PeterEisenman

TEN
CANONICAL
BUILDINGS
1950-2000

Foreword by Stan Allen

Edit€d by Ariane Lourie

n.ro.,
\, rFrorr
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1. OfJi.ce.for
Metropolitatt Arcltiter'ttr,r',Rt',,rKrnlltaas, JtLssiettL[brafies, Pafis, 1992-9J.
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8. Strategiesof the Void

RemKoolhaas, JussieuLibraries,1992-93

If Walter Benjamin,in his famousand oft-quotedremark, said that archi-

tecture is viewed in a state of distraction,then the iconicbuilding so prev-
alent today may reflect this condition.This prominenceof iconicbuildings
relates to two factors:first, perhapsto a tendencyto treat the diagram as
an icon;second,a tendencyto apply the iconicdiagramdirectly to the prob-
lem of generating form. Much of Rem Koolhaas'searliest work explores
the diagram as a symbolicform; for example,the New York Athletic CIub
becomessymbolic of a discontinuousformal diagram. However, much of
his recent work, suchas the Seattle Public Library or the Casada Musica
in Porto, privileges the idea of an iconicdiagram in that the realizedform
of the building has a visual similitude to its diagram of functions. It can
be argued that Koolhaas's1992project for the Jussieu Libraries takes a
position between these two types of diagrams-that is, that it marks an
inflection point in Koolhaas'sshift from a symbolic to an iconic diagram,
and that this movementis registered through a critique of the diagramsof
Le Corbusierand Mies van der Rohe.Le Corbusier'sPalaisdes Congrbs-
Strasbourgwill be seento be an important precedentforJussieu,because
in section the project implies a continuity between the ground and the
roof. This sectionalcontinuity deniesthe ground as a datum by suggest-
ing that the ground is conceivedas a malleablefabric, capableof being
pulled up to meet the roof. In seekingto producea diagram that is differ-
entiated from that of Le Corbusier without resorting to classicalpoch6,
Koolhaasuses the void, which is conceivedas an inversion of poch6,as
a conceptualarmature in a series of projects leading up to the Jussieu
Libraries. While architects such as Luigi Moretti sought to solidify the
void, Koolhaas instead seeks to capture its energ"yby conceptualizing
202
2. OMA, Missrori Gmnde A.te, La Defatse, Paris, 1991.
the void as a latent force contained between
layers ofsolid floors."Strategy ofthe Void" is the
title of Koolhaas'sstatementfor his T[ds Grande
Bibliothdquecompetitionentry (1989),in which
he describesthe library as a solid stack from
u'hich volumes are can'ed: "The major public
spacesare definedas absencesofbuilding, voids
carved out of the information solid." Void thus
becomespoch6,as a cutting into both the build-
ing and urban fabric. In adaptingKoolhaas'stitle
to "Strategiesof the Void" for an analysisof the
Jussieu Libraries, this chapter argues that the
project conceivesthe void not only as a critique
of modernist precedents,but also as a meansto
rethink the relationshipbetu'eenthe subjectand
the object of architecture,and ultimately to sug-
gest anotherform of closereading.
Koolhaasframes the Jussieuproject in the
context of its Paris university campus,the expan-
sion of which had been initially tmncated by the
student uprisingsof May 1968.Koolhaasbelongs
to a generationof architectswho describebeing
powerfully affected by the events of 1968and the
literary and cultural theories generated in its
wake. These challengedthe humanistic notion of
the subjectand the modernistnotion ofthe object
as a part of a rational whole. While the work of a
Jrtssieu Librarie-.
3. Le Corbusier,Unitdd'Habitation,Marseilles,1946.
prior generation, including Venturi, Rossi, and
Stirling, used strategies of fragmentation and
materiality to critique the modernist idea of the
whole, the fragment cannot help but to recall an
absent "whole," and in that sense maintains, at
least in concept,a traditional parb-to-wholerela-
tionship. The post-1968generation engagedin
a different idea of the part-to-whole dialectic,
which reflected alternative ways to view the sub-
ject, drawing on structuralist and poststructural-
ist theory. For example, Jacques Lacan's notion
of the split subject and the developmentof the
conscioussubject as a function of its projected/
reflected image suggestsa different idea of part-
to-whole in the context ofthe subject/objectrela-
tionship. The split subject is no longer considered
a fragmentary parb of a whole, and the conceptof
"wholeness"becomesincreasinglyuntenable.
A secondaspectofKoolhaas'sstrategaofthe
void involves creating situations which introduce
a voyeuristic gaze and in which the voided space
both blocksdirect vision and revealssupposedly
hidden elements. Koolhaas,like Le Corbusier
before him, presents a didactic image of a hand
lifting up a corner of the ground. For Koolhaas,
this image suggeststhat the surface is malleable
and pliable, that it is no longer specificallyrelated
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to the ground, and that it partakes in a vertical
continuum. More importantly, in Iifting up the
city's fabric, a hidden aspectof its infrastr-ucture
is revealed as an underlying object.
With his first book, Delirious Neu York
(1978), Koolhaas presents a radical conception
of an architecture using the New York Athletic
Club as a model. It is not a traditional diagram of
function, but is rather a diagram symbolic of the
dismantling of the traditional physical contiguity
of part-to-whole relationships. For Koolhaas,the
New York Athletic Club diagram proposesan idea
of discontinuity in its questioning of traditional
functional adjacencyrelationships.Koolhaassug-
gests that the presenceof the elevator deniesthe
need for contiguous functional relationships in a
skyscraper such as the New York Athletic Club,
whose stacked functional layers happen to be
physically contiguous,yet there is neither func-
tional need nor meaningin their physical contigu-
ity. Such a diagram, one that presents what can
be calledcontiguousdiscontinuity,also appearsin
Koolhaas'sentry for the 1982Parc de La Villette
competition in Paris. One of Koolhaas'smost dia-
grammaticprojects,the park is depictedasa series
of horizontal programmatic strips. La Villette's
didactic plan places a strip of theme parks next
5. OMA,Parc deLa ViLlettemode\,Paris, 1982.
to a strip of playgrounds,and a strip of discovery
gardens beside a strip of museums.These func-
tional conditions do not require such contiguous
spatial relationships. In envisioning the ground
plane as a series of strips, Koolhaas'sLa Villette
proposalbreaks with a figure/ground urbanism to
proposea montageof programmatic lateral bands
linked by the strong vertical ofa proposedprome-
nade.This is a clear echoof the New York Athletic
Club's discreteprogrammatic layers linked by the
elevator.This leads Koolhaasto suggestthat not
only the isolated building but also the field of the
city can be rethought, beginning with the very
distribution ofthe ground itself.
This denialof thegroundasadatumbeginsto
appear in Koolhaas'sproject for the ThdsGrande
Bibliothbque in 1993, which furbher develops
Koolhaas'sdiagram of contiguous discontinuity
in the section of the building. The library is con-
ceivedin section,not as a seriesof free plans,but
as a vertical stacking of differentiated horizontal
planes that do not share a contiguity of program
from one level to the other. Only the structural
grid links the floors, but in pragmatic and not the-
oretical terms. While it could be argued that the
Tbds Grande Bibliothdque's nine main columns
are otgatizing elements, these columns are not

6. OllA. Tt'e"(lraiidtLliltlirlltlqrre.
(ontpetition
nlodel,Pafis,
thematicof a free l)lan in that they do not pro-
viclea l'e€rulal'backdlop fol the figuration of free
forms. Koolhaasdeniesthe thematicof the col-
umns, rvhich rlisapl)ealan(l l'eappearrandomly,
dependingon ho\\-the.r'intersectu'ith the walls.
This structurals.r'stem alsocouklbe seenas
a critique of Mies'sumbrelladiaglam.Large X-
shapedcolumnsat the baseof the Tlbs Grande
Bibliothdque createa gianttmss that supportsthe
building.WhereasMies hung his buildingsoff of a
truss,as in Ct'orvnHall and the \ational Gallery
in Berlin, Koolhaaslrlacesthe truss under the
building,reversing Mies'sumblella diagram.The
spacesfor the library stacksof the Ti'ds Grande
Bibliothbqueare organizeclarounclthe structure
with a discontinuity reminiscentof La Villette,
while the circulationis treated as a seriesof fig-
ured objects,much like Le Corbusier'sramp at
Strasbourg.Rather than the flools, it is the ele-
ments of circulation which are given form-and
as cuts in the floors,or holesthat punch through
walls, these voids capture the figured energy of
the project. Horvever, there remains a formal
nerimeter conditionthat is maintainedin a classi-
, I u s s i e uL i l r r a l i e s
1998.
cal frontispiece,which distinguishesthe project's
back from the front and differentiates the front
from the sides.The figured energiesof the proj-
ect's diagonals,horizontal cuts, and plans never
disrupt the clear geometric boundary of the
building'sedge.This conditionis onenot so much
of floor levels,but rather becomesa matrix of vol-
umesthat do not obey any horizontaldatum.
The 1990 project for a convention center
at Agadir, Morocco,presents a critique of the
horizontal extension of space proposed by Le
Corbusier with his Maison Dom-ino diagram.
While the Maison Dom-ino Iocatedthe individ-
ual in relationshipto a larger context, Koolhaas
establishesthe interrelationship of individuals
as a kind of free play of the individual in space
and time. Agadir presentsan intermediary step
between the T[ds Grande Bibliothdqueand the
JussieuLibraries. Instead of a horizontalcontin-
uum there are three possible sectional interpre-
tations:one,the ground becomesmodulated;two,
the sectional space becomesmodulated where
the ground rises substantially in the section;and
three, the horizontalis no longer a continuum.In
-
Jussieu Libraries
7. OMA, Palm Bay Sealront Conaention Center, Agadia md.el, Marocco, 7990.
the first, the ground is no longer a datum, and
the roof is no longer part of a ground/floor/roof
continuum, but becomes something else. This
is neither the umbrella diagram of Mies nor the
horizontal continuum of Le Corbusier. Rather, it
manifests an energy that causes an undulation
in section. Agadir is no longer the didactic hori-
zontal continuum of Cartesian x- and y-axes but
rather proposes a figured section where the hori-
zontal is a figured void cut out ofan equally figured
solid poch6.
Koolhaas introduces a horizontal distur-
bancein section as a dominant mode of discourse
rather than the vertical extrusion typical of
classical architecture and present in the work
of postwar American architects such as Louis
Kahn. The modulation of section creates condi-
tions in which spacecan be occupiedby a subject
who may become a voyeur while hidden from
the view ofanother subjeet and vice versa. The
resultant coup d,'oeil and peripheral views shift
the focus of opticality from the physical object
to the subject, who looks through, around,
beneath,above,and at spaces,becomingpart of
205
a different kind of spatial relationship between
subject and object. This imitation of a voyeuris-
tic spaceis what Jeffrey Kipnis callsaperforma-
tiae discourse.
While the Jussieu Libraries project of
1992-93 is essentially a vertical project, the
warped floors signal an evolution from Agadir.
Yet unlike Agadir, whose warped floor remains
horizontal, the floors at Jussieu are warped in
section to the extent that floors rise to touch
the floor of the next level. The floors become a
series of continuous surfaceswhich tilt from the
horizontal. Conceptually the circulation and the
floor levels becomea continuous surface, yet the
project retains a discontinuous relationship in
terms of a Cartesian axiality. No longer is the
subject in a one-to-onerelationship with another
subject but, becauseof the inclined planes, it
views other subjects-and is viewed by them-
as objects. There are spaces in Jussieu which
allow a voyeuristie tendency to take place. This
manipulation of the visual field begins with the
Jussieu Libraries and continues, for example, in
the Seattle Library.
206
8. OMA, JussieuLibraries.sectiondrawinq.
The unfolded section of the Jussieu
Libraries competitionentry becomesa critique
of Koolhaas'searlier Nelr' \brk Athletic Club
diagram, and producesan entirely new diagram
that focuseson the internal continuity of sur-
faces.The diagrammaticicon of circulation now
becomesliteral circulation.The sectionsalsosug-
gest that the only real volumesin the building are
the interstitial spacesbetr+'eenfloors.Theseare
boundedas figures by the bou'and bend of the
floor planes,and in that sensecan be viewed as
residual, while the linking of circulation with the
floor planes suggests that a diagram of circula-
tion is its governing form.
At Jussieu,as in the Tlds Grande Biblio-
thdque, Koolhaas retains aspects of classical
architectural notation, such as the differentiation
of the building's front, back, and sides.The differ-
ential betweenthe building'ssides,one of which
appearsalmost eatenaway by interior voids while
others are mostly intact, also maintains the clas-
sicallegibility of front and back. Finally, the open-
JussieuLibraries
ing provided by a type of porte-cochdre,a portico-
like element marking the transition from exterior
to interior at ground level, twists up through the
project, seemingly autonomous from the build-
ing's formal organization.
The cross section of the Jussieu Libraries
expressesthe discontiguousrelationships of pro-
gram, and the continuity of the ramped floors
producesan entirely other section,no longer the
stacked layers of the New York Athletic Club or
La Villette. The sectionreveals that the only vol-
umes in the buildings are trapped voids, intersti-
tial spacesbetween floors, which are not continu-
ous. The drawings reflect a new ethos of percep-
tion, and suggest a departure from architecture
as a product of closeattention. Koolhaas'sstrate-
gies of the void are important,linking the issueof
the void-present in the postwar work of Moretti
and Venturi-to new methods of working that
confront questions about parb-to-wholerelation-
ships,inattention versus closeattention, disjunc-
tion versus fragmentation.
Jussieu Libraries
These voided elements,which are rendered
as gTay solids in the large competition model,
cannot be read as purely poch6, nor as purely
figure, because they are residual spaces cre-
ated by the continuity ofthe floor planes.These
darkened segments emphasize the connections
between levels, allowing the horizontal to be read
as a continuousflow which is only intermpted by
the gray elements.The energy,whether it is reg-
istered in different shapes,horizontal cuts, spi-
rals, or ramping floors, doesnot disturb the edge.
This contrasts with the edge stress of cubist
painting and the centrifugal stress of Venturi's
and Moretti's work. At Jussieu, there is neither
a centrahzed stress, nor a stress at the edge.
Rather, the stress is diffused; it appears in the
different layers of the object, particularly when
the only centralizing figure is clearly thrown
off center, but not enough to be seen as moving
toward the edge. The energies which figure the
voids are equidistant from the edge and from the
center, carefully balanced in a kind of dynamic
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equilibrium. The void produces a spaceof unre-
solvedtension between center and edge.It is this
irresolution that introduces what has been called
here the idea of undecidability. Similarly, while
there appearsto be little continuity to the circula-
tion, it remains containedwithin its cubic frame-
work the floor and the circulation are joined as a
single element.The JussieuLibraries becomethe
model for many of the later projects, including the
Seattle Library the Casada Musicain Porto, and
the Dutch Embassy in Berlin, all by Koolhaas.It
becomesclear that the influencesof the diagrams
of Le Corbusier and Mies are inverted, and are
transformed into figured, volumetric, objectlike
elementsas "strategies of the void."
The critique that begins with Strasbourg
and the lessons learned in the Tbds Grande
Bibliothbque and at Agadir coalesce in the
warped sections and figured voids of Jussieu.
Yet the critical and theoretical arguments con-
densedin Jussieu'smodel, drawings, and section
give way to an increasingly iconic use of the dia-
 JusEieuLibraries

gram by Koolhaasat tlre Seattle Public Library

andatthe CasadaMugicafiresebuildings adopt
a visual similitude with the ideaspositedin their
diagrams.Becausethe diagramof discontinuous
layers of program retains a visual similitude to
the anchitecturalform, Koolhaas'swork beginsto
suggestanotherattitude toward closereading.
Iilhenthe rcadingofthe diagramapproaches
the reading of the building, closereading is no
longernecessar5z \ilhile this maynot bethe casein
Jussieu,certainlytfte projectsthat folloq Seattle
and Porto, seemto belie tlese earlier directions.
They give up closereadingfor the immediary of
shapeand a monepopularappeaLthe diagramas
logoandbranding.
Jus-qieuLiblaries

9. Jussieu Libraries, third subleuel,plan o,ndsections.

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10.JussieuLibraries, secondsubleuel,plan and sectiorts

71.JussieuLibraries, first subleuel,plan and sections.

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9. JussieuLibraries, third sub\eael,plan and secttorts.

10.JussieuLibraries, secondsubleuel,p\an attd sectiorts.

11.JussieuLibraries,first subleuel,plan and sections.

 Jussieu Libraries

72. Jussieu Libraries, m,ezzunine-entryleael,plan and,sections.

13.Jussieu Libraries,firstflnm, plan and,sections.

14.Jussieu Libraries, second,flnor,plan and,sections.

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17. ThpJussieu Libraries project respond,sto seueralof 18. A stncked,parking-garage dingram d,emonstrates
Le Corbusier'sd,iagrams:theMaison Dom-ino, squnred the possibility of a continuous relation behneenth,e
and,stacked,can be cor*id,ered,one such preced,ent.Le stncked,flnmleuels.This registers as a d;istwbancein
Corbusier's Dom-ino dingram located thn indiuid,unt the h,orizontalsection-
clearly in relationship to a contert which was eleaated,
from the gnound,. The stacking function maintnins
lay ers as d;iscontinuouselem.ents.
-

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19.An annlysis of the furizuntal disttnbances in thc
stncked,layers of tha Jussieu Libraries d.emnnstrates
th,eshifts, rarnping, and, dl;iscontinuit;iesthat sen)e os
a criti4ue of thn Dom-irw sectian. It nn longer su4gests
thnt thzre is an ertension of Cartes'ia,n space into a
horizon.
20. At Jussieu, thn d;istinctisn of fl.om and, rump is
effored. A little notnd,aspect of Koolhnas's d:iscowse
is thn cant of the roof plann, which ind:icates thet this
nn longer represents a flnt ertension of a horizontal
continuum of space,but inste od yro duces a p arspectia al
twisting in space. This false perspectiual twbting
continues thrau,gh tn th,eroof, markirry th,e spiraling
ennrgies upward,.
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21. The discorttirtttouscirculution and rcarping Jloor 22. (Right) In an erploded aronometric diagram, the
leueLscreate a cortditiott irt u.lrich tlte only discemible figtLred uoids can be characterized as cuts (A), tears
uoltnnes are the ittterstitial speces betuJee?t.floors. (B),and ho\es(C). Thehorizontallayersthatconstitute
Certain of these irtterstitinl sl)e(es are highlighted the f.oors are openedbg thesecuts, tears, and holes,
in the competition ntotlel (gray areas). These zones stLggestittg that thef,oor has becomea fabric joining
are artictr,Latedas part o.f the relationship between the roof a,ndgrotLnd.
one Jloor and the other, yet these.figtLt'ecl
L,oidsare not
continttous. Tltese spcLcescoulcl also be considered as
partial figures. These .figures disrupt tlte readittg of
a contintr,ttm from fl.oor to .floot' irr ternts o.f.futtctiort.
The discontinuous uert[cal circtLlatiou. lnrizontal
circtLlatiott, and cotzditiott oJ'objects tL'lticlr are not
located on a grotLnd can be seen es a critiqtLe of tlte
ttotion of grotLnd as a dattLm.
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 216
23. Lifring the hmizm,tal plann, as i,f cutting aunu tttp
surfore, pro&tces thp idpa tlnt thp wrfore is mallpabte
and, pliable. This also im,plics that thp surfone is rn
longer necessarily only related, tn thc gvund, but th,at
it becamnspart of thc uertical continuum.
Jussieu Libraries
2I. Jussizu, b fiamnd a,s a squtffe. If muisaged as a
seqtnnte offold,ed,plnn esin a sofi an il plinbl,e mnbrint,
it is apparmt that the ilistinpt ed,gesof thafoHnil ptnnn
maintnin thn gevm,etricalfarm of tlw squlre.
JussieuLibrarie-q
25. The folded cond,ition of a single sheet of pliable
material produces spaces whose uariable section
registersthe deformation of theplane. Thefolded pLane
is a diagramfor the Jussieu Libraries.
217
)6. The fabric of the fold,ed plane register'Ea serles
of cuts and shears. Certain cuts are clearlg ramps;
others are uoid f.gures unto themselaes,lacking clear
.furtction. Theseuoid,sdo not seem to follow a clear
organization, but rather disrupt continuity and the
idea of a sing\e themntizedreading.
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grrid.,certaingrrid,elnwnts tilt ond bend,,
demorutratins
tlnt ilu regwlnrity of Uu grid, is nat thematin.Yettlp
str'ttctural grid, hld;batpstlnt thet are nnrow bays
for*en by a serics of widcr boys on tlw inboafi
sidn, wlvinhtake on a di,fferentoryaruizinCstrttpture
thnn tlwse at Lc Corbusisr's Pala;is dcs CongrAs-
Strwfuirg.
cirqLlntim' tJwre are srnnllor ortlngonnl fi4rures
creabn by stoir csresand giant columw, sirftiler tn
tJwsein thp TWsAmndn Biblbtfuqlm. Tlwseforms
m,plnsizn aertinal cirailntinn; tlw corception, of
Jussi.suas a,foldnd, Iifinil,, and ai plaru presmts a
ilifferent ryotial idpa. Thlts, tilu ci.rsilation is nnt
treatpd,at eitlwr thn lnrge scaln of tlw rcmp m tlw
smnllpr senleof inner ci.reu,lntionaEafi&,rd, object.
 219
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 226 Jussieu Libraries

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