“Architects work in two ways. One is to respond precisely to a client's needs or demands. Another is to look at what the client asks and reinterpret it.” WayNeedsLooksTwoAsksDemandArchitectClientsTwo Ways Author:Rem Koolhaas
“All important architecture of the last century was strongly influenced by political systems. Look at the Soviet system, with its constructivism and Stalinism, Weimer with its Modern style, Mussolini and, of course, the Nazis and Albert Speer's colossal structures. Today's architecture is subservient to the market and its terms. The market has supplanted ideology. Architecture has turned into a spectacle. It has to package itself and no longer has significance as anything but a landmark.” LooksImportantTodayLastsPoliticalTermModernCenturyStyleStructureArchitectureIdeologySignificanceSovietNaziPackagesPolitical SystemsColossalLandmarksSubservientStalinismConstructivism Author:Rem Koolhaas
“The people from the suburbs are bringing along their suburban values: cleanliness, orderliness, safety - dullness, in other words. As a result, urban areas are being hollowed out. Just look at Times Square in New York. No more sex shops, no drugs, no homeless people. The area is clinically clean and incredibly dull.” PeopleLooksValuesSexResultsNew YorkDrugAreasSafetyCleanDullShopsSquaresUrbanHomelessSuburbsCleanlinessDullnessHomeless PeopleTimes SquareOrderlinessUrban Areas Author:Rem Koolhaas
“The real thing we tried to look at is what happens to a society when the state is absent. At that point, the state had really withdrawn from Lagos; the city was left to its own devices, both in terms of money and services. That, by definition, created an unbelievable proliferation of independent agency: each citizen needed to take, in any day, maybe 400 or 500 independent decisions on how to survive that extremely complex system.” LooksRealStatesHappensLeftTermDecisionCitiesNeededCitizensIndependentComplexesDefinitionsAgencyDevicesUnbelievableAbsentReal ThingsProliferationComplex Systems Author:Rem Koolhaas
“You need to look at inequality as a typical condition of modern society.” NeedsLooksModernConditionsInequalityTypicalModern Society Author:Rem Koolhaas
