A fuzzy empire of blur, a low grade purgatory, a perpetual Jacuzzi with millions of your best friends…
We're discussing Junkspace (2001), Rem Koolhaas's notoriously elliptical wander through the dystopian and formless morass of early 21st retail architecture that seems gradually to be devouring the city, and the world. 
In keeping with the essay, the episode is radically unstructured, only barely makes sense, and is held together largely by hyperbole. 
We discussed – 
– Rem Koolhaas and OMA
– The books SMLXL and Delirious New York
– Exodus: The Voluntary Prisoners of Architecture
– Frederic Jameson's review of Junkspace in NLR 21 (2003)
– Jameson's Postmodernism, Or the Cultural Logic of Late Capitalism (1991)
– Walter Benajmin's Passagenwerk or Arcades Project
Music – 
'Ruca' and 'Agnes' from the album 'Teal' by Rod Hamilton 
and 'Curiosity', 'Quisitive' and 'Biking in the Park' from the album 'Music for Podcasts' by Lee Rosevere; both from the Free Music Archive
Blue Gas 'Shadows From Nowhere' (1984)
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18 – Junkspace – Rem Koolhaas & the End of Architecture

A podcast about architecture, buildings and cities, from the distant past to the present day. Plus detours into technology, film, fiction, comics, drawings, and the dimly imagined future. 

With Luke Jones and George Gingell.

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We round off our series on Carlo Scarpa with two projects for Italian consumer electronics dynasties — the Olivetti corporation, for whom he designed a famous shop in Piazza San Marco, and the Brion-Vega family for whom he designed an extraordinary cemetery complex. 
These are two of his most unrestrained, symbolically laden and elaborate projects — in which Scarpa's unique approach to architectural form, decoration, materials and narrative are most powerfully evident. 
Thanks for watching, and all the best — back with you in 2022.
Edited by Matthew Lloyd Roberts.
Support the show on Patreon to receive bonus content for every show.
Please rate and review the show on your podcast store to help other people find us!
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We’re on the web at aboutbuildingsandcities.org

90 — Carlo Scarpa — 4/4 — All I Want Is A Pharoah

The Castelvecchio Museum (1959-73) in Verona is an elaborate spatial narrative, weaving together historic structures and ingenious design elements to create a fragmentary and multi-layered story about the site, the city, and the objects contained in it. The project was Carlo Scarpa's largest and longest running, and we go through it at some length.
For images, subscribe to us on YouTube.
Edited by Matthew Lloyd Roberts.
Support the show on Patreon to receive bonus content for every show.
Please rate and review the show on your podcast store to help other people find us!
Follow us on twitter // instagram // facebook
We’re on the web at aboutbuildingsandcities.org

89 — Carlo Scarpa — 3/4 — Castelvecchio, Invented History

We talked about Carlo Scarpa's work at the Querini Stampalia foundation (1959-63), a palazzo-museum in Venice. Scarpa's interventions are focussed on the ground floor spaces, including a new entrance bridge, galleries and courtyard garden. There's a very distinctive mixture of restoration and fantasy, historical narration and occasional touches of grooviness.
You can watch this episode, including relevant images, on our YouTube channel.
Edited by Matthew Lloyd Roberts.
Support the show on Patreon to receive bonus content for every show.
Please rate and review the show on your podcast store to help other people find us!
Follow us on twitter // instagram // facebook
We’re on the web at aboutbuildingsandcities.org

88 — Carlo Scarpa — 2/4 — Querini Stampalia, Venetian Sci-Fi

In our first episode on Carlo Scarpa, we're trying something new! We've made a video to accompany the episode that you can find on our YouTube Channel, in which you can watch Luke and George discuss the enigmatic architecture of Carlo Scarpa, accompanied by images of the buildings! Make sure you subscribe on YouTube to keep up to date.
This is an experiment, so let us know what you think! We will always put out these main episodes here on the podcast feed, and we will try to keep them accessible to those in audio only. As always, accompanying images will appear on our socials. Thanks to everyone for supporting the show and making this new model possible, do give us a review on your podcast app if you're enjoying what we do.
Edited by Matthew Lloyd Roberts.
Support the show on Patreon to receive bonus content for every show.
Please rate and review the show on your podcast store to help other people find us!
Follow us on twitter // instagram // facebook
We’re on the web at aboutbuildingsandcities.org

87 — Carlo Scarpa — 1/4 — Not Every Architect is an Artist

In the final episode in our series on Ian Nairn, we discussed the 1967 book 'Britain's Changing Towns' and the BBC television work that has granted Nairn a viral afterlife on YouTube.
Here's the Nairn clip from the outro: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4K-53widcdY You can find all the Nairn tv shows we discussed in the episode by simply searching 'Ian Nairn' on Youtube, and we'll be posting some Nairn clips on the socials over the next couple of weeks.
Bonus episode for patreon subscribers on Gordon Cullen and Townscapes will be out this week!
This episode is sponsored by Blue Crow Media, purveyors of beautiful architectural maps, including maps of London tube stations and Art Deco or Brutalist architecture in London, in the tradition of Ian Nairn! Use the code aboutbuildings at checkout for 10% off! https://bluecrowmedia.com/
Edited by Matthew Lloyd Roberts.
Support the show on Patreon to receive bonus content for every show.
Please rate and review the show on your podcast store to help other people find us!
Follow us on twitter // instagram // facebook
We’re on the web at aboutbuildingsandcities.org
This podcast is powered by Pinecast.

18 – Junkspace – Rem Koolhaas & the End of Architecture

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