Junkspace

Definition

Junkspace (Rem Koolhaas) names the built residue of modernization — "what remains after modernization has run its course, or ... what coagulates while modernization is in progress, its fallout." It is the endless, air-conditioned, brand-saturated, and largely unmemorable space of airports, malls, terminals, lobbies, and mega-infrastructure: "the body double of space," sustained by escalator and air-conditioning, "a reverse typology of cumulative, approximative identity," in which brands function "as black holes ... essences through which meaning disappears." Junkspace is contrasted with (and is the failure of) modern architecture.

Key Thinkers

• Rem Koolhaas — originator of Junkspace (and the "generic city").
• (Related: Marc Augé on "non-places".)

Related Concepts

• Consumerism — Junkspace as the shopping/consumption environment.
• Spectacle — the image/brand-circulation Junkspace sustains.
• Iconic Architecture — the would-be-unique icon set within (or against) Junkspace.
• Everyday Life — the quotidian experience of Junkspace.

Source Support

Sources in the wiki that discuss this concept:

• Logan Airport / Junkspace (Koolhaas 2002)
• Phantasmagoria and the Architecture of the Contemporary City (Lahiji 2015) — the "junk-space" that lies at the margins of the hyper-mediated city

Open Questions

• Is Junkspace a resigned description or a critique — and can the "iconic"/starchitect object genuinely escape it, or only become its most spectacular symptom?