction
cal borders, had literary superseded the historical most congested metropoli- between infrastructure and
role played by the ‘Building Type’ in defining the tan area, such as Berlin (the zoning.
form of the city. Moreover, Planning literary an- Tempelhof Airport), London
ticipated the possibility to experiment with new (the Brick lane district) and
Amsterdam (the NDSM
conditions, which was in fact the role of Build- district) .
ing Type before Modernity. In fact the quality of
the building type to become ‘convention’ always
derived from an experimental process, that de-
veloped via trials and errors while experimenting
with existing buildings and purposes. This exper-
M E TH O D O LO GY preliminary hypotheses regarding its functioning
75

The emergence of Urban Morphology and Build- and character. Not by chance this specific way of
ing Typology, since 1950 onward, as a proper questioning experience without emphasizing the
disciplinary field (Marzot, 2004), clearly reflects role of the so-called “agents of change” resulted,
the discussion among architects on the relation since the very beginning, in the foundation of Ar-
between Architecture and Planning as a criti- chitectural Metaphysics, which from that moment
cal aspect that conditions any design strategy onward was doomed to produce logical “entities”.
regarding the contemporary city. Not by chance Not by chance these were the premises of J. N. L.
the emergence of this new field was the result of Durand’s method of Composition. In the intro-
the necessity to reconstruct the European cities duction to his Précis (Durand, 1809), he was in
after the Second World War’s impressive dam- fact proud to justify the consistency of his method
ages. It was clearly on this occasion that Modern by arguing that it would allow all students with-
Architecture became progressively aware of its out previous practice or experience in the field of
incapability to deal with the historical cities, be- architecture to become a talented designer. Not
cause of the different set of rules upon which they by chance Enlightenment’s aim was to guarantee
had been built. Urban Morphology and Building a scientific approach to every field of knowledge.
Typology produced an impressive body of knowl- But the so called “scientific approach”, once ap-
edge on the historical city’s regulating systems, plied to common matters or extended to social
based on the previously mentioned conventional phenomena, is the paradoxical result of this “un-
quality of the Building Type. This knowledge is in conscious” prejudice. In fact, Science literary
Nicola Marzot
opposition to modern Planning’s2 , and answers “suspends” the judgment with respect to any phe-
reciprocally differ in relation to the role assumed nomenon, up to the end of its investigating pro-
by the specific nature of the so-called “agents of cess, by substituting subjective desires with pre-
change” (Marzot, 2014). Parallel to the distinc- liminary hypotheses on the phenomenon’s nature.
tion between architecture and planning this as- Not by chance, Durand’s above-mentioned meth-
sumption justifies a very basic distinction between od was intended by its author to guarantee the
“object oriented” perspectives and “process ori- possibility to articulate a architectural proposal
ented” ones. The former tends to emphasize the for any possible geographical setting without hav-
autonomous capacity of architecture to subvert ing any knowledge about it and its societal setting.
the existing conditions. In fact, it mostly acts at Accordingly, this assumes a pre-formulated expla-
a formal level. Basically, it substitutes an existing nation model to be applied, i.e. “projected”, onto
“architectural language” by a new one. In the lat- the analyzed real. Only if the reaction from the
ter case, it tends to postpone the critical reflection real confirms the preliminary hypotheses, these
on the appearance of any disciplinary code to a are recognized as “law” and then accepted by the
necessary previous analysis of an already existing scientific community as part of the discipline. If
change regarding newly emerging socio-economic not, they are rejected, and the process starts again
agents claiming a role within society. In this case, with new hypotheses to be tested. The Functional
the possibility of an architectural language is in city is an example of this process. In that respect,
fact subject to an experimental process on the Le Corbusier’s Manière de penser l’urbanisme (Le
existing city and its building structures. The ex- Corbusier, 1945) is the result of the sheer appli-
perimental phase is therefore fundamental. By cation of scientific principles to the discipline of
claiming a proper space through experimenta- Urban Design. It assumed that the city performs
tion, the agents of change have the chance to re- according to functional specializations and, even
ally construct their own set of rules. This gap is more, that the quality of architecture had to be
justified by different philosophical backgrounds subject to this planning principle. With other
in approaching the same fact, i.e. reality as a words, the author projected the model extracted
“phenomenon”. The “object oriented” perspec- from these hypotheses onto the ‘modern’ city,
tive always answers to the question “what it is testing its reaction. Of course, no one cared about
a city?” by presuming, but never questioning, the resistance to this application, since the reac-
its existence. This implies an endless search for tion itself is considered part of the procedure and
definitions, which remain inevitably constrained its implicit “scientific quality”. As a consequence,
within, and limited by, the boundaries of an as- when using this ‘scientific’ method, it is not pos-
sumed “disciplinary field”, which is grounded on sible even to question the relation between “Ar-
chitecture and Planning” as such, since the two FO R M I N G P R O C E S S E S .
76
expressed “entities” are implicitly presumed to TH R E E C A N O N I C A L P OS ITI O N S

exist prior to any research. Additionally, even the The architecture of the city (Rossi, 1966), Architec-
use of the coordinating preposition “and” uncon- ture as a theme (Ungers, 1982), and Delirious New
sciously states that the two categories belong to York (Koolhaas, 1978) are the three texts selected
the same level of knowledge, i.e. the rational one. for this experiment. The reason of this critical
The “process oriented” perspective, on the selection can be explained as follows: these texts
opposite side, avoids any preconceived definition were all written by architects and theoreticians
by simply answering the question “why to build operating in the field of architecture and urban
a city?”. Doing so, this horizon of investigation design. Their shared aim was to trace back the
never presumes to know who is doing what, why, history of urban form not dealing with abstract
when and where, which are usually considered and prejudicial theories and/or hypotheses of
the basic aspects of any consistent research. This Modernism but to find within this history the
is made explicit by Urban Morphology and Build- compelling premises to support their own in-
ing Typology when investigation is addressed to tentional and operative design strategy. These
the analysis of the city’s transformation prior to premises tend to remain latent within the initial
the Enlightenment. In fact, the city’s existence is part of the books’ content of these three authors;
continuously put under discussion through the however, they are finally made more explicit in
elucidation of its lifecycle guided by experimen- the course of the authors’ narrative. Furthermore,
tation on its existing architecture with the aim all three were interested in questioning the role of
of achieving new forms of conventional building Architecture in the definition and construction of
types (Aymonino, C., Brusatin, M., Fabbri, G., the City, as the book titles already indicate, super-
Lena, M., Lovero, P., Lucianetti, S. and Rossi, seding the prejudice addressed towards Architec-
A. ,1970). Even more, this processual perspective ture’s inability to handle complexity caused by the
envisions that all aspects of this analysis will be overwhelming power of Urbanism and Planning,
reciprocally defined by testing conflicting posi- which, not by chance was not existing before
tions and by assuming failure and/or success as a Modernity (Aureli, 2011). To achieve this result,
simple possibility, or “event”. Even more, experi- all three were aware of the importance of Ur-
mentation takes place before the possibility of the ban Morphology and Building Typology. In that
city’s existence, emphasizing the role of singular sense, they all are clearly post-modern, and in
and collective responsibility in taking decision, accordance with the cultural climax of which they
starting with the very beginning of the process were part, they judged the results of Modernity
of experimentation. The most impressive case from the perspective of its evident failure. Howev-
history regarding this perspective is the coming er, looking closer, mutual differences emerge em-
into existence of the medieval city immediately phasizing the “untold” and the “un-thought” of
after the IV century A.C., i.e. the possibility of their author’s position. Here lies the aspect we are
experimentation within the roman city, once it interested in vis-à-vis the Architecture and Plan-
had fallen into ruins (Muratori, 1959/60 and Mu- ning debate, that also affects their design strategy.
ratori, 1963).
To clarify this fundamental antagonism be-
tween architecture and planning, between pro-
cess and object orientated perspectives we will
compare three canonical texts dealing with the
architectural quality of the city and its trans-
formation in space and time. We will describe
and explain the argumentation, which has been
developed in these texts, in order to find out the
implicit position of the three authors. Finally, we
will try to extract a clear position vis-a-vis the re-
lation between Architecture and Planning to see
whether or not this could fulfill the expectations
of a critical design approach when confronted
with the existing situation. At the same time this
offers the opportunity to raise a discussion on
eventually missing aspects that have to be further
investigated.
TH E AUTO N O M Y O F 3
77

A R C H ITE C TU R E I N The reference to De Saus-
sure’s linguistic approach
A L D O R OS S I is explicitly addressed in
Aldo Rossi’s text acquires a special value by vir- the introduction to the first
tue of the extensive dissemination of the ideas Italian edition of the book
brought together inside it through numerous at pag.6. Moreover, it is fi-
nally elucidated within the
translations. It can legitimately be maintained introduction to the second
that the significance of the work lies in the mo- edition, published in 1970.
tives behind it. These do not seem to have On that occasion Rossi fully
changed over the years, as the author himself re- declares his intention as
“…to establish a theory of
calls in his various introductions, and this means architectural design where
there was never any call for him to bring the text the elements are predeter-
itself up to date. mined, formally identified,
His essential idea is to question the theory of but the significance which
emerges at the end of the
what can be called “ingenuous” Functionalism, operation is the authentic
which reduces architecture to the pure representa- sense, unexpected and
tion of its utilitarian functions through a one-way original, of the research..”.
relationship of a causal kind. Rossi counters this This definition pays respect
to De Saussure’s definition
principle with that of architecture as an autono-
of the Langue. Rossi finds
mous discipline, endowed with a code of values evidence of his belief not
Nicola Marzot
independent of the indisputable pressures of an only in the transformation
economic, political and social kind, based on the processes of urban form,
permanence of certain principles constantly veri- investigated through urban
analysis, but also in paint-
fiable in the course of history. These the author ing, especially in the genre
defines as the “form” of the urban “artifacts”, to of the so-called “capriccio”,
distinguish their general aspects - and their im- leading him to define the
plicit validity – as compared with their concrete theory of the Analogous
City.
manifestations revealed in precise conditions of
space and time.
The purpose of his argument thus becomes to
bring out, through reference to situations, which
have really occurred and are historically founded,
the existence of closely correlated systems of laws
and characters in order to try to create a theory
of the city, an urban science. This science is in-
tended to take Saussure’s linguistic theory as its
methodological model. This explains the implicit
identification between the city, understood as a
system of rules to which every building and archi-
tectural manifestation conforms, and Langue, as
defined in precise terms by De Saussure himself 3.
The text is divided into four sections: the struc-
ture of urban artifacts; the primary elements and
the concept of area; the individuality of urban
artifacts; architecture; the evolution of urban ar-
tifacts.
The first section clarifies the hypothesis under-
lying the entire work. The city is considered as an
artifact, a work that grows in time in accordance
with a logic of continuous adaptations of the exist-
ing building patrimony to changing needs. In this
way, the city is modified in keeping with criteria
of an artisanal kind, namely by piecemeal adjust-
ments made in real time. Hence it is essential to by chance. In fact Rossi’s search for a dialectical
78
recognize the individuality and uniqueness of relation between the universality of form, i.e. its
urban artifacts as the starting point for any reflec- inner logic deprived of any conventional value,
tion on the future of the city and its transforma- and its specificity, i.e. its ever-changing interpre-
tion. tation made possible by the unique materializa-
Nevertheless, we can succeed in defining the tion of its logical premises, is always in favor of
constituent modes of every individual architec- the author’s self-satisfaction regarding the “un-
ture or urban manifestation only through a series productive role” of the crisis as such, which con-
of successive abstractions from the data with firms his subtle compliance with Modernity and
which the book starts, namely the concreteness of its disruptive attitude in “transcending” any kind
urban artifacts. Rossi defines the result of these of specificity (Biraghi, 2013).
operations as the “type”. The “type” for Rossi This position is shored up by Rossi’s decision
is therefore a constant, namely the underlying to apply the architectural concept of the “type” to
“form” of urban artifacts. Surprisingly, this de- the building and the city, rejecting the humanistic
rivative process identifies with the fall into decay distinction of the “scale” of the project. Doing so,
of a well-established community, which tends to the “type” becomes the unifying factor of a logi-
reveal the emergence of the “type” as a “relict”4. cal kind, which ties up all built manifestations,
In Rossi’s interpretation of the city there thus co- regardless of their dimensions and the complexity
exist a Platonic image, the idea of the city, and an of their interrelations. Rossi identified the type
Aristotelian vision, the whole set of urban facts in with Langue6 , so superseding certain ambiguities
their concrete materiality as an occurrence, and present in the definition given by Saverio Mura-
these factors are always closely correlated, to the tori and his school, which apparently prevented
point where, out of respect for Saussure’s linguis- the concept from acquiring an analogous unify-
tic formulation, the urban artifacts become the ing function. In practice, they limited the term
“words”, or “speech act” through whose historical “type” to defining the historically ascertained
sedimentation “languages” are renewed. concept of the house7. The analysis of urban ar-
Seeking to define architecture as an autonomous tifacts, hence of urban morphology, confirms the
discipline5, Rossi identifies it with Composition, existence of logical principles, namely “types”,
out of respect for the cultural-revolution that had which transcend morphology while comprehend-
begun by the Enlightenment. As the art of coming it. The general validity of these principles is
position, architecture is pure rationality; it has its not undermined by the fact that they are embod-
own lexical elements and its own rules of syntacti- ied in widely different situations (Fig. 2). In fact,
cal-grammatical articulation. These elements and this constitutes the foundation of their truth. This
rules do not belong to history but to the world of same fact jeopardizes the functionalist assump-
forms revealed by the superseding of history made tion of form as an organ which is developed and
possible by its conscious crisis. Subsequently, modified in relation to its function. The concept
morphology is concerned with concrete urban of the house as a utensil is a slogan that does not
artifacts, while typology with their constructional do justice to the permanence of specific organi-
logic. The “analogue city” concept introduced by zational principles in strongly differentiated pro-
Rossi to support this hypothesis displays concrete grams. If anything, says Rossi, it is the type that
artifacts under decay- the theatres of Arles and is the organizational model of this function. In
Nîmes, the fortress of Split, the Palazzo della Ra- reality, the modern concept of Function subtlety
gione in Padua, etc. – to express idea of the recur- hides the existence of new values, derived from
rence of elements and relationships which under- the emergence of the industrial society based on
pin the city and its architecture, independently standard and mass production, translating the
of the use made of them in any given conditions scientific method application from the field of
(Fig.1). However his recognition of the existence of natural source exploitation to that of the human
“types”, understood as schemes with a meta-his- one.
torical validity, does not follow from a processual Function does not lend itself to becoming an
analysis of the reasons for their existence, i.e. does effective parameter for the analysis of reality,
not derives from critically answering the question though the Modern Movement made excessive
“why do we need to build a city and, eventually, use of it. Other parameters that had a consider-
choosing a way more that another?”. This is not able success were those that had an economic
79

Nicola Marzot
4 7
Not by chance, in the intro- This point was explored in
duction to the first Italian a paper I presented at the
edition, at pag. 6, he de- seventh IASTE conference
clares that “…permanent el- held at Trani from 12 to 15
ements could be identified October 2000. The paper
as pathological elements..” is published in the Working
5 Paper Series n° 136 under
The reference to Autonomy the title The Dialectic Be-
and to the scientific ap- tween Tradition and Innova-
proach is emphasized in the tion in the Italian Typological
introduction to the second Studies.
Italian edition.

6
According to De Saus-
sure’s the Langue refers to
synchrony and justify the
existence of clearly defined
elements, whose internal
relations are unpredictable,
since the elements can be
Fig. 1. selected and combined
Engraving of Arles’ roman amphitheatre after the Roman according to the author’s
Empire fall, XVIII century. Aldo Rossi finds archeological changing intentional-
evidences of the survival of Form, calling it Type, after pro- ity. However, to define the
cesses of functional disposal and successive abandonment Langue’s structure, we
of already existing public monuments of the past. Assum- do need to start from the
ing this permanence, beyond historical epochs, as the Parole, which refers to a
grounding principle of the architectural practice, and nam- diachronic process. Rossi
ing it Composition, it becomes the “natural environment” fully developed De Saus-
into which architecture establishes its valuable horizon. sure’s program by analyzing
As a consequence, neither the character of architecture is “Urban Fact”, i.e. the archi-
questioned nor its necessity. The dualism between the idea tectural Parole, to extract
and its materialization duplicates, in the disciplinary field of from them “Types”, which
architecture, the Enlightenment one between rationality and correspond to the Langue.
its sheer application.
80
81

Nicola Marzot
Fig. 2.
Aldo Rossi, Residential Unit, Gallaratese District, Milan,
1968-1973. The building stands out as the poetic interpreta-
tion of a viaduct’s relict, which remains to the background
as the implicit permanence of Architecture, beyond any
functional or conventional value. The origin of the hidden
precedent remains unquestioned as well as the role of the
personal manipulation of it, intentionally dissimulating any
kind of subjectivity, its possible aim and expected desire.
nature and social content. Though these analyses OS WA L D M ATH I A S U N G E R S :
82
helped comprehend important aspects of Mor- A R C H ITE C TU R E A S A

phology, they are not capable of explaining it R H E TO R I C A L D E V I C E
in its entirety. The city by its nature defies any This text is located historically at the end of a
all-encompassing interpretation which excludes long period of reflection on the form of the city.
recognition of the existence of purely formal cat- It addresses the city’s formation and transforma-
egories endowed with their own behavioral auton- tion in the course of time and its relationship with
omy. Only Marcel Poëte (Poëte, 1929) and Pierre architecture and the consequence of this theoreti-
Lavedan (Lavedan, 1926) introduced as criteria cal output in the construction of urban space. As
of analysis the identification of persistent elements such this text is a fundamental contribution to
in the urban organization that are capable of the comprehension of part of the state of things in
penetrating the form of the urban artifacts from which we still live.
a morphological point of view. For example, veri- Ungers’ principal objective is to stress the
fication of the existence of elements of the plan of importance of architecture as an autonomous
the city which retain their force through succes- language, capable of expressing ideas, that is
sive urban transformations, and which may actu- themes, which precede it and condition it in its
ally consolidate it, is a confirmation of the auton- choice of elements and its rules of inner articula-
omous validity and effectiveness of the principles tion. In particular, those “themes” are derived
regulating them. Rossi, however, never doubted from urban form transformative process careful
that the persistence of these phenomena was not analysis, to emphasize the importance to derive
necessarily a synonym of choice but rather the ef- a consistent body of knowledge from the specific
fect of an inertia to change, due in part to the na- appearance of the “urban facts”. In this way Un-
ture of the materials employed. Would the destiny gers seeks to express his criticism of ingenuous
of the theatres of Arles and Nîmes, in the early Functionalism and the consequent subordination
Middle Ages, have been the same if they had been of architecture to purpose, technology and the
built of wood and not stone? Couldn’t respect for reasons of the economy, which have made it an
certain alignments be explained simply as less applied art. This urge to attribute a communica-
laborious than their alteration or cancellation? tive capacity to architecture, regardless of the
This would help understand why the cardo and question of functioning inter-disciplinarily was
decumanus of Roman cities are better preserved typical of the 1960s8. It was also consistent with
than all the other signs of lesser importance. It is the reflection regarding the principles of scientific
therefore difficult to interpret the preservation of research, in which the initial working hypothesis
material elements as an implicit recognition of the defines the direction of thought in the analysis
validity of their underlying principles. It seems and quality of the results obtained. Themes, pre-
not possible to solve this aporias if not bringing cisely because they are not natural or spontaneous
to the fore the subjective position, its intentional- aspects but the result of conscious choice, are par-
ity and its role in judging what is doomed to be tial. It only as such that they succeed in ensuring
abandoned and what is worthy to be subverted architecture has the linguistic function which the
through subtle manipulation, for the sake of a author seeks to attribute to it. But for the same
newly emerging possible society, which implies to reasons the choice of these aspects, to be widely
focus on a process oriented perspective. shared, a collective choice and not a personal po-
etic inaccessible to most people, should possess
a historicity of their own: i.e. they should clearly
represent central aspects of the cultural debate at
a specific time, a question that the author seems
not to grasp unequivocally.
As the immediate result of choices not shared,
the language of architecture will prove in vari-
ous cases to be conditioned by the nature of the
theme, so being translated into a catalogue of
codes, meaning strongly specialized languages.
The fact that the different themes/languages can
coexist within the work of a single author reveals
its partiality and that it belongs to the field of the 8
83

poetic. The ’80s thus opened under the aegis of Nothing to say that this urge
had a twofold premise: to
linguistic “particularism”, following the heroic revaluate the autonomous
season of the ’60s and ’70s, which sought to re- capacity of architecture, via
found architectural language on more solid bases the project, to construct a
which could be widely shared through emphasis clear idea of the city, and to
subordinate the Planning
on aspects of active participation in its forma- to unfold this autonomous
tion. The individual was thus the author and capacity, subverting the
beneficiary of the choices made. With Ungers, Modern prejudice towards
individuals delegate a brief to the architect who, architecture. This urge be-
came unavoidable after the
by virtue of his poetic abilities, succeeds through second world war recon-
his mediation in finding a form for the needs of struction and was boosting
the community. Notwithstanding the evidence the emergence of Urban
of a Meta-Narrative attitude, according to which Morphology and Building
Typology as an autonomous
architecture indirectly reflects on what its pur-
research field, to rehabili-
pose should be, not taking it into a proper action, tate the lost role of archi-
however Ungers has the merit to indicate a new tecture to define the form of
research line capable of developing Aldo Rossi’s the city. Within the Modern
premises, substituting the former’s negative dia- legacy, only Le Corbusier
and Hilberseimer tempted
lect with a positive one. somehow to forecast the
Nicola Marzot
“The theme of transformation or the mor- possibility of a new city
phology of the Gestalt” is defined by Ungers in a made of architecture.
multiple way. It can be understood as the expres-
sion of endless individual variations by which it
is possible to express a general concept like “en-
trance” (by analogy with the distinction made in
linguistics between the “Act of Speech”, corre-
sponding to the French definition of Parole, which
are endless and unrepeatable, and the French
definition of Langue, which expresses the finite
system encompassing the grammatical rules and
the linguistic components). But the theme can
also express the transition from a state of order -
the layout of a planned city - to its abandonment
because of a change in the general context, which
seemingly alludes to a state of chaos. An example
is the early medieval city, which developed on the
earlier system in continuity with its most elemen-
tary aspects. Finally, the theme can be expressed
through a continuous transition from the natural
element to the artificial and vice versa, hence by
simulating a clear change of state. Each of these
strategies, says Ungers, makes it possible to clarify
the theme of transformation through the language
of architecture, making architecture the language
of transformation, enhancing the idea of a possi-
ble variety within the unity of the system. Ungers
supports this thesis with the examples of the pro-
jects for the Museum Morsbroich in Leverkusen,
the student residence at Enschede and Grünzug-
Süd in Cologne.
“The theme of the assemblage or coincidence
84
of opposites” enables Ungers to remind us that

Western culture has educated us to consider a
lack of unity in the whole as a limitation for the
attainment of beauty in a work. His purpose, on
the contrary, is to show that the composition of
contrasts is sometimes the only strategy available
for coping with a design problem and, as such,
it may be the source of aesthetic reverberations.
The theme of fragmentariness is also taken as an
act of freedom from the often-dogmatic imposi-
tion of unity. Aldo Rossi’s conception of the “city
by parts” emerges clearly from these words and
Ungers demonstrates to be aware of it. The city
lives by the richness of discontinuities, of con-
tradictions, unlike the village, which emphasizes
unity. This passage is perhaps one of Ungers’
most important observations, as it prompts reflec-
tion on one of the principal themes of criticism of
the bourgeois city in the late nineteenth century.
Discontinuity, complexity and specialization have
become synonymous with the modern condition
and the big city in particular. The ideas contained
in the model of the garden city were defined in
opposition to them. But the theme of the assem-
blage also becomes a metaphor for the language
of contemporary architecture as the place of the
fragmentation. If architecture is the visualiza-
tion of an idea, which by virtue of its partiality
enables it to be communicative, the simultaneous
presence in the same space and time of opposed
themes, i.e. of fragments that are not composed
into a single whole, becomes the expression of a
Babel of co-occurring codes. This is due to the
fact that architecture as a language presupposes
specialization, a drastic reduction of its semantic
potential by emphasis on a single aspect. But this
very choice in practice decrees its rapid obsoles-
cence. Codes, by definition strongly specialized
languages, afford less flexibility to change of con-
text. To confirm his thesis, Ungers cites the pro-
jects for the Tiergarten Museum in Berlin (signifi-
cantly the ideal context to emphasize the theme
of fragmentation, at which Daniel Libeskind has
recently tried his hand), the Stadtsparkasse in Fig. 3.
Berlin, the Wallraf-Richartz Museum in Cologne, O.M.Ungers, Deutsches Architekturmuseum, Frankfurt am
the restructuring of the Frankfurt trade fair and Main, 1978 (of Das Deutsche Architekturmuseum). Through
the theme of “inclusion”, interpreted as a rhetorical “figure
the Berlin courthouse. of speech”, architecture displays, and let it perceive, a nar-
“The theme of incorporation, or the doll inside rative dealing with the reprogramming process of the exist-
the doll”, is the description of an approach that can ing complex building, a bourgeois urban villa dating back
be developed, according to Ungers, in two direc- to the second half of the XIX century, to its grounding el-
ementary premise, offered in the metaphorical shape of the
tions, formal and conceptual. The first approach primitive hut. If architecture becomes a discourse on itself,
entails the existence of compositional analogies or a meta-language, its words explicitly refer to its underly-
ing practice. Notwithstanding architecture cannot exceed
the limitation of its system, intended as a Langue, because
it remains circumscribed by its set of rules, according to
Ungers it can at least elucidate its premises and founda-
tion, ambiguously swinging in between the practical and the
conceptual level.
between objects on different scales, which for this
85

reason are comprised one within the other - like
the relations that existed in the mediaeval city be-
tween the town wall and its contents, squares and
inclusions, the city lot and the building within
it – and have close points of contact with the idea
of the “analogue city” already fully developed by
Aldo Rossi. The second is with the existence of
simple organisms, unicellular by nature, which
remain incorporated in more complex spatial
structures by a process of growth, as in the case
of the ancient Greek temple in which the naos, the
innermost cella accessible only to the priests, is
the operative memory of the primitive form of the
temple.
This theme is of particular interest because, in his
various explanations, Ungers seems to be suggest-
ing that in the processes of future transformation
of the architectural object it is essential to recover
the original matrix and begin again from this to
Nicola Marzot
find a new meaning in the work, suited to the
changed contextual conditions. This hypothesis
is confirmed by the projects for the Landstuhl
Solarhaus, the Deutsche Architekturmuseum in
Frankfurt (Fig.3) and a hotel in Berlin.
“The theme of assimilation or adaptation to
the genius loci” was definitely the one most fully
developed in the debate in the ’70s, and is the
most difficult one to define and systemize. In ab-
solutely general terms it represents the idea that
architecture, to be translated into a language,
should draw its references unequivocally from the
location in which it is set, and that the old and the
new should therefore become reciprocally interde-
pendent elements in the organization of existential
space. So, the way the subject is interpreted not
only varies from context to context, but should
explicitly state this differentiation as its distinctive
trait. With certain clear references to the concept
of the “analogue city”, but much more highly
specified, adaptation to the context seems to allow
for the citation of elements of local architecture,
though they are embedded in an original system
of relationships, which bears witnesses to the evo-
lution of the times. Seemingly implicit in Ungers’
arguments is the idea that architecture can be
translated into language only if it recovers ele-
ments of the tradition by relating to them in keep-
ing with rules of transformation. The significance
of the innovation emerges from a comparison be-
tween what pre-exists the architecture and what is
added within that interval. Innovation and tradi-
tion are therefore complementary. The context is
therefore fundamental to any understanding of
the significance of a work.
From these considerations derives an impor- Ungers interprets “the theme of the imagina-
86
tant observation: in order to alter the existing tion or the world as representation” in two different
state of things, architecture has to “comprehend”, ways. The first is implicit in the general title of
in the twofold etymological sense of the word, the text. It holds that we can talk about architec-
firstly as understanding through analysis and ture as a language only if we decide to analyze it
secondly as assimilation/inclusion through the in accordance with an interpretation which will
operation of the project. The emphasis on syntax govern its transformation subsequently. The way
should not make us lose sight of the relationship we understand the world, and so build it, clearly
with the existing structures, understood as a depends on how we perceive it. The nature of the
rich repertory of reciprocally interrelated forms. parameters or themes chosen is decisive in rela-
In that respect Ungers takes the distance from tion to the results eventually obtained. The sec-
Rossi’s search for an anonymous and universal ond significance of the theme is that the language
language, putting the basis for understanding the of architecture is language by images, a figurative
unique specificity of the historical evidence of language. In other words, there exists a rhetorical
precise and definite historical languages9. use of architecture, which is related to the use of
Modern architecture therefore has to include “figures” analogous to the literary figures - meta-
traditional architecture within itself, if it is to su- phor, allegory, metonymy, hyperbole, etc. - which
persede it with full awareness, in such a way that sometimes help to say what on a purely concep-
this superseding can be not just felt but also seen. tual level (perhaps here we glimpse an attempt to
Architecture is above all a language in images, move beyond the iconoclastic Structuralist posi-
or a metaphoric expression. Even though Ungers tions of the ’60s and ’70s) it is impossible to con-
does not tackle the issue explicitly, it seems we vey in a specific historical period.
can say that the idea of architecture as a language In this respect, some Enlightenment experi-
presupposes its being rooted in a context, and ences clearly attempt to express new impulses,
that every form of distancing, including a concep- which were not possible to be conveyed in the lan-
tual distancing, from this position, entails shift- guage of the Ancien Régime. Among these “figures
ing the question to the criteria of the formation of speech”, synecdoche (the part for the whole or
of languages, i.e. on a syntax and a vocabulary so the whole for the part) and metaphor have been
general that it offers a level of abstraction which the most widely used in the history of architec-
makes it an instrument applicable to different ture. In particular synecdoche seems to offer
contexts. But it is necessary to remember that this the possibility of verifying the quality of a form
level of generalization is not a language, but only which, through a condensation or rarefaction of
a “generative grammar” which seeks to provide a the image, leads to a new expression not con-
rational explanation for the variety of languages, tained in the original. This reflection is present
which is not negated by starting from a basis in in the projects for a house at Berlin-Spandau, the
rules that are common, since these are innate, construction on Welfare Island in New York and
hence not a product of culture. To confirm these in the project for the Fachhochschule in Bremer-
hypotheses Ungers cites the project for a group haven.
of homes at Marburg, the project for the residen-
tial area on the Schillerstrasse in Berlin, that for
the Badische Landesbibliothek in Karlsruhe, the
project for the restructuring of the Hildesheim
Marktplatz and the project for a building in the
Braunschweig Schlosspark.
TH E D E LI R I O U S A R C H IT E C TU R E 9
87

A N D TH E H Y B R I D C IT Y O F This also justifies Ungers’s
more explicit interest, in the
R E M KO O LH A A S description of city’s trans-
Although there has never been a clearly demon- formative processes, about
strated relationship between Deconstructivism and the role driven by agents of
the successful book Delirious New York, written change.
by Rem Koolhaas and first published in 1978, in
the writer’s view it contains a series of extremely
interesting critical reflections that exhaustively
examine the post-modern condition with the
additional merit of an essentially architectonic/
town-planning perspective.
The author considers Manhattan Island to be
the clearest expression of 20th Century town-
planning culture, a collective work that he refers
to as the “culture of congestion”. Nevertheless,
though he demonstrates an ability to systematical-
ly document the genesis and development of con-
tinuing practices that are analyzed with a com-
prehensive historico-critical approach, Koolhaas
Nicola Marzot
acknowledges that they lack supporting theory. In
an age that seems to have firmly repudiated the
avant-garde, which, since the start of this century
has developed through the radical rethinks of the
1960s and early 1970s, the author’s controversial
intent is to propose a retroactive manifesto to
justify a programme that is so at odds with the
culture of modernity that, if its proposals were
openly declared, it could never be implemented:
In the author’s words: “...This book is an interpre-
tation of that Manhattan which gives its seeming-
ly discontinuous - even irreconcilable - episodes
a degree of consistency and coherence, an inter-
pretation that intends to establish Manhattan as
the product of an unformulated theory, Manhat-
tanism, whose program - to exist in a world totally
fabricated by man, i.e., to live inside fantasy-was
so ambitious that to be realized, it could never be
openly stated.”10. Noting that choice of subject
matter can determine the ultimate aim, the author
justifies awareness of the theoretical project and
his position regarding the risks and limitations of
a more tested a posteriori critical and historical
reconstruction.
Although the premises of this relatively un-
known theory can be recognized in some tech-
nological innovations tested and presented at the
Exhibition in Manhattan in 1853, such as the lift
invented by Elisha Otis, Koolhaas states that we
should not underestimate the role played by some
archetypal structures, such as the tower and the
sphere, which first appeared on occasion of this
exhibition and took form in the Latting Observato-
ry and the Crystal Palace, as well as the acclaimed ney Island is forced to mutate: it must turn itself
88
grid-like infrastructure that had given plan and into the total opposite of Nature, it has no choice
order to the island since 1811: “...The needle and but to counteract the artificiality of the new me-
the globe represent the two extremes of Manhat- tropolis with its own Super Natural. Instead of
tan’s formal vocabulary and describe the outer suspension of urban pressure, it offers intensifica-
limits of its architectural choices. The needle is tion.”13. Such a response translated into the reali-
the thinnest, least voluminous structure to mark zation of an endless series of amusements - Loop-
a location within the Grid. It combines maximum the-Loop, the Roller Coaster, Shoot-the-Chutes,
physical impact with a negligible consumption of the Inexhaustible Cow, Electric Bathing - leading
ground. It is, essentially, a building without an finally to the first amusement parks, such as Peter
interior. The globe is, mathematically, the form Tilyou’s Steeplechase, where mechanical horses
that encloses the maximum interior volume with that anyone could easily control ran around an
the least external skin. It has a promiscuous ca- enclosed track; the Lunar Park of Frederic
pacity to absorb objects, people, iconographies, Thompson and Elmer Dundy, where visitors took
symbolisms; it relates them through the mere fact a spectacular imaginary journey to the moon, as-
of their coexistence in its interior. In many ways, cending to 300 feet above the ground; and the
the history of Manhattanism as a separate, identi- mythical Dreamland of William H. Reynolds, the
fiable architecture is a dialectic between these two first true amusement park, organized in such a
forms, with the needle wanting to become a globe way as to resemble a coherent town plan. Kool-
and the globe trying, from time to time, to turn haas’ interest in this entertainment project, in a
into a needle - a cross-fertilization that results in scale greater than any previously seen, arose from
a series of successful hybrids in which the needle’s the desire, coherently and gradually achieved, to
capacity for attracting attention and its territorial provide experiences capable of satisfying dreams
modesty are matched with the consummate re- and the imagination and giving them greater so-
ceptivity of the sphere...”11. lidity, far from the humdrum reality of daily life,
But the culture of congestion, which was to through a calculated intensification strategy of
use technological innovation and the archetypes spatio-temporal opportunities, beyond the offer-
of the grid, the tower and the sphere to justify its ings that could be experienced in the real city.
own existence, historically finds its first major The quest for the supernatural, in which Coney
manifestations in Coney Island. To quote Kool- Island had deliberately placed its hopes of survival
haas: “...Coney Island is the incubator for Man- in the face of mass society and its secret rituals,
hattan’s incipient themes and infant mythology. thus took coherent form. Dreamland also repre-
The strategies and mechanisms that later shape sented the first amusement park devised for all
Manhattan are tested in the laboratory of Coney social categories, overturning the previous logic
Island before they finally leap toward the larger of entertainment reserved for the proletarian
island...”12. Although Coney Island, with its un- masses. As Koolhaas recalls: “...Dreamland is lo-
spoiled natural beauty and relative inaccessibility, cated on the sea. Instead of the shapeless pond or
had represented an ideal place to shrug off the would·be lagoon that is the center of Luna,
stresses of daily life since New York City’s earliest Dreamland is planned around an actual inlet of
days, during the city’s rapid development into a the Atlantic, a genuine reservoir· of the Oceanic
metropolis between 1823 and 1860 the urge to with its well-tested catalytic potential to trigger
escape became ever more pressing, and the fantasies. Where luna insists on its otherworldli-
growth of transport infrastructure between Man- ness by claiming an outrageous alien location,
hattan and Coney Island - first the railway in Dreamland relies on a more subliminal and plau-
1865, followed by the opening of Brooklyn Bridge sible dissociation: its entrance porches are under-
in 1883 - led to the island’s beaches becoming the neath gigantic plaster-of-paris ships under full
most crowded in the world, within easy and af- sail, so that metaphorically the surface of the en-
fordable reach of the proletarian masses. Accord- tire park is “underwater:’ an Atlantis found be-
ing to Koolhaas:”...This invasion finally invali- fore it has ever been lost...”14. By applying the
dates whatever remains of the original formula for same technologies that allowed Manhattan to be-
Coney Island’s performance as a resort, the provi- come the world’s most important metropolis and
sion of Nature to the citizens of the Artificial. To organizing 15 different thematic areas in a horse-
survive as a resort - a place offering contrast - Co- shoe pattern around a shoreline cove, Reynolds
managed to artificially reproduce an event space 10
89

closely resembling the present post-modern condi- Rem Koolhaas, Delirious
New York, New York, The
tion, in which individual events take place in a Monacelli Press, 1994, p.10.
totally unconnected way, with no past and an un- 11
predictable future. Of the episodes that drew the Rem Koolhaas, Delirious
most admiration and interest, we may recall Lil- New York, New York, The
Monacelli Press, 1994, p.27.
liputia, the miniature city, a faithful reconstruc- 12
tion of the Venice canals, a simulation of the Rem Koolhaas, Delirious
Swiss landscape, the eruption of Vesuvius, and New York, New York, The
Fighting the Flames, a set that repeatedly simu- Monacelli Press, 1994,
p.130.
lated a fire in a city block and the consequent ar- 13
rival of fire fighters who successfully extinguished Rem Koolhaas, Delirious
it. Koolhaas comments:”...Ostensibly seeking to New York, New York, The
provide unlimited entertainment and pleasure, Monacelli Press, 1994,
p.133.
Tilyou, Thompson and Reynolds have in fact al-
14
ienated a part of the earth’s surface further from Rem Koolhaas, Delirious
nature than architecture has ever succeeded in New York, New York, The
doing before, and turned it into a magic carpet Monacelli Press, 1994, p.45.
that can: reproduce experience and fabricate al- 15
Rem Koolhaas, Delirious
most any sensation; sustain any number of ritual- New York, New York, The
Nicola Marzot
istic performances that exorcise the apocalyptic Monacelli Press, 1994, p.62.
penalties of the metropolitan condition (an-
nounced in the Bible and deeply ingrained since
in the anti urban American sensibility); and sur-
vive the onslaught of over a million visitors a day.
In less than a decade they have invented and es-
tablished an urbanism based on the new Technol-
ogy of the Fantastic: a permanent conspiracy
against the realities of the external world. It de-
fines completely new relationships between site,
program, form and technology. The site has now
become a miniature state: the program its Ideol-
ogy; and architecture the arrangement of the
technological apparatus that compensates for the
loss of real physicality...”15. Despite the concern
expressed by the defenders of well-meant town
planning, i.e. the ideology of Modernity applied
to urban form, who would have replaced the city
of entertainment with a more decorous urban
park, Coney Island has consolidated its success
over time, becoming known for extraordinary
construction initiatives of remarkable impact. In
fact, an advertisement announcing the launch of
the Globe Tower building project, the largest that
the world had seen, appeared in a New York
newspaper in 1906. To raise the vast sum required
to finance the project, all New York residents were
invited to invest in this adventure. This building
attracted interest because of its many formal and
programmatic features. The schematic sketch il-
lustrating the Globe Tower’s features showed that
it represented a compromise between the arche-
typal structures of tower and sphere, which, as
noted earlier, had made their first appearance at
90
Manhattan in 1853 with the Latting Observa-

tory and the Crystal Palace. Although in the
Illuminist culture, the sphere had represented a
secular alternative to the role of the cathedral, in
this case it was stripped of any metaphorical ad-
jectivation and, very pragmatically, reduced
solely to its earning potential: “...It is the Ameri-
can genius of Samuel Friede, Inventor of the
Globe Tower, to exploit the Platonic solid in a
series of strictly pragmatic steps. For him the
globe, ruthlessly subdivided into floors, is simply
a source of unlimited square footage. The larger
it is, the more immense these interior planes;
since the Globe itself will need only a Single,
negligible point of contact with the earth, the
smallest possible site will support the largest re-
claimable territory. As revealed to investors, the
tower’s blueprints show a gigantic steel planet
that has crashed onto a replica of the Eiffel Tow-
er, the whole “designed to be 700 feet high, the
largest building In the world with enormous el-
evators carrying visitors to the different
floors...”16. As planned, the tower was to occupy
a small corner of Steeplechase, rented by Tilyou
to Friede, and would contain Steeplechase,
Luna Park and Dreamland enclosed within a
single volume, each situated autonomously on its
own floor. With a total floor space 5000 times
greater than its actual footprint, the Globe Tow-
er was an explicit example of the skyscraper’s
potential to admit other worlds. A single plan-
ning exercise, providing an elementary plastic/
volumetric solution, made it possible to restore
the appropriately condensed and intensified
complexity that the experience of an extensive
area offered. By resorting to the artifice of con-
struction, it was possible to concentrate the
meaning of an entire conversation in a single
word. A new era of architecture and town plan-
ning opened up with little sign, as yet, of any
full and conscious awareness. Although this ini-
tiative turned out to be fraudulent, with even
the foundations never being completed, once
Dreamland was destroyed by fire in 1916 the
experience gained in creating the first city of
entertainment was to prove essential to under-
standing the developments that had been under
way in Manhattan since the turn of the century. Fig. 4.
If the experimental and extravagant “Technol- Life, advertise of the Skyscraper, 1909. The skyscraper
ogy of the Fantastic” defines the unconscious identifies the City with its Architecture, dooming Planning
to ratify ex-post an already manifested legitimating process
premise of a possible new urban era, further of an entrepreneurship emerging through a continuous
developments of the “Culture of Congestion” process of experimentation. In such a way practice envi-
sions unprecedented social, economical, technical and also
political possibilities, thus becoming ex-ante a theory by
itself, then transformed into a “retroactive manifesto”. Archi-
tecture is not simply a representation of new driving forces,
claiming a role in the society, through a great Gesture, but,
even more, its operational institutionalization.
leading to the skyscraper were linked to the con- ture less an act of foresight than before and plan-
91

vergence of three factors: the possibility of re- ning an act of only limited prediction...”18. The
producing the world artificially, assimilation of skyscraper became a factor in the promotion of a
the archetype of the tower, and the triumph of new approach to urban planning. The technology
the city block, in other words, identification with of the fantastic employed in Manhattan was then
Manhattan’s infrastructure grid model, to encom- translated into a technology of pragmatism at the
pass it within a new architectural entrepreneur- service of property investors to be immediately
ship. Each of these aspects played an essential exploited through a sheer act of Architecture,
role, naturally taking account of the contribution weakening Planning as a discipline and dooming
of technological innovation, which made it pos- it to play an edge role for the time being.
sible to exploit to the maximum the potential of
buildings of predominantly vertical development:
“...In the era of the staircase all floors above the
second were considered unfit for commercial pur-
poses, and all those above the fifth, uninhabitable. 16
Since the 1870s in Manhattan, the elevator has Rem Koolhaas, Delirious
been the great emancipator of all horizontal sur- New York, New York, The
faces above the ground floor. Otis’ apparatus re- Monacelli Press, 1994, p.71.
17
covers the uncounted planes that have been float- Rem Koolhaas, Delirious
ing in the thin air of speculation and reveals their New York, New York, The
Nicola Marzot
superiority in a metropolitan paradox: the greater Monacelli Press, 1994, p.82.
the distance from the earth, the closer the com- 18
Rem Koolhaas, Delirious
munication with what remains of nature (i.e” light New York, New York, The
and air). The elevator is the ultimate self-fulfilling Monacelli Press, 1994, p.85.
prophecy: the further It goes up, the more unde-
sirable the circumstances it leaves behind...”17. It
was also clear that the lift, through synergy with
the steel load-bearing structure, could almost
indefinitely repeat the space corresponding to
the reference parcel. This perspective is clearly
outlined in a 1909 comic strip, in which the po-
tential performances of the skyscraper are clearly
identified (Fig.4). A steel framework supports 84
floors, each of which retains the dimensions of
the original plot. Each floor contains accommo-
dation that differs in style and social aspiration
with no interference whatsoever from adjoining
floors. There is clear paradox in the idea of a sin-
gle building whose life is in reality fragmented
into a countless series of incompatible episodes
while the steel structure guarantees a minimum
of unity without interfering with the intended use
of the individual buildings it houses. The latter
can be continually updated without the need for
any work on the structural framework. The town
planning consequences of such potentialities are
immediately underlined by Koolhaas: “...In terms
of urbanism, this indeterminacy means that a
particular site can no longer be matched with any
single predetermined purpose. From now on each
metropolitan lot accommodates - in theory at
least an unforeseeable and unstable combination
of simultaneous activities, which makes architec-
C O N C LU S I O N existence of a proper language, and the so-called
92
In Aldo Rossi’s thinking, it seems to be evident themes act as its “figures of speech”. This state-
how urban transformation becomes a simple ment seems therefore a major achievement with
pretext to define the “form” (from the old Greek respect to the ambiguity prompted by Aldo Rossi,
εìδος, eidos) as the grounding principle of the city where form tends to identify with nature, paying
and its architecture. The so-called “primary ele- a direct homage to the culture of the Enlighten-
ments” are trans-scalar configurations, or logi- ment and, even more, to Platonism. In fact, on
cal principles, that preserve their inner stability a closer watch at the character of the selected
independently from any “urban fact”, change or “themes”, forms play with practice, as well con-
programmatic substitution which have become cepts seem to derive from a related experience,
all-encompassing universal aspects affecting hu- more implicitly focusing on drivers of change. If
man behavior. However, the evidence of “primary architecture is therefore intentionally intended
elements” results from ‘real’ traces of architectur- as a “discourse” on something built, in Ungers’
al “reprogramming”, due to the falling into decay terms that “something” refers to the birth of the
of the so-called “urban facts”, being consequently language as such, whose truth seems to be buried
doomed to abandonment. This disinterest for the in the etymology of the used words/figures. In
subjective responsibility of the entire process is both cases, however, the prejudicial search for an
a quite contradicting aspect. Furthermore, the enduring rationality, is inherent to form itself. It
author neither questioned the possibility of hav- is not questioned at all, nor leaving space for any
ing architecture and the city, nor doubts the in- critical discussion about the valuable role of con-
tentionality underlying its process of recycling. In ventionality in design and its intentionality, but
such a way, Rossi implicitly assumes the existence simply transferred from the Planning activity to
of any “form/type” as a “metaphysical entity”, the architectural one, always affected by an “ob-
assimilated to something that is already given, ject oriented” perspective. Furthermore, Ungers
independently from the existence of the subject. seems to be more interested on “what architec-
Thus, this becomes the ambiguous “environ- ture should tell” then about “what architecture
ment”, derived from De Saussure’s definition of tells”, overemphasizing its meta-narrative quality.
an all-encompassing Langue, into whose horizon In Rem Koolhaas’ position, paradoxically, Co-
the possibilities to act of the subject are already ney Island represents the “real” field of endless
somehow “inscribed” and of which, even more, exploration of possibilities that are inhibited in
the “artifacts/morphologies” are simple interpre- the “fictional” Manhattan by the prejudicial over-
tations19. Form, therefore, becomes independent whelming control of the Grid and its zoning prin-
from any transient aspect regarding the urban ciples. In that respect, the former manifests the
phenomenon, whether it is material or functional. “urban unconsciousness” which doesn’t inhabit
In that perspective, it replaces the role Planning anymore the latter’s abstract rationality. To let ex-
was claiming through its zoning principles and perimentation to take command again in the New
the myth of functionalism, intended as the una- York Island, it is necessary to hide the promoter’s
voidable premise of Modernists’ architectural real intentions. “Lobotomy” is therefore the stra-
strategy. Paradoxically, the subject, or the “agent tegic “Troian Horse”, instrumental to graft back
of change” seems to be alienated from a suppos- life into the hollow body of the existing city, not
edly universal set of rules which is preexisting, being explicit about his intentions.
intended as a rational “natural equipment” to op- In such a way life is expected to progressively
erate with, not being responsible at all of its com- consume form within the fictional representa-
ing into existence. tion of New York, substituting its role through a
On an apparently similar horizon, Ungers deliberately “delirious” architecture, constantly
focuses on the “life of form”, investigating its exceeding its preconceived role and limitations,
dynamics through space and time. However, we ultimately becoming a city in itself. Life and
would not give justice to his position if not con- Form are, therefore, contradicting but comple-
sidering the emphasis put on the identification mentary aspects of the same urban phenomenon.
between “form” and the level of representation. According to Rem Koolhaas, Form emerges as
In that perspective, architecture intentionally the temporary ideal state of the endless becoming
becomes a rhetorical exercise, which is clearly al- of urban life, which is always unpredictable in its
lusive to something else, happening prior to the appearance, while stability is the self-reflective re-
sult of the programmatic instability of any experi- 19
93

enced phenomenon (Fig.5). Manhattanism becomes Aldo Rossi, by stressing the
importance of the autonomy
the way through which the disappearance of the of architecture in the defini-
“processual quality” of life, because of Modernity, tion of the city’s form, tend-
is therefore finally avenged, resulting the grounded to underestimate the
ing principle of Form itself. In that respect, we role played by the drivers of
change, somehow leaving
can assume that Rem Koolhaas’ thinking is clear- it apparently implicit. We do
ly a “process driven” perspective of investigation consider that, by empha-
of the city. As such, it can still be used nowadays sizing the latter aspect, it
as a promising device to critically intervene within would improve the consist-
ency of Rossi’s approach,
existing material conditions, as it had been hap- casting on it a new light.
pening before. It supports the traditional local
“common rationality”, socially instituted, which
later has been confronted with the “universal ra-
tionality”, “naturally instituted” by the modern
criticism on the bourgeoisie society and embodied
by the Plan.
Nicola Marzot
Fig. 5.
OMA/ Rem Koolhaas, competition for the Très Grande
Bibliothèque, Paris, 1989. Sequence of plans. Through Big-
ness all scales, or relational level of complexity, blur into an
intentional state of indeterminacy, where fragments of an
ideal “bubble diagram”, operational metaphor of a Function-
alism reduced to a “landscape of ruins”, are glued together
through the sheer repetition of floors and walls. The refer-
ence to the Córdoba’s Mosque is evident, but turned inside
out. In fact there, the Islamic space for worship is polarized
and re-oriented by the construction of a Christian Cathe-
dral, and then transformed into its sheltered “sacratum”
or churchyard. Christian supremacy is established by sub-
verting the existing and not by removing it. Here, the in-
tentionally isolated parts are framed into an ever-changing
tridimensional isotropic system, with respect to which they
potentially tend to become floating islands.
References
94
Aymonino, C., Brusatin, M., Fabbri, Muratori, S. (1959/60) Studi per

G., Lena, M., Lovero, P., Luci- una operante storia urbana di
anetti, S. and Rossi, A. (1970) Venezia (Istituto Poligrafico
La città di Padova (Officina, dello Stato, Roma).
Roma). Muratori, S. (1963) Studi per una
Aureli, P. V. (2011) The possibility operante storia urbana di
of an Absolute Architecture Roma (Centro Studi di Storia
(The MIT Press, Cambridge, Urbanistica, Roma).
London). Oswalt, P., Overmeyer, K, Mis-
Biraghi, M. (2013) Project of selwitz, P. (2013) Urban cata-
Crisis: Manfredo Tafuri and lyst. The power of Temporary
Contemporary Architecture Use (DOM publishers, Berlin).
(The MIT Press, Cambridge, Poëte, M. (1929) Introdution a
London). l’urbanism: l’évolution des
Caniggia, G. and Maffei, G.L. villes, la leçon de l’Antiquité
(1979) Composizione architet- (Boivin, Paris).
tonica e tipologia edilizia Rossi, A. (1966) L’architettura del-
1.Lettura dell’edilizia di base la città (Marsilio, Padova).
(Marsilio Editori, Venezia). Tafuri, M. (1976) Architecture and
Conzen, M.R.G. (1969) Alnwick, Utopia. Design and Capitalist
Northumberland. A study in Development (The MIT Press,
town-plan analysis (Institute of Cambridge, London).
British Geographers, London). Ungers, O.M. (1982) Architecture
Durand, J.N.L. (1809) Précis des as theme (Electa, Milano).
leçons d’architecture données
à l’École royale polytechnique
(École royale polytechnique,
Paris).
Koolhaas, R. (1978) Delirious New
York. A Retroactive Manifesto
for Manhattan (The Monacelli
Press, New York)
Lavedan, P. (1926) Qu’est-ce que
l’urbanism? (A. Taffin-Lefort,
Paris).
Le Corbusier (1945) Manière de
penser l’urbanisme (Éditions
de l’Architecture d’aujourd’hui,
Boulogne-sur-Seine)
Marzot, N. (2004) ‘Het onderzoek
van de stedelijke vorm in Ital-
ië’, OverHolland 1,72-90.
Marzot, N. (2006) ‘VeMa and the
model of the City Network’,
in Purini, F., Marzot, N. and
Sacchi, L. (ed.) The new city
Italia-y-26. Welcome to VeMa
(Editrice Compositori, Bolo-
gna) 19-20.
Marzot, N. (2013) ‘Modernism
against History. Understanding
Building Typology and Urban
Morphology among Italian
Architects in the Twentieth
Century’, in Larkham, P.J. and
Conzen, M. P. (ed.) Shapers of
Urban Form. Explorations in
Morphological Agency (Rout-
ledge, New York and London)
219-229.
Marzot, N. (2014) ‘Beyond the
typological discourse. The
creation of the architectural
language and the type as a
project in the western modern
city’, unpublished PhD thesis,
University of Delft, The Neth-
erlands.

Rossi, Ungers and Koolhaas

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

Rossi, Ungers and Koolhaas

Uploaded by

Document Information

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

Rossi, Ungers and Koolhaas

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

Delft University of Technology

Rossi, Ungers and Koolhaas

This work is downloaded from Delft University of Technology.

13 Susanne Komossa AR C H ITE C TU R AL

C O M PLE X A R C H ITE C TU R E &

From Unité to Jussieu;

Design Edition 2015/2016 revised

Editors: Susanne Komossa, Esther

Reviewers: Patrick Healy and

We thank Frank van der Hoeven for

Design: Hans Gremmen, Amsterdam

Copyright © 2017 the authors

This work is licensed under a

Nicola Marzot (Imola,1965) He works internationally as Masters Teaching

Architectural Composition & Public Building

Architectural Composition & Public Building

expressed “entities” are implicitly presumed to TH R E E C A N O N I C A L P OS ITI O N S

Architectural Composition & Public Building

Architectural Composition & Public Building

Architecture and Planning

Architectural Composition & Public Building

helped comprehend important aspects of Mor- A R C H ITE C TU R E A S A

Architectural Composition & Public Building

of opposites” enables Ungers to remind us that

Architectural Composition & Public Building

Architectural Composition & Public Building

Architectural Composition & Public Building

Manhattan in 1853 with the Latting Observa-

Architectural Composition & Public Building

Architectural Composition & Public Building

Aymonino, C., Brusatin, M., Fabbri, Muratori, S. (1959/60) Studi per

You might also like