Abstract
Rem Koolhaas has pursued new architectural approaches breaking with conventional ones. Around the 1990s when large-scale projects occurred with the union of Europe ahead, Koolhaas recognized the limits to the existing methods for responding to such changes. Accordingly, he came to use design methods based on 'congestion' and 'void' as strategical alternatives, which became the moment for him to leap forward from the previous working sphere based in Europe to becoming an architect who would be commissioned a number of large-scale global projects. Therefore, this study intends to investigate his design methods which utilized congestion and void, and to derive spatial characteristics from the projects based on such methods. First of all, the study looked into the historical background, definition and process of congestion and the void as design methods, and analyzed his projects to which such methods were applied by classifying them into the following categories: 1) the void that removes a space of singularity; 2) the void that penetrates space while making a flow; and 3) the void that is formed by vertical extrusion. Then, the characteristics of architectural spaces made in this way were identified as 1)the single-body appearance made by congestion and the following types of space made by the void: 2) the non-uniformly shaped space that looks like floating; 3) the flexible space with various flows and directions; and 4) the space with virtual possibilities that embrace contingent events. This understanding of Rem Koolhaas's design methods which were attempted in various ways at his critical turning point will be the foundation to understand the overall world of his works.
