Archinect - News

The Boompjes project, Stefano de Martino at OMA

2019-02-25T00:03:00-05:00

There was no programme, there were no plans. It was a tectonic exploration of form, articulation and presence—the gratification to work on a form by virtue of its own rules: scale, proportions, aspect, consistency.

"The triptych itself started with an A3 drawing of the building, gradually expanding it with the growing context and plot. Rem came with the idea of featuring different aspects of the whole project in one drawing. I devised a series of overlays floating over the main image to visualize all kinds of information. An otherwise classic aerial view became a multilayered panoply of information, a mash-up of scales and techniques.'

OMA (1975), triptych, Boompjes Tower Slab, 1982. Colour silkscreen print, 716 × 1216 mm. Silkscreener: Bernard Ruygrok.

"Rem wanted to show the building as you drove past it. Following the curves you would see the building from many different angles. From there I invented a set of perspectives that I called ‘autogrammes’. They show the building unfolding and collapsing as you drove toward it and swerved away over the bridge. Another diagram explains the transparency of the slab/tower and how the slanted towers reflect the water back into the city. In addition ther...

Translucent oppositions. OMA’s proposal for the 1980 Venice Architecture Biennale

2015-05-12T11:44:00-04:00

"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 Lohrmann

Some excerpts from the conversation between Rem Koolhaas, Stefano de Martino and Léa-Catherine Szacka discussing post modernism, 1980 Venice Architecture Biennale and the opposition to facadism from the early collaborators.

A historical delight!

Stefano de Martino [SdM]: The piece of canvas was a temporary screen – the only concession to an exterior presence was the OMA neon sign. We did not play the formalist game, proving that architecture can be very little, that you can concentrate on content.

Rem Koolhaas: I hated the idea of having to do a facade, even more a facade to represent oneself. So there were essentially a number of things that we wanted to avoid.

SdM: We were never into facadism. Maybe now that it’s all about facades, you don’t hear this word anymore, but at the time it was an insult. We saw the Strada Noviss...

Next Archinect Sessions: Saturday, November 19

2011-11-10T18:46:00-05:00

Archinect and Cal Poly Pomona are pleased to present Part 3 of the series Archinect Sessions @ the VDL. Saturday, November 19th @ 3:00 pm @ the Neutra VDL Research House. This discussion will be on the production of public space with USC's Stefano de Martino and UC Berkeley Geographer, Javier Arbona in conversation with Orhan Ayyuce. The session is free and open to the public although seating is limited so please reserve your seats today, donations for the ongoing restoration of the house are welcome.