E X OD US

or the Voluntary Prisoners of Architecture

-
REM KOOLHAAS & ELIA ZENGHELIS
with
MADELON VRIESENDORP & ZOE ZENGHELIS
1972
·proL(X;tJE

Once, a city was. divided in two parts.

One part becana the Good half, the other part the Bad half.
The inhclbitants ~f the Bad half began to flock to the Good part of the divided
-city, rapidly swelling into an Urban Exodus. ·
If this situation would have been allowed to continue for ever., the ,:,()(JC{ half
would·have had twice its original number of inhclbitants, while the Bad half
would have been turned into a ghost tovm, C01tpletely devoid of human life.
After all actions to interrupt this undesirc1ble m.igr.ation had failed, the
authorities of the Dad pa.rt made desperate and savage use of Architecture:
They built a Wall around the Good part of the City, making it ccmpletely
inaccessible for their subjects.
The Wall was a masterpiece.

Originally not rrore than s<:lre pathetic strings of barbed wire, abruptly dropped
on the imaginary line of the border, its psychological ar.d sxinl:x>lic effects
. were infinitely rrore powerful than its physical appearance.
But the attraction of the Good half, nCM only gl:il"l'Sed ove.r the forbidding
obstacle fran an agonising distance, becarre only rrore irrestible.
Those trapped, left behind in the glocmy Bacl half, becailE obsessed with vain
·plans for escape. Co11l>lete hopelessness reigned supr~ on the wrong side of
the Wall.

1\s so often before in the history of Mankind, Architecture had been the guilty
instrurrent of this despair.
 AR::Url'OC"l'URE

It is possible to iroagine a mi.rr.or image of t11is terrifying l\r.chitecture ; a

force as intense and devastating but in the service of positive intentions •.
Division isolation, inequality, agression and destruction, all the negative
aspects of tl1is wall, could be the ingredients of a new phenaiwnon: Architectural
warfare against undesirable conditions - in our case against London.
This ~uld be an imrodest Architecture not C'OITTnited to. timid .improvements but
to the provision of totally_desirable alternatives.
The inhabitants of this architecture, those strong enough to love it, would
bec<:XTC its Voluntary prisoners, ecstatic .in the freed.an of their Architectural
confines.
Contrary to the architecture of the Jrodern irovement and its desperate afterbirths,
this new Architecture is not author:i.tarian, nor hysterical: It is the hedonistic
science of designing collective facilities which fully accamodate individual
desires.
Fran the outside this Architecture is a sequ2nce of serene nonurrents; the life
inside prcxluces a continuous state of ornamental frenzy and decorative delirium,
filling it with c>n overdose of symbols.
This will be the Architecture that generates its own successors, and tl1at will
miraculously cure ar:cl1itects fran their masochism and self-hatred.
THE VOWNrARY P ~

'!'his study wages an Archltectural War on I..ondon. It describes the steps

that will have to be taken to establish an Architectural oasis in the
behavioural sink of a city like london.
Suddenly, a strip of intense .Metropolitan desirability runs through the
centre of Jnndon. This strip is like a runway, a landing strip for the
new Architecture of collective nnnuments.
Two walls enclose and protect this zone to r~tain its integrity, and to
prevent any contamination of its surface by the cancerous organism which
besieges it.
Soon, the first inmates will beg for admission. Their nll'llbo.....r rapidly
swells into an unstoppable flow.
We witness the Exodus of London.
The existing physical structure of the old town will not be able to stand
the continuing carpetition of this new architectural prescence.

London as we know it will be a pack of ruins.

 THE Sl'IUP

'111e following picture fi represent a close-up of a particular lllJfl'ent in the

developnant of ~e strip.

Nine squares are designed in various degrees of detail; together, they do not
show all the aspects of the centrul strip, other eg:ually essential activities
and pleasures ·tan~ are being , imagined.

The central strip is·only the nost intense part of the nruch larger canplex of
the Architectural enclave; at the stage shavm here it only contains sane
activities of high social intensity arrl cannunal relevance.

Those activities which are not shared by all are located in the narrow •
secondary strips , which each have their particular attachments to and r elation-
ship with the central zone . ·The secondary strips cut thxough the nost depressed
slum areas of the old London. They lead to the endave and provide all the
private acccm:xlation the settlers have dre,unt for themselves. · Their magnif icient
prescence forces these, slums to turn into ghost towns and picturesque ruins.

Within the central strip the map~ aerial view show, £ran West to Eant, (each
contained in their own square) :

1. . The Tip Condition. The point of maximum friction with the old London.
Here the Architectural progress of the zone visibly takes place.
2 . The Allotrrents. Individual plots of land to L"3.lance the anphi'lsis on the
Collective facilities.
3. The Park of the four Elements: Air, Fire, water and Earth
4. The cerem:mial 5C:1"..lare, paved in marble, it is a place for open-air
celebration.
s: The reception area: here future inhabitants are introduced to the
mysteries of citizen::;hip of the strip. Its roof is a vlewing platfonn
sufficiently elevated to give a view over the canplete archit~ctural
ca:rplex.
6. An escalator descends into the area of wndon "11ich is preservro (Nash
a predecessor of the ruthless plan)as a rESllinder of the past and as useful
housing for migrant visitors arrl new arrival~ (an environnental sluice).
7. The Daths. Institute for the creation and irt\)larentation of fantasies .
8. The .square of the Arts.
9. The square of the captive globe.
10. The institute of Biological transactions.
11. Invisible is the Park of Agression.
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TUE ru:x::EPTIOO AR.El\

After croscing the wa ll, the eYl musted fucJlt:)V':'-c; flT.P. r~e.l.ved by attentive wardens
in a long lobby between the reception aren and the wall. 'l'he consoling at:nnsphere
of this responsive waiting roan is an nrchitect;nral slgh of relief: 'l'he first
step of the in:ioctrination programre of the other side of the wall is being
realised: The ~ a enter the Rerception Area.
0n· arrival a spectacular welcane is given to all.
Thi.a 1s a vast interior with edifices of various sizes, 'l'o the r.i.ght an arena
dcmi.,1,ttes half of the volune. 'l'ht:? other half contains the m:>st recent m:xlel of
the strlp, surrounded by bookcases in which the past history of the m:xle l is
stored. The cerenonial square can be glimpsed beyond the m:xlel.

The Rerception Area is the voluntary public realm of the zone. It is pro.m:mently
thronged by amateurs who core frO'll all parts of the strip, Through their busy
dealings they are exercising an inspirea"lel state of political inventiveness, to
which the architecture is the echo chaitber: A volune of ovexwhelming sensuousness.

The activities show that the sole concern of the participants is the present and
future course of the strip: They propose architectural refinements, extenslons,
and st·c ategies. Excited groups of different sizes elaborate the proposals
in · the special rocms built for this purpose, while others are continously
engaged in making m:xlifications to th~ nndel. The rrost oontradictory programres
fuse without erosion. The shaneless pennissiveness of these activities niakes
thi9 place the receptacle for the canplete spect.rull of desires: It is a
spontaneous planning centre. The perfection of this ideological test-bed is
det.er.nined by the influel'lce that the identical concern e.-<erts upon the inmates.
The debates and the arct,itectur~ ronstitute a piece of logic wi.~ a life of its
own, The administration consists of p.itting together the pia:es of this lcgic.
The facilities are instrum:?nts for the collection of all trends, inventions,
shifts in soci-'ll custans which occur in the otl1er squares, and which illwdnate
all pai;ts of .socj.al life inside the strip,
Bec~use of the considerable resp::msihilities, the act:l.vities inside the Reception
Ar.au. require a miniJml training for new arrivals. This can only be acccmplished
aft,-..r overwhelming previously undernourished senses. The training is administered
under the rrost hedonistic conditions: Luxw:y nnd well being.
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·THE CENTIW.. Af{EA

The roof of the reception area, . accessible fran the inside , is ii high altitude
plateau, fran which the decay of the old town .:md the physical splendour
of the strip can .be experienced.
Fran here, a gigantic escalator descends in to that part of London which is
preservErl within the strip.
·These ancient buildings will provide t.anrornry accamooation for recent
arrivals , during the period they are trained as voluntary prisoners: the
area is an environmental sluice.
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 On the other (west) side of the roof is the ceruronial square. It is
oorrpletely empty, except fran the tower of the jamning - station which will _
. protect the inhabitants of the strip against electronic exposure from the
rest of the ~rld. ·

The exact nature of the cerenonies on this black square is not yet klnm;
it is a. mixture ~f physical and nental exercises, conceptual Olympics.
TUE TIP OF .THE STRIP
The frontline of the .~chitectural warfare ~,aged on the old London.

Here, the merciless progress of the strip performs a daily miracle. Here,
the corrective rage of the Architecli.lre is at its nost intens e .
.It is a continous confrontation with tl1e olrl city, from the destruction of
-existing structnres by the new Architecture to the more trivial fights between
the inmates of the old London i1Ild the Voluntary Prisoners of the strip.

~ nom.nmnts £ran the old clvilization are 1ncc-r;oratcd in the zone only
after a. rehabilitation of their guestionc\ble purp.:ses and programs. Strategies,
plans and instructions are oonveyed by another m::o~l of th-.~ str.i p, continuously
modified py infornation arriving frau the r eception area. Life in the building
barracks at the tip of the strip can be hard, but the perm:ment creation of this
object .leaves itq bililders exhausted fran satisfaction.
The function of the ba.ths is th<:: creatlon and :mcycling of priva.te and public
fantasfos, the transactions between than and the invention, testing and possible
introduction of new forms of behaviour.
The building is, a social condenser which brings hidden notivations, desires
and inpulses to the surface, to refine than for recognition, provocation and
developnent,
Around the 2 square pools (wann and cold) and the circulur 1roin collector, the
ground floor is an area of public action and display, a continous parade of
personalities and bodies, a stage where a cyclical dialectic between exhibitionism
and spectator ship takes place.

It is an area for the obse...--vation and possililc seduction of partners who will be
invited to actively p:u-ticipate in private fantasies and the pursuit of desires.
The t,...u long walls of the building consist of an infinite number of cells of
various sizes, to which individuals, coupltS or_groups can retire. These cells
are equipped to encourage indulgence, and to facilitate the realisation of
fantasies, and social inventions; they invite all forms of human interractions
and exchange
The pubHc area - private c.:ei1s sequence can generate a creative chain reaction
in the t,...u Arenai:; at boti1 ends of the baths, where successful perfonrers or
those confident about tl-ie validity and originality-cf their actions and proposals
filter into frcrr, the cells. Finally in the /\r.ena, · -they perform. The freshness
and suggestiveness of these perfonnances actiwte dormant parts of the brain,
and tt'igger off a continous explosion of ideas in the audience. Overchcirge:i
by this spectacle, the Vcluntary Prisonen; descend to the ground floor looking
for those willing arrl able to \\Ork out new elaooration.s.
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THE sa,JARE OF THE J\Rl'S
This square is devoted to the accelerated creation evolution and exhibition
of objects. It is the Industric'.ll zone of the strip, an Urban open space, paved
in a synthetic material which offers a high degree of comfort to its users.
Dispersed on this surface are the buildings to which people go to satisfy their
love for objects. · · · ·

There are three rmjor buildings on the square. One is old; it has always
been a museum.

The other two have been built by the Voluntc.-uy prisoners. Of these h-.D the
first one bulges out of the surface: it was built with the m3.terials of the
sec.'Ond, which is carved out of the squ.c-u-e, and is in fact, the interior of the .
first. At first sight it is impossible to und1?..rstand that these twin buildings
are one, arrl that this is not a secret. Together they fonn an instrument for
the indoctrination of the existing culture. '£hey achieve this simply by
displaying the past in the only !Y.)SSil:>le way: They expose memory by allowing
its provocative vacuums to be filled with the explosive em:>tions of onlookers .
The mixture produces the nost relevant and scientific information. They are
a school •
. .1.'he density and ini:,enetrability of the first building intensifles the exp::?Ctations
of arriving students who wait outside i ts gates, while the apparent eropt.iness
of the interior of the se-:-oud building provokes an arn<ious suspense. Descending
into its enigmatic gallerles,·tl1e canplete history of creation unfolds in a
spectral fonn. An irresh;table power drives the visitors on a journey dc,.,m the
escalators that link the galleries, into a complete' c..~loration of the rrost
. mysterious corners of history. When they arrive at the 10\~st gallery, they
discover tl1at the interior is bottanless, and that new galleries are und\:!r
oonstruction. The rrost recent galleries are filli.n<J with a continous procession
of canpletcly unfamiliar works, emerging fran a tunnel that seems to lead to
the old museum. Returning to the surface , the traces of this course are retained
on the retina and transferrexl to certain parts of the brain.
The older building contains in a sense the negative pictui:-es of the canplete
pasl:.. The first :impression to the uninformed visitor• is that of a collection
of an alnost infinite number of aupty fr.runes, blank canvasses and vacant pedestal s.
Only those who have t.he knowledge fro•the previous course can decipher the
spectacle by projecting their me:m::>ries on these empty provocations: A continuous
~ilrn of images, irnproverrents, accelerated versions of the history of art autanatically
,:>reduce new works, fill tl,e space with recollections , rrodifications and inv.ent.ions .

These new creations :imre:Hately disappear tl1rough the tunnel to the pit, where
they take their place in the last rraoonts of the ioooctrination programne.

Apart fran these three main buildings, the only tangible exhibits in the square
nre 9llall buildings that look like pawns on the grid of an ancient game. They
are dropped like m:teorites of t1nknC1fm metaphysical meaning, waiting to be m:wed
to the next intersection of the ga,re, each time •they are further deciphered.
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· THE S(Pl\RE 0 1:' 'J.'IIE CAPJ.'IVE GI.DBE

• This square, is devoted to the artificial concepti on and acceler.:ited bi.r.th of

theories, interpretations, nental constructions .:ind proposals, and their infliction
on the W::>rld.
It is the capital. of E9O, where science, art, pcx:!try and certain forms of manias
will be allm1E.-d to compete under ideal and identical conuitions, to invent the
answers to ll'etaphysi~al questions , to pr.oposc changes in social organisation,
to destroy and restore the W::>rld of phenorrenal reality.
It will be an incubator of ideologies, which will not be pP.rmitted to consurre
the v.orld, to recognize only certain phenan:ma and suppress oth0rs . F..ach of
these sciences and w.mias has its o,m plot. On each plot stands an identi cal
base, built frcm heavy polished stone. These bases, ideological lal:x)ratories,
are equipped to terTI[X)rarily suspend unwelcot1~ laws, undeniuble truths, to
create non-existent physical and ll'ental conditions, to facil:i.tate and provoke
speculative activities. ·
Fran these solid blocks of granite, each philosophy expands indefinitely towards
heaven; This growth fran the blocks (in direct proportion to the populnr appeal,
excitement and rcoral voll.lll'e of the intellectual actlvities inside) will house
additional accarodation, data storage, fabricated evidence, etc • • ••••
At the same time, these tCMcrs will be the visualis;:itions, and synrols of these
ideas, a spectacle of sublime comnunication.
Scree of the basic blocks will want to presePt linibs of complete certainty and
serenity, others will choose a soft environment of tentative conjectures and
hypnotic, but questionable suggestions.
These extren-eties, these limbs, will fonn an ideological exhibition, visibl e
frcm afar, and scrutinized from nearby; the visitors to this exhibition will
be spontaneous students, a close inspection arid critiectl cauparison of the
blocks and towers wj.l l create the irresistible urge to choose, join and participate,
to share and elabcratP. a scienc~, a poem, a madness.

This square is the University of the Strip

The changes of this ideological skyline will be rapid and continuous, a rich
spectacle of moral fever, ethical joy, or intellectural masturbation.
The collapse of one of these taN8?:ing structures can irean ~ things: Failure,
giving up, a vacating of the premises, or, the exclamation of a visual Eureka.

A Theory that ...orks

A mania that sticks
An idea that is
A lie that has beccma truth
A dream frcm which there is no waking up

On these rrom:mts the purpose of the Captive Glove, suspended in mid-air in the
centre of the squarl!,, becaoos apparent: all these institutes together fonn an
enonrous incubator fur the \<.brld itself. They are breeding on the globe, changing
it, adding set1lathing to its contents.
These buildings and their passionate invcstig'1tors have consumed_facts objects
and phenarena, in order to give nore and better in return .
The globe gains weigbi... - Its tanperatnr.~ rise$ skMly , ""' Invisibly i~ grows~
In spite of the nost humiliating set.backs, its ageless pregnancy survive~,
We all have our ear on the stethoscope of the ideologies. 'The llUestfon is, lruKl
we are not too pessimistic about the answer) who will crack first?
The skin of this _i.JTF)ssible egg, or perhaps ourselves'?
 .· 'l'flE PARl~ OE' 'i'llE FOUH W:111:Ni'S

.Ti.le park is diviclro into four squure area!>, which clesaf'P"'_ar into the growld
like four gigantic steps.

The f1rst square, 'air', consists of a nuni,c-,..r of suriY,en pavilions , overgrown

with elaborate neb.orks of responsive ducts, which emit various mixtures of
gasses to create · aramtic and hallucinogenic experiences.
By subtle variations -in dosage, density and perhaps even coloration, these
volatile clouds of scents can be nodified or sustained alnost like a musical
inst:ruwent •

.M'.:xx:1s of exhilaration, depression, serenil.-y and receptivity can be evoked

invisibly, in programn8d or improvised sequences and rhythms. Vertical air-jets
provide environmental protection over the pavilions.
Identical in size to the first square, but sunken below the level of the surface,
is 'the desert • : an artificial reconstruction of an Egyptian landscape, simulating
its dizzying conditions: a pyramid, a small oosis , and the fire organ: l\ steel
frame with innumerable outlets i:or flames of different intensity, colour and
heat. It is played at night to provide a pyrotechnic spectacle, visible fran
all parts of the strip; a nocturnal sun •

. At the end of four linear caves, Mirage--m,-ichines project images of desirable

ideals. Those in the desert who enter the tubes, r..m to reach these beatific
images at the end, hut as they run on a belt which rroves 5n the op!:)-Jsite
direction at a speed which increases as the distance bet...·we<"n Mu-age a'ld rnnner.
nhrinks, actual cont.:i.ct can nEWe.r be established. · 'l'he frustratoo energies
and desires will have to be chrumellcd into subl:iJmted uctivities. ('I'he
secret that the pyramid does not contain a treasure- chamber , will be kept
for ever.)

DeE:perinto the earth still is the water sguar.e, a pool whose surface is permanently
agitated through the regular but variable nov<:m:?nt of one of its walls, whkh
produces waves of s~t.irres gigantic proportions. This lake is the de.main of
sane pleasure seekers, who have becane totally addicted to the challenge of these
waves.

Day and night the sounds of this interior sea will be the accoustic background
of the activities in the strip .

. The fourth square at the bottcrn of the pit, is devoted to ' ear.th' F it is occupied
by a vaguely familiar mountain, its top exactly level with the surface of the
strip. At the top of this nountain, a . group of sculptors is involved in a debate,
trying to decide whose bust they will carve in the rock, but in the accelerated
atrrosphere of this prison, no one is important long enough for them to ever
reach a conclusion.

The walls of the cavity reveal the past history of this location like a scar;
part of a now deserted Underground line is suspended in t his void. Deep in the
other walls cave dwellings and cavernous ireeting places are carved out to
accarodate certain pri.Jrordial mysteries.

After the spiral nova11ent throu9h the four squares an escalator returns the
wanderer to the surface.
THE INsrrrorn OF BIOLCX;ICAL TRANSACI'ICNS

This ins titute s us tains the Voluntary Prisoners -through biological emergencies ,
physical and nental. crises; it also daronstrates U\e· harmless nature of
rrortality.

It is divided in four parts by a cruciform building. 'l'he first part contains

the hospital: it contains the corrplete arsenal of rrodcrn hen ling, but i s
devoted to a radical -deescalation of the medical process, to the abolition
of the ccmpulsive rage to heal.

No forced heartbeats here, no chanical invosions, no sadistic stretchings of

life. This new strategy will create a lowering of tlte nverage life ex~t:ancy, a
correspar,rling decrease in senility, physical decay, nausea and exhaustion, in
fact, patients here will be healthy.

'l'he hospital consists of a sequence of paviHon.s, each devoted to a particular

disease.

Fran the entrance a medical boulevard connects these buildings. The sick pass
through than ir1 a continuous procession on a slowly rroving belt; in an almost
festive atrrosphere of operatic maladies: a group of dancing nurses in transparent
uniforms; rnedicul equiprent disguised as toterq:ioles und rich }:X'.rfu;res which
suppress the familiar stench of healing.

Doctors select their £Xl.tients fran this belt, invite them to their individucl
pavilions , test their vitality and alnost playfully administer their {:rc<lirol)
Jr.nowledge . If they fr1i.l , the patient is returned t o the ccnveyor; P°...Xhaps
another doctor tries him, but it now becares appnrent that the belt leads beyond
the pavilions, through the crucifonn building straight to the cemetery.

There is a continuity of festive m:-od here, the same Si'rells, the sarre ethereal •
dances, made rrore rn ing rrore human &till by the contrast of the n1thless foLmal
layout of the plots and the unnaturalness of the dark green shrubbing.

In the third part of i:.he square , in the three palaces of birth there will be a
statistical balance ootw~en births and deuths. The physical proximity of these
events through the architectural arrancJemcnt suggests the consolation of a
causal relationship between the two , a gentle relay. The lowering of the average
life expectancy creates an runbitious urgC".n<:-y; it does not allow the luxuries ~f
underexploited brains, the artificial prolongation of childishness or wasted
adolescence Therefore the 3 palaces of birth will also take care of the b&bies
during their first infancy, school them, turn th~, :L-lto small adults at the
earliest i:ossible elate, (between 8 and 11) capable of actively taking part in
life in the strip.

In the fourth square 11e1tal patients will be on display as m former days; not
themselves however but in an extremely well produced exhibition of their delusions ,
sustained by the latest technical equiprent: an infinite number of NaJ;XJleons,
Florence Nightingales , Einsteins , Jesus Christs, and Joans of Arc, each in their
custan,lmade uniforms. 1'hese ir..1ate s will also stagP perfonnances for the
accelerated education instead of history classes.
In ti:ie cruc~foIJT1 builJing finally which seperates the four ccmpi)ron:mts reside the
Archive~ "''hich cx>ntain all vit.:ll facts, dcveloprents, life incidents of past and
present prisoners. Bureauc racy, so often criticized for its passion for control
contempt for privao/ {and iroral blindness) guarantees the prisoners a new kind
of imrort<;1lity: Tlu.s stal:istical treasur e collplcrl to i:11e most ima.g inative COl\)uters,
~oduces _instant bioaraph.ies of the deucl in seconds , but DJ.so prenuture bioc.Jraphies
0
- the living , _mixtu.-.~s of facts and ruthless extrupcl..:1tions whi ch have, becare
the essential instrunents for plottinq a course and planning the future.
 'l'llJ.:: PARK OF l\03.RESSirn

This is the second park in the city . It WDS laid out at Um sarre tirre as' the
square of the captive globe, and ·is next to it. In this .recreational are.a,
rudimentary structure!'. WP..re erected to correct and channr:-1 aggressive desires
into creative confrontations.
The ego-world dialectic which unfolds in t he adjoining square, generates the
continuous errergence of oonflicting icleolCXJies. 'l11eir irnp:)sed co-e..'<istence
invokes childish dre.-i.ms uncl the desire to plcly. This park is a reservoir of
sustained tension waiting to be used: A gi~antic playground of flcx.ibl e
dimensions to aco:moclate the only sport played in the strip: Aggression
Here, the conflicts bel-ween corresponding antagonisms are re-enacted and fought
out: The battles that are· staged, dissolve the corrosive hysteriu of good
manners. In fact on an individual level, this park is a sanatorium where patients
recqver from ramnants of infections they brought w1.th thon fran the old world:
Hypocricy and genocide. The diagnoses provoke richer forms of intercourse.
The most prom.inent edifices are the l."WO towers. One of them is infinite; a
continuous spiral stretche1 out of an elastic pi<..><::e of rock. The other tower
has a familiar architectural style and consists of 42 plutforms. Magnetic
fields help create a tension between these ta.-,ers which mirrors the psychological
not~vations of their users.
Entry to the park is fr.ee , and perfonl\-"ll1ces contir.uous . Visitors arrive alone,
in pairs or small groups ; the electrifying uncertainty about the safety of
the square tower is canpensatoo by the aggressive confidence of the players .
Visitors withdraw into the shelves inside the tower. which contains cells for
the use of suppressed hatred, and where contestants freely abuse each other.
But the Shelves are also viewing galleries overlex:>king the bigger platforms
of tl1e tower., and private antagonists becare spectators. As such they are
provoked into joining larger groups involved in unknO\-m physical transactior.s
below, thich expose ari amazing side of violence. As rannants· of shyness are
over~, they add their private energies to this incredibly demanding and
mutant form of sociable behaviour. In an agitated sleep, they walk higher
up in the tower. 1\s they pierce each flcx::>r, they experience an infinite
variety of exchanges, they get an increasingly good view of things below,
and an exhilarating, new sensation of the unfoJ.c::!.ng spectacle around their
architecture of great heights.
As their tower leans forward, they push their antagonist- into the abySJMl fall
inside the relentless spiral of introspection. Its digestive rrovement consumes
excessive softness: it is the rombustion chamber f or. the fat under the skin.
The htman missiles , helped by the centrifugal acceleration, escape through a
chosen opening in the walls of the sprial, objects of terrifying energy into
a trajectory of irrestible tenptations.
The entire surface of the park, the air space alxwe and the cavities below it
are now a full scale r--'.!t.t.kfield. As the operations continue i-.-,to the night
they take the appearaiace of hallucinatory celebrations , against the rock.drop
of an abandoned \\Urld of calculated extermination, and polite irmobility.
As they return fran their nocturnal adventures they celebrate their collective
victories in a gigantic arena that crosses the park diagonully.
The small buildings in the corner of the park arc old building b:.u-racks used for
the construction of the towers now used as ch,inging roans. In the 3 l,tt'ge halls
(the old site offices) pacts are signed and new relationsh:l.ps consolidated.
THE ALWITMENTS

In this part of the strip, the Voluntary Prisoners each have a small piece of
land for private cultivation; they n:::xxi thii:; to recr.>ver in privacy from the
demands the intense collectivism c1nd the cann\.ll'lill way of life make on them.
The allotnents are well SUP°...rvised, so that both external and internal disturbances
can be avoided, or at l east quickly suppr essed.

Media intake in this area is nil.

Papers are banned, radios mysteriously out of or der, the whole concept of 'news'
is ridiculed by the patient devotion with whi.ch the plots are ploughed, the
surfaces are scrubbed, polished and anbellished.
•rime has been suppreszed.

· Nothing ever happens here, yet the air is heavy with exhilaration
The houses on these allottments are built fran the nost lush and expensive
materials (marble, cro:anium, steel), - small Pc1laces for the People . ·

On this sharrelessly subliminal level this sfoiple /\rchitecture succeeds in its

secret ambition to instill 'gratitude' and 'contentrrent'.
 THE /\.V(MAJ.,,

To express their everlasting gratitude the voluntary prisoners sing an ode on.
the Architect ure by w1ich the-.1 are forever e..closed:

' De ce Terrible paysage

Que jamais oeH nortel ne vit ,
Ce matin enc.."Orc l 'in'age,
Vague et lointaine, rre ravit •••
'J'avais banni de ces npectacles
Le vegetal irregulier •..

Je savourais dans rron tableau

L •cnivrante ( ! ) nonotonie
Du rretal, du marbre et de l ' eau..

' Babel d ' escaliers et d ' arcades

·c ' etait un palais infini ,
Plein de bassins et dt• ~ascades
Taubant dans 1 ' or mat ou bruni;

' Et des cataractes pesantes,

· CCmne des rideaux de cristal,
Se suspendaient, fil)lousissantes,
A des murailles de rretal.
'Non d ' arbres , nais de colonnades
Les etangs dormants s •e.'ttouraient,
-Ou de gigantesgues naiades,
Came des fenmes, se miraient.
•Des nappes d •eau s •ep,:mchaient, bleues,
Entre des guais r oGeic: et verts ,
Pendant des millions d~ lieues,
·ers l es oonfins de 1 •untvers ;
'C'etaient des pierres innoules
Et des flots magigues; c ' etaient
D' .i.mrenses giaces eblouies
Par tout ce qu ' elles refletaient.

' Et tout, n€me l a couleur noire ,

Serrol ait fourbi ,clair, irise . • •
' Nul astre d ' aillew:s , nuls vestiges
De soleil, ~ au bus du ciel,
Pour ill uminer ces pr.odiges,
Qui brillaient d'un feu personnel ( !) '
• ·EPIIJJGUE

Al though at first sight the metaphoriC<"ll rness«ge of these proposals may seem to
dan.inate practical coru:.iuerations , this is not another Utopian tale.

'l'he zone can ~ built today (if necessary in seg11¥?nts , p0rhaps with a 1rodified
location, perhaps with the segments droppad like stones, apart from ench other,
and only connected by the overlapping ripples caused by their i.mpnct on the
w:bnn pond, i.e. like true social condensers) . It requires a fundarnent.al belief
in cities as the incubators of social desires, the synthetic mc:iterialisntions
of all dreams. If people wa-e all<Med to bccane ac.'(]Uaintcd with l\.rchitecture
they would decide to re- appropriate t he physical and ideological decay of our
Urban Societies and to rehabilitate their pre::1nises with the wetropolitan ideal
and life style.

Under the threat of dean, the camon concern, that is the ft1llfilment of all
private desires within a subljminally collective and deliriously pennissive
camon effort, produces phantan prop::>sals , in the kncMledge that phantan
reality is the only possible successor to the present reality shortage.

Like the castaways on U1e raft of the Medusa, the last surviving realists ,
hanging on the parachute of hope are dropping on tiie rescue ship THE CITY>
which, at the end of cannibalism, will appear in the horizon .