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
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.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Green architecture represents a superficial understanding of sustainability issues in architecture.
In this quote, Rem Koolhaas critiques the current trend of green architecture, suggesting that it oversimplifies the long-standing and complex discussions architecture has had regarding sustainability. He emphasizes that architecture has historically engaged with these issues on a deeper intellectual level, and the modern interpretation is merely a caricature of that rich discourse.
Themes
Green ArchitectureSustainabilityDesignEnvironmentArchitecture
In practice
Example use cases
During a lecture on modern architecture, you might quote this to highlight the evolution of sustainability in design.
More from Rem Koolhaas
All quotes →The acceptance of certain realities doesn't preclude idealism. It can lead to certain breakthroughs.
Rem KoolhaasRead
Architecture is a dangerous mix of power and importance.
Rem KoolhaasRead
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.
Rem KoolhaasRead
We live in an almost perfect stillness and work with incredible urgency.
Rem KoolhaasRead
The City is an addictive machine from which there is no escape
Rem KoolhaasRead
Similar quotes
Why should we build very large spaces when they are not necessary? We can design halls spanning several kilometres and covering a whole city, but we have to ask, what does it really make? What does society really need?
Frei OttoRead
I'm a bad customer for my own buildings! If I'm choosing an apartment, I choose one about five or six stories high so that I can see the people, the trees, and the world on the street. Beyond that, I lose contact with the ground!
Cesar PelliRead
We shape our buildings; thereafter they shape us.
Winston ChurchillRead
Architects today tend to depreciate themselves, to regard themselves as no more than just ordinary citizens without the power to reform the future.
Kenzo TangeRead
A greater focus on design in all new homes would make the best use of land, create homes and public spaces, and reinforce the structures of urban life.
Richard RogersRead
It is insufficient for architecture today to directly implement an existing building typology; it instead requires architects to carefully examine the whole area with new interventions and programmatic typologies
Zaha HadidRead