Hiroshi Hara’s Discrete City and Rem Koolhaas’s Bigness represent two contrasting paradigms of mega-scale architecture, exemplified by Kyoto Station (1997) and the unbuilt Zeebrugge Terminal (1989). In S, M, L, XL, Koolhaas (1995) claims that “beyond a certain scale, architecture acquires the properties of Bigness” (p. 495), and that “Bigness is no longer part of any urban tissue. It exists; at most, it coexists” (p. 502). Once a project reaches such dimensions, it becomes a self-contained urban island, absorbing all complexity internally and rejecting contextual relationships.
In contrast, Hara’s Discrete City proposes a porous, modular, and fragmented model based on “One-person cities”—autonomous yet interconnected units. Unlike the modern city’s continuous and homogenized fabric, the Discrete City fosters spatial and cultural complexity by maintaining difference while enabling new forms of coexistence. As Hara notes, “I considered the entire city as a semiotic field and added attractors in specific areas to revitalise it,” and “small semiotic fields realised in a single building can be exemplified by Kyoto Station” (Bognar, 2001, p. 163).
Spatially, Kyoto Station embodies this principle by layering transport, commerce, and culture around a multi-level concourse. Grand stair terraces and aerial walkways create a public passage through the building, functioning as an interior urban street that encourages circulation and encounter. Koolhaas’s Zeebrugge Terminal, by contrast, internalizes movement: a vertically stacked program—from ferry docks to a panoramic hall—structures a controlled transition entirely enclosed within one object.
Both projects employ the idea of passage, but with opposite effects: one opens to the city, the other withdraws from it. This comparison reveals not only two antagonistic visions of the city, but two diverging strategies for conceiving architecture as an agent of urban connectivity or isolation.
Bibliography
- Hara, H. (2004). Discrete City. Tokyo: TOTO Publishing.
- Koolhaas, R., & Mau, B. (1995). S, M, L, XL. New York: The Monacelli Press.
- Bognár, B. (2001). Hiroshi Hara: The Floating World of His Architecture. Chichester: Wiley-Academy
