Delirious New York A Retroactive

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Delirious New York A Retroactive

Since it is basi publication in 1978, Delirious New York has attained mythic status. Back in print in a newly designed edition, this influential cultural, architectural, and social history of New York is even more popular, selling out it is primary printing on publication. Rem Koolhaas’s celebration and analysis of New York depicts the city as a metaphor for the unbelievable potpourri of humane behavior. At the end of the nineteenth century, population, information, and technology explosions made Manhattan a laboratory for the invention and testing of a metropolitan life style — “the culture of congestion” — and it is architecture.

“Manhattan,” he writes, “is the 20th century’s Rosetta Stone . . . occupied by architectural mutations (Central Park, the Skyscraper), utopian fragments (Rockefeller Center, the U.N. Building), and irrational phenomena (Radio City Music Hall).” Koolhaas interprets and reinterprets the dynamic kinship amidst architecture and culture in a number of telling sequences of New York’s history, including the imposition of the Manhattan grid, the creation of Coney Island, and the development of the skyscraper. Delirious New York is also packed with intriguing and fun facts and illustrated with witty watercolors and quirky archival drawings, photographs, postcards, and maps. The spirit of this visionary investigation of Manhattan equals the energy of the city itself.

ReviewIn this fanciful volume, Dutch architect Rem Koolhaas, founder of the Office for Metropolitan Architecture (O.M.A.), both analyzes and celebrates New York City. By proposing the city as the web site for an infinite assortment of humane actions and events–both real and imagined–the essence of the metropolitan lifestyle, it is “culture of congestion” and it is architecture are revealed in a brilliant new light. “Manhattan,” Koolhaas writes, “is the 20th century’s Rosetta stone . . . occupied by architectural mutations (Central Park, the Skyscraper), utopian fragments (Rockefeller Center, the U.N. Building), and irrational phenomena (Radio City Music Hall).” Filled with arousing and attention holding facts, as well as photographs, postcards, maps, watercolors, and drawings, the vibrancy of Koolhaas’s poignant exploration of Gotham equals the heady, frenetic energy of the city itself. Anyone who loves New York will want to own this book.

From Library Journal”Koolhaas’s retroactive manifesto explains Manhattan’s architecture as the physical embodiment of a ‘culture of congestion,’ ” said LJ’s reviewer of this mixture of architectural theory and social commentary (LJ 3/15/79).
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About the AuthorRem Koolhaas is the globally known architect, a founder of the Office for Metropolitan Architecture (O.M.A.) in Rotterdam, and author of the gravely acclaimed S,M,L,XL.

Most helpful customer reviews

41 of 43 people found the following review helpful.
Mandatory Reading
By A
I originally read the first edition of this book when it came out in the 70s. It completely transformed (or formed) my thinking about the city, the processes by which a city develops and grows, and the innate playfulness of the city as a form. Despite its deceptive simplicity, I believe that this book will emerge as one of the essential texts of the twentieth century on urban design. Read it!

25 of 28 people found the following review helpful.
A great starting point.
By Witold Riedel
An easily digestible read filled with delicious facts about the big apple. This book can change the way one sees New York forever. Be it from a street level, or from an intellectual level. “Delirious New York” helps to rediscover Manhattan, and it helps to discover the idea of Manhattan in places far away from “The City”.

This publication is a perfect starting point for any exploration into the past or the future of urbanism, architecture, and of course New York City and the people who helped to shape this ever growing marvel.

A must read, and a perfect gift for anyone who is even remotely touched by New York.

21 of 23 people found the following review helpful.
Compelling History of Manhattan
By kent@gateway.net.au
A romp through New York’s sometimes jaded history with a view to uncover the roots of the modern metropolis and the singular element devised by architects to inspire (amuse?) the masses – the Skyscraper. The book looks at Coney Island as the testing ground of the Skyscaper, Manhatten as further exploration of the Skyscaper which is trialed in the name of symbols of a propserous future, economic rationale and pushing the envelope to its limits and finishes with Office of Metropolitian Architecture’s own experimental projects in New York. A very compelling history of a complex city.