WORKS Empty Box

We put thins in a box usually for one of two reasons. One is to collect and consolidate objects that otherwise would be scattered and without any connection to one another. The other is to store and protect objects that are irregularly shaped or of delicate construction. In the first instance, the main purpose of the box is to function as a closed internal membrane, linking together enclosed objects. In the second, the main purpose of the box is to function as a secure outer shell, protecting the contents from the external world. In architecture, "boxes" are generally regarded as useless white elephants that are all form and no content. Buildings that are boxes in that sense are in essence very similar, even though they may be constructed in very different spaces. The capabilities of such boxes, be they schools, hospitals or theaters, are determined based on value judgments made through empirical evidence regarding predetermined contents. Those that are intended to be "multipurpose" and not restricted to any single function tend to be criticized as "without purpose" and ill-suited to any of the uses to which they may be put. Neglecting content and concerning ourselves only with the construction of boxes is of course out of the question. However, we need to consider the two reasons we put things in boxes in the first place. It should be obvious that designing a building exclusively for some particular, predetermined use is likely to make the building less adaptable to any possible functional change during the course of its life, just as designing packaging so that it closely follows the shape and contour of its content is apt to turn it simply into useless waste material the moment it is undone. We need to go back to the basic idea of and abstract box in designing architecture in the future.