The purpose of this study is to clarify influences of the radical theory of city shown in theories and projects of Situationist International , the last avant-garde political art group actively worked in 1950s and 1960s, and to make clear interrelatio...
The purpose of this study is to clarify influences of the radical theory of city shown in theories and projects of Situationist International , the last avant-garde political art group actively worked in 1950s and 1960s, and to make clear interrelations with situationists especially by a comparative analysis with the theory of architecture and city of Rem Koolhaas, the most active architect for modern architecture.
The theories of situationists include spectacle, d?tournement, psychogeographym and drift, and the project carried out with such theories and strategies is unitary urbanism. The situationists were cardinally socialistic political parties. They criticized consumption culture of a capitalistic society and tried to reconstitute cities with humanistic views by overturning cities encroached by capital. The unitary urbanism with such purposes is shown in <Guide psychog?ographique de Paris>, <The Naked City> and <New Babylon>, and their strategies, d?tournement, psychogeography and drift were realized in the project.
Their strategies for creation of new city involve rather subjective and individual perspectives. As situationists claim importance of 'daily life' of city and present 'events' as the determinant for atmosphere of city, situationists objected genealogical orders of rational functionalism in modernism and form determinism and insisted flexible theory of city receptive of change.
The theory of city influences modern theory of city. Modern theory of city after the modernism focuses on combination of elements such as events, cultural meanings and landscape images in city; in particular, it discusses psychological views of residents to an important element. The situationists' extended view towards applying unquantifiable elements as 'daily life' and 'events' on the theory of city embodied more specifically in architecture of Koolhaas.
The architecture theory of Koolhaas is represented by Manhattanism and Bigness. His architectural grounds based on mixed-uses of various elements of philosophical backgrounds and modern scientific theories including fl?ner of Charles-Pierre Baudelaire, the image of city of Walter Benjamin, concept of events and rhizome by Gilles Deleuze. The realizations of such philosophical and scientific theories in architectures are shown with methodologies of indeterminacy, nonlinear, juxtaposition of heterogeneous programs and architectural scenarios. In the process of actualization, the interrelations with situationists can be inferred from his architectural concepts within the projects.
The interrelations of situationists and Koolhaas can be summarized to the following. The first is the view on culture of modern consumption shown in essays written by Koolhaas. In Whatever Happened to Urbanism? and Generic City, he recorded changes of growing modern cities by capitalism as they are. Especially the part in Junk Space ,he mentioned that the shopping culture of modern capitalistic society is rapidly invading architecture. It reminds of Society of Spectacle by Guy Debord.
Second, varied forms of Russian constructivism projects he was influenced by shown in his works show much similarity with d?tournement of situationists. D?tournement is development of the original to extreme use until the meaning of the original is diluted and overturned. The elements of Russian constructivism shown in works of Koolhaas newly appear in his works as if they originally belong to him.
Third, He often used nonlinear circulation system in his works. This appearance of architectural walker is closely related with drift of situationists. A mazelike circulation system created in his architectures is similar to a person spontaneously plays and enjoys in New Babylon by a situationist, Benjamin Constant.
Fourth, the relation between psychogeography and architectural scenarios is described. The attempts of situatiniosts to emotionally rediscover established cities were reinterpreted as creation of situations with collision of events and acts in composition of architectural scenarios with the juxtaposition of heterogeneous programs by Koolhaas.
As explained above, the purpose of this study analyzing modern theory of city with works of Situationits International is to look over cultural and historical nutritive elements of architecture to stabilize architectural concepts and to enrich terms of architecture.