The collage of void versus solid: Ungers and Koolhaas

Abstract

This article focuses on the potential of void as a design instrument on different levels. The goal is to present a conscious void design strategy with void as the driving design element. To achieve this, void as a term and design technique was broadly analyzed. Reaching from its definition, interpretation, perception, and typology to a case study analysis, the focuses is on four projects each from Ungers and Koolhaas. Three topics were synthesized from this analysis concerning the manifestation of the void, its characteristics, and finally its usage as a design strategy. First, it was identified that void can be perceived and interpreted differently, manifesting itself in various ways, such as a one-, two-, or three-dimensional object. Second, the characteristics of void can be termed as programmatic flexibility and incompleteness: the possibility of void to contain multiple programs and to establish relationships with its program to its surroundings. Third, two design strategies were derived: “collaging solid figures” and “collaging void figures.” The first generates void indirectly by collaging solids, whereby the void is generated in between, and the latter generates void directly by collaging the void itself.