The architecture of the last five years has shown a clear trend towards simple, reduced forms. This is
not only noticeable amongst the prophets of a 'new simplicity' and the disciples of minimalism. High-tech
architecture, too, after a phase of techno-expression and pop-art has come closer to the cool, calm
objectivity of 'slick-skin' buildings, while the work of O.M.A. and their successors has developed from
collage buildings (e.g. Dans Theater Den Haag) to almost monolithic structures (e.g. Congrexpo, ZKM or
the libraries for Paris). And Hans Kollhoff has turned from his earlier expressive large-scale forms to
'conventionalism'. Following an era of formal experimentation, eclecticism and fragmentation, beginning
with post-modernism and reaching its peak (and perhaps the end of the line) with deconstruction,
today's architecture appears to be developing in the opposite direction. The most talked-about
architecture of the present day is being built in two countries largely untouched by post-modernism:
Switzerland and Holland. In contrast with the post-modern collage on the one hand and the modernist
concept of dividing up, separating out and stacking on the other, there is a move towards monolithic
coherence. It is interesting that despite the many regional and theoretical diversities this seems to be a
general trend, which we call here 'formlessness'.