terra non firma

another departure: hong kong's "architecture of density"

no one could ever accuse LA of "density" unless you're talking about some of the mimbo's I've encountered in west LA. but wanted to point to this photography exhibit about hong kong's increasingly dense neighborhoods. I dont know if the exhibit will come to LA, especially since its a private gallery and not a museum exhibiting the work, but I encourage you to check out the photos online. The images are fairly explicit representations of what koolhaas has termed "The Generic City":

the city liberated from the captivity of center, from the straitjacket of identity….It is the city without history.

Koolhaas believes the Generic City is everywhere, but in S, M, L XL cites a disproportionate number in Asia (clearly Hong Kong qualifies). what is surprising in his examination of the generic city, is his hopefullness. rather than lamenting an increased homogenization of aesthetics or style, he argues that

the architecture of the Generic City is by definition beautiful. Built at incredible speed, and conceived at even more incredible pace, there is an average of 27 aborted versions for every realized – but that is not quite the term – structure.

The photos of Michael Wolf (not to be confused with the author of The Entertainment Economy and the former columnist at New York Mag) are koolhaas' theory writ large (no pun intended).

posted by marissa @ 6:50 PM