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Dutch architect Rem Koolhaas talks to SPIEGEL about the new Fondazione Prada museum he designed in Milan, the danger of turning cities into historical Disneylands and his desire to raze an entire neighborhood of Paris. [...]
Koolhaas: Before the 1980s, the decisions were made by cities. Since then power has shifted toward private investors. Nothing good has come of this for Holland. [...] I regret that cities no longer have money to even pursue a vision of their ongoing development.
— spiegel.de
"Here is a nice excursion into the early days of the discussion on facades and how to avoid them. Wish I had seen it in real, and at the time. " - via Karen LohrmannSome excerpts from the conversation between Rem Koolhaas, Stefano de Martino and Léa-Catherine Szacka discussing post modernism... View full entry
Filmmaker Wes Anderson has a knack for creating fictional spaces with attention paid to the last excruciating detail. His latest space is real, though, and even better, you can get a drink there. [...]
Three new buildings, which were part of a century-old distillery and transformed by renowned Dutch architect Rem Koolhaas, will now house art rather than alcohol. But for the thirsty there’s also a new bar, called Bar Luce, that Anderson designed himself.
— qz.com
Related: OMA's Prada Foundation Arts Complex in Milan View full entry
Seventy years after the end of the war, Berlin is finally filling the last gaps left by Allied bombs, which destroyed more than two-thirds of the buildings in the city center. Architects say the construction boom offers Berlin a chance to make up for decades of bad planning and mediocre architecture. “This is a new time in Berlin,” says Libeskind [...]. “It’s one of the great cities of the world, and we expect it to compete. We don’t expect it to be some backwater.” — bloomberg.com
Previously:OMA wins Axel Springer Berlin HQ competitionBerlin's Alexanderplatz high-rise developments continue to take shapeLondon’s architecture lacks Berlin’s sense of culture, says ChipperfieldBerlin After the Wall: A Microcosm of the World’s Chaotic Change View full entry
After years of delays, Amsterdam RAI is getting its own hotel and with its 650 rooms, Nhow RAI will win the title of largest hotel in the Netherlands. The design of the building was chosen from eleven candidates and is designed by Rem Koolhaas from well-known Rotterdam architecture firm OMA. [...]
Among the features will be a virtual 3D holographic meeting space for having “in person” meetings with the holographs of people in another location.
— nltimes.nl
Some of the spaces are as Mr. Koolhaas found them; others have been reconfigured but look as though they haven’t been touched. The three new buildings are made of glass, white concrete and an aluminum — NYT
Carol Vogel writes about the Prada Foundation’s new arts complex in Milan, designed by OMA. View full entry
Wilshire Boulevard Temple, famous for its ornate 1929 synagogue, is trying to create another Los Angeles landmark, negotiating with the Pritzker Prize-winning Dutch architect Rem Koolhaas to design a building next door for special events. It would be open for use by the public as well as by congregants.
“Architecture is a form of prayer,” said Rabbi Steven Z. Leder of the Reform congregation, which is in Koreatown.
— nytimes.com
Architecture has entered into a new engagement with digital culture and capital—which amounts to the most radical change within the discipline since the confluence of modernism and industrial production in the early twentieth century. Yet this shift has gone largely unnoticed, because it has not taken the form of a visible upheaval or wholesale transformation. To the contrary: It is a stealthy infiltration of architecture via its constituent elements. — Art Forum
In this brief but sweeping consideration of the place of architecture under today's "digital regime," Koolhaas displays (again) his unique insightfulness.Here are some highlights:"For thousands of years, the elements of architecture were deaf and mute—they could be trusted. Now, many of them are... View full entry
[Rem Koolhaas] addressed a packed auditorium at the American University of Sharjah on Tuesday..."Dubai has escaped from its architectural caricatures,” Mr Koolhaas said... [He] had a positive outlook on the region despite recent upheaval and said that it provided the opportunity for the dawn of something new. He also praised the involvement of the country’s rulers and the freedom they have given to designers to transform the landscape of the region. — thenational.ae
Gimme Shelter has learned exclusively that developer The Related Companies has hired Rem Koolhaas to design their new High Line project on W. 18th St. — nypost.com
Thirty-seven years after Delirious New York, Koolhaas may finally have a building in New York City. While OMA has worked on a variety of commercial interiors in NYC before, as well as being a part of HUD's Rebuilding by Design, the High Line residence will be the firm's first "ground-up" building... View full entry
In The Wall Street Journal Magazine's upcoming February issue, writer Tony Perrottet tells the history and potential of the Garage Museum of Contemporary Art and its location in Moscow's Gorky Park, as he visits the site to meet with art philanthropist Dasha Zhukova and Rem Koolhaas. Founded by... View full entry
In light of the above, we are appealing to you in your roles as founder and lead architect of the firm, and as an educator and a public intellectual, to side by us in advocating to your client, but also to planning and urban authorities in Beirut the preservation of a site with unique characteristics, and withdraw services on this project. If such advocacy efforts falter, we urge you to dissociate yourself and your firm from this contentious project. — Jadaliyya
We have recently learned that the Office for Metropolitan Architecture (OMA) has been commissioned to develop a design for a projected development on a prime sea-front location in Beirut (Lebanon): the Dalieh of Raoucheh. Proposing a private development over such a prime social, national... View full entry
The 14th International Architecture Exhibition at the Venice Biennale closed this Sunday. Curated by Rem Koolhaas, the controversial exhibition was themed "Fundamentals," inviting the 65 national pavilions (a record number) to critically consider the legacy of modernism. For the central pavilion... View full entry
The rhetoric of smart cities would be more persuasive if the environment that the technology companies create was actually a compelling one that offered models for what the city can be. But if you look at Silicon Valley you see that the greatest innovators in the digital field have created a bland suburban environment that is becoming increasingly exclusive — European Commissioner for the Digital Agenda for Europe
Back in September Rem Koolhaas gave a talk at the High Level Group meeting on Smart Cities, Brussels, 24 September 2014. During the talk he asked what really makes a city "smart", and argued that it's critical for smart cities and governments to converge again. h/t @Bruce Sterling View full entry
Friday, October 3:Eisenhower Memorial clears key hurdle on Gehry design: In a positive step for the Memorial's Approving Process Odyssey, the National Capital Planning Commission has OK'd the Commission on Fine Arts (the other federal body that must approve the design) to vote on the... View full entry