Embracing Junkspace in The Age of Globalization

Makhnevich 1
Arthur Makhnevich Professor Keslacy ARC 5623 9 October 2011
Embracing Junkspace in the Age of Globalization "Junkspace is what remains after modernization has run its course or, more precisely, what coagulates while modernization is taking place, its fall-out."1 In his published article Junkspace, Rem Koolhaas, argues that today in the age of globalization architecture has become infested with unusable space, or wasted space, due to constant innovation and the pursuit of instant gratification instead of the goals for future use. This phenomenon is evident in places such as airports, malls, chain shops, movie theaters, and supermarkets, or as Hans Ibelings calls them, the "Non-Places"2 (Ibelings), in his book titled Supermodernism. There seems to be a lot of similarities between the non-place and junkspace, for instance, they are both regarded as negative spaces within built form, places that are not totally necessary, but somehow they exist there for either commercial profit, or bad-thought process. There seems to be no escape from this negativity in the age of globalization, because more and more structures are constructed everyday that follow the same thought process and formula that leads to those non-places. However, what if we started to embracing those junkplaces, and think in advanced about them, incorporating them into new architecture? Will that create a more positive outcome?
Koolhaas, Rem. "Junkspace." A + U Special Issue: OMA (May 2000): 136 Ibelings, Hans. Supermodernism: Architecture in the Age of Globalization. Rotterdam: Simon Franke (2002): 65.
Makhnevich 2
If there was such a building that takes into consideration junkspace and incorporates it into the design program, allowing for the potential future re-use of non-place, then this building without a doubt would be the Seattle Public Library (Figure 1-2), designed by Rem Koolhaas, OMA. From early on in the design process, OMA dissected the program in such a way that they were able to incorporate spaces for future use by the library, without even knowing what their future use will be, therefore, allowing for junkspace to exist in the building as a dormant being, that will someday awaken to find its purpose. In order to accommodate those non-places, OMA decided to create platforms for stable (fixed) and unstable (junkspace) areas. The fixed, stable areas can be described as spaces that will most likely not change in the future, those areas are the headquarters, the bookshelf spiral, the meeting rooms, the staff areas and parking lot. Then those platforms were elevated, creating voids and incorporating junkspaces / non-spaces sandwiched between the stable areas (Figure 3-4). To unite the stable and unstable areas, a skin was added that wraps them into one entity, "Junkspace is sealed, held together not by structure, but by skin, like a bubble."3 Therefore create a perfect symbiotic relationship between stable and unstable areas. But what is a "Non-Place" and how is it possible that a newly built Seattle Public Library should even have such a space? Some might argue that it is a new building, all the spaces are used by the participants and the staff, and there is no possibility of junkspace in the future of such an innovative structure. Seattle Public Library was built with junkspace in mind, so it will be a bit difficult to explain why such a space might exist and already exists in that very library. As it is written in Supermodernism, "...a growing proportion of space lacks meaning in the
Koolhaas, Rem. "Junkspace." A + U Special Issue: OMA (May 2000): 138
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classical anthropological sense because nobody feels any attachment to it."4 No attachment, that is exactly what describes the non-place, therefore, those voids created in between stable areas in the library, are due to constant change and re-arrangement as needed by the library for future events and exhibitions. Those very changes in the unstable areas will eventually create a discontinuity or the collapse of attachment the participants and the staff had with that space, because that space will now look different to them. The previous attachments they had with the space, for instance, the view from a window in that particular spot, will be gone, all that will remain is the memory of previous arrangement. Just like an airport, shopping mall, fast-food chain, so is the library of the future, all this buildings are spaces that are subject to constant rearrangement due to economical and social factors, and once you form an attachment to a place, you might lose that attachment the second time you come to a place that was rearranged to meet new demands, to satisfy new economical formula, to meet new profits, to meet new technologies, the change will make you want to go back to the way it was before, but it's impossible, the junkspace takes over and the only way to live in the future is to embrace that non-place, and to think in advanced of incorporating it into the future designs.
Ibelings, Hans. Supermodernism: Architecture in the Age of Globalization. Rotterdam: Simon Franke (2002): 65.
Makhnevich 4
Figure 1 Seattle Public Library - Exterior.
Figure 2 Seattle Public Library - Junkspace.
Figure 3 Seattle Public Library - Fixed / Stable spaces.
Figure 4 Seattle Public Library - Unstable / Junkspaces.
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Works Cited
Ibelings, Hans. Supermodernism: Architecture in the Age of Globalization. Rotterdam: Simon Franke, 2002. Koolhaas, Rem. "Junkspace." A + U Special Issue: OMA (May 2000): 16-24.

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What is junkspace and how does it relate to non-places?

How does the Seattle Public Library address issues of junkspace and non-places in its design?

Makhnevich 1

Arthur Makhnevich Professor Keslacy ARC 5623 9 October 2011

Koolhaas, Rem. "Junkspace." A + U Special Issue: OMA (May 2000): 138

Figure 1 Seattle Public Library - Exterior.

Figure 2 Seattle Public Library - Junkspace.

Figure 3 Seattle Public Library - Fixed / Stable spaces.

Figure 4 Seattle Public Library - Unstable / Junkspaces.

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