Architecture is a hazardous mixture of omnipotence and impotence. It is by definition a c h a o t i c a d v e n t u r e... In other words, the utopian enterprise.
Rem KoolhaasRead
People can inhabit anything. And they can be miserable in anything and ecstatic in anything. More and more I think that architecture has nothing to do with it. Of course, that's both liberating and alarming.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The experience of individuals in a space is independent of the architecture itself.
Rem Koolhaas suggests that our emotional states—whether we feel joy or despair—are not solely determined by our physical environment. This thought can be both liberating, as it implies personal agency, and alarming, as it confronts the notion that architecture can inherently improve our well-being.
Themes
ArchitectureEmotionExperienceLiberationAgency
In practice
Example use cases
This quote could be used in a lecture on the emotional impact of design in urban planning.
More from Rem Koolhaas
All quotes →What is now called 'green architecture' is an opportunistic caricature of a much deeper consideration of the issues related to sustainability that architecture has been engaged with for many years. It was one of the first professions that was deeply concerned with these issues and that had an intellectual response to them.
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The acceptance of certain realities doesn't preclude idealism. It can lead to certain breakthroughs.
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Architecture is a dangerous mix of power and importance.
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Japan lives with drastic segregation between the sublime, the ugly, and the utterly without qualities. Dominance of the last 2 categories makes mere presence of the first stunning: when beauty 'happens', it is absolutely surprising.
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We live in an almost perfect stillness and work with incredible urgency.
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