Delirious New York: A Retroactive Manifesto For 
Manhattan

Rem Koolhaas

Delirious New York has emphasized the signature architecture of Manhattan. The most trial topic is the ubiquitous “culture of congestion”. In this advanced technology era, people eager to run from the hustle and bustle of the city. On road, congestion has triggered the possibility of incident, delaying well-organized schedule and let users down. The negative effect caused by the urban development should be curb wisely or else physiology and social problems may occurred. The traffic flow nearby Jalan Sungai Chua, Kajang is not really smooth as there are branches of small lanes with one-way path separated from the main road. It means that the users may face the hardship of road congestion especially during the peak hours.

However, the city of New York is arranged in an orderly way by interconnecting the grid lines. Each block are corresponding to respective chapter which are Coney Island, Skyscraper, Rockefeller Centre and Europeans. The spirit of determination from Manhattan has reflected through his action―remove territory with the aim of protecting nature and humanity. In Taman Kajang Raya, the buildings have performed in a straight and uniform style to provide a sense of immaculate, shows interaction between components and harmonize the buildings.

Ecstasy is the primary element of Delirious New York. Manhattan was indulged in direct proportion but it was too distant. In short, the scenario of Delirious New York is boosted by greed. According to Rem Koolhaas, “In a laughing mirror-image of the seriousness with which the rest of the world is obsessed with Progress, Coney Island attacks the problem of Pleasure, often with the same technological means.” This has highlighted such fantastic power of the technological evolution could reach a peak in the future.

The application of Architectural Lobotomy impart a modernistic and cultural message to a certain building. By separating the interior and exterior design, visitors could experience two different architectural style as it is visually aesthetic. One of the best example is the Murray’s Roman Garden, which has apply grid system, promote metropolitan culture with the aid of modern technology inside and covered with ancient architectural façade.

Front Facade of  Murray’s Roman Garden

Interior of Murray's Roman Garden

Last but not least, the most significant things that I learned from Delirious New York is the manifesto, theory and spirit of Manhattan. Theory has reflects human perspective in addition to the reaction of nature. Ergo, the wisdom and inner characteristics of Rem Koolhaas obviously appeared through every phrases. Through this book, I have a deeper knowledge about urbanism, Manhattanism, historism and New York civilization. Theories are efficient as it able to lead the community to a higher level. However, it should not become the whole pie in lifestyle, theory is a reference of certain condition but not a regulation to fix every single kind of obstacles.

Written by Wong Rong Song,1001746688