Exodus, or the Voluntary Prisoners of Architecture: The Central Area
Rem Koolhaas
Dutch, born 1944
Madelon Vriesendorp
Dutch, born 1945
Elia Zenghelis
British, born Greece 1937
Zoe Zenghelis
British, born Greece 1937
1972
A delicate graphite-and-watercolor plan by Rem Koolhaas proposing a speculative “central area” that stages circulation, confinement, and programmed public space within a rigorously divided urban scheme.
What strikes you is the cool, measured geometry — a central nine-square grid pierced by circular portholes, pale green park fragments mapped with angular lines, and a thin vertical spine or ramp that visually ties the disparate compartments together against generous white space.
Part of Koolhaas’s 1972 Exodus project, this sheet helped recast architectural drawing as critical narrative, advancing experimental urban theory and a new, provocative language for representing and questioning modern planning.
Medium
Graphite and watercolor on paper
Dimensions
16 3/8 x 11 1/4" (41.6 x 28.6 cm)
Classification
Department
Credit
Gift of Patricia Phelps de Cisneros, Takeo Ohbayashi Purchase Fund, and Susan de Menil Purchase Fund
Accession
365.1996
Palette
Art Terms
Exhibitions
