The Last Bastion of Architecture

The essay is a critical interpretation of Rem Koolhaas' theory of Bigness. In fact, of the theories that have best marked the development of architectural culture since World War II – from those of the Smithsons to Rossi, from Eisenman to Venturi and Scott Brown – Rem Koolhaas’s theory of Bigness has probably, more than any other, investigated the intrinsic possibilities of architecture at the end of the 20th century. In light of the number of pseudotheories that have largely characterized the last decade, Bigness is the last constituent fact of recent history: an extremely lucid attempt to draw to a conclusion a history that goes back to the very invention of the modern city, comparing it with architecture’s own immutable core, its physicality, even exposing the theory of Bigness itself to the risk of total failure. The essay investigates the development of the theory of Bigness from its incubation in Koolhaas’s book Delirious New York in 1978, to the "official" presentation in S,M,L,XL in december 1995. The essay presents some parts of the PhD research "L'architettura dei libri. Progetto, scrittura, editoria nella ricerca architettonica contemporanea", developed by the author at Università degli studi G. D'Annunzio, Chieti, Facoltà di Architettura di Pescara, in 2001-2004. Log 7 Winter/Spring 2006 includes essays of Richard Anderson, Marie J. Aquilino, Amos Gitai, Pier Vittorio Aureli, Manuel Orazi, Jean-Louis Cohen, William Drenttel, Peter Eisenman, Luis Fernandez-Galiano, John Kaliski, Sabir Khan, Reinhold Martin, Gabriele Mastrigli, Deborah Richmond, Julie Rose, Paul Virilio, Eyal Weizman, Mirko Zardini. Log 7 Winter/Spring 2006 Co-edited by Denise Bratton Saggi di Richard Anderson, Marie J. Aquilino, Amos Gitai, Pier Vittorio Aureli, Manuel Orazi, Jean-Louis Cohen, William Drenttel, Peter Eisenman, Luis Fernandez-Galiano, John Kaliski, Sabir Khan, Reinhold Martin, Gabriele Mastrigli, Deborah Richmond, Julie Rose, Paul Virilio, Eyal Weizman, Mirko Zardini.