Here again, we easily distinguish REX’s operation to comb, consolidate, and identify a set of programmatic clusters designed with different purposes: a 5,000 m² contemporary art centre; 3,400 m² of studios, glass shop, and gallery for the University of Louisville’s Master of Fine Arts program; a 250-room Westin Hotel; 98 luxury condominiums; 117 lofts; 25,000 m² of office space on 13 floors; 1,860 m² of restaurants and shops; underground parking garage for 800 cars.
The final result is a 214-meter-tall, 62-story skyscraper, displaying another distinctive and iconic figure which participates in what Koolhaas describes as: “an archipelago of cities in the city”. One might see a collection of traditional skyscrapers placed on top of each other above a traditional urban pattern, but in reality, even if the Museum Plaza doesn’t revise the superposition of floors in the typical American high-rise -in the same way as the Seattle Library- this project is a beautiful and inventive variation on the classic skyscraper; a new vision of skyscraper. The Museum Plaza will doubtless redefine the Louisiana skyline and certainly change the way architects, urbanists, and engineers shall think about tomorrow’s new high-rises and the process of urbanization.
What if a building could shape itself depending on the context where it is built!
This statement might be hard to understand in a physical world, but let’s assume, for instance, that it is a theoretical problem. In fact, a building always has to respond to certain constraints due to the context wherein it is inscribe. Indeed, streets, surrounding buildings, municipalities’ rules and codes, topography, the program of the building (its use), etc. are the tip of the iceberg of what an architect has to deal with when he is designing a building.
In 2006, I participated at the NKS Summer School, which was a defining experience. The topic of my research was THE SPACE BETWEEN THE CELLULAR AUTOMATA: Reworking the Spatial Division in Architecture. During the last year, I continued to explore this idea and used it in various international architectural competitions entries, such as the Plan-Less House (Japan) and The Stockholm Library (Sweden).This summer, I will participate for a second time to the NKS Summer School at the University of Vermont, Burlington, Vt. During this year’s program I will advance my research by exploring Network Structures in architecture.
As Steven Wolfram argues, “Space is a giant network of nodes” we see that, as opposed to the metropolises of the twentieth century, contemporary society produces Networks of Cities. These cities work simultaneously on their internal renovation, increasing their efficiency from within, while they organize themselves territorially in the form of a NETWORK OF CITIES. Continue reading ‘Network Structures in Architecture’
