The Function of Roofs: The Urban Mall

Please note: Farshid Moussavi will not be present at all course meetings. James Khamsi, Teaching Associate, will run the course when Professor Moussavi is not present. (see below)This studio will study the large urban mall and the implication of its vast scale that disconnects the interior from the exterior, resulting in an exterior which is static, monumental and out of synch with the interior, and an interior which is free to self arrange over time without any reference to the exterior. This out-of-sync exterior-interior relationship has produced two conditions: a Blank-Type exterior envelope, which we have studied in previous studios, and the corollary interior environment which Rem Koolhaas has coined as Junkspace. This semester we will focus on Junkspace to explore its architectural potentials. The suburban mall, where Junkspace was baptized, is large, predominantly for retail and free to grow endlessly thanks to air-conditioning technologies. It is sealed from the exterior and free from natural cycles or traditional urban design rules, allowing differ-rent brands to occupy it in autonomous, highly controlled micro-environments. Competition to attract consumers leads to constant renewal of everything turning the mall into a bricolage. Malls are also reducing their dependence on air-conditioning, becoming porous to the exterior. We will exploit this new freedom of the mall roof. Liberated from airconditioning machines, it can now seek other forms and functions.Dates when Farshid Moussavi will be at the GSD:January 20, 21, 22February 2, 3, 4February 16, 17, 18March 9, 10, 11March 23, 24, 25April 13, 14, 15