CRITICAL FUNCTIONALISM AS A FORM OF CREATIVITY. TWO UNREALIZED REM KOOLHAAS PROJECTS: THE PARC DE LA VILLETTE (1982) AND THE TRÈS GRANDE BIBLIOTHÈQUE (1989) IN PARIS

One of the techniques that distinguishes Rem Koolhaas’s beginnings is that of giving maximum value to the question of the functions brought into play in the type of design he was to produce – a technique then refined and developed over time, to judge from his better-known recent work. Once the various functions are identified (as specified in the competition announcement), the main objective is to work on a meaningful construction of them. In a certain sense, design becomes constructing functions (if possible that function autonomously), shaping their characteristics in relation to the present time, and discovering new arrangements, rather than planning an architectural form that represents them. This type of technique reflects the desire to encourage the functions’ process of becoming, establishing an open dialogue with users and the possible fortuitous combination of functions. Thus functional analysis is no longer a destination point for the design but the point of departure for events, everyday acts. While for the proponents of the Modern Movement functionalism is what makes it possible to define society once and for all, in this case it represents an area of study functional to the evolution of society into small groups of consumers, expert navigators, keen filmmakers, cynical dealers in slogans for living…