Wednesday, October 25, 2006

Jumeirah Beach Residence No Fata Morgana

Looking for jewels in the desert? Dubai Properties and the Office of Metropolitan Architecture are partners. The first joint project comes in the form of two buildings centrally located in the Dubai Business Bay including an 80-meter tall, cylindrically shaped residential building with a floor space of 30,000 square meters. In addition to apartments, underground parking and a spa area, the building will also house a variety of shops on the lobby level. The second and adjacent building, a futuristic glass cube of 20 floors with a floor space of 85,000 square meters in total, will accommodate office rooms.

Rem Koolhaas and Fernando Donis of OMA will be responsible for the design of the two buildings. The Porsche Design Studio will play a consulting role for the outdoor architecture. Furthermore, PDS will be in charge of designing public areas such as the lobby, restaurants and passenger lifts. Upon residents' request, apartments may be equipped with furniture, lighting units and kitchens by Porsche Design.
At the beginning of 2007, the German real estate agents Engel & Völkers of Hamburg will start to market both the apartments and office rooms. Both buildings are scheduled to be completed by the end of 2009. Porsche Design signs cooperation contract involving the interior of the building projects.

"The two construction projectemphasizese the great trust placed by the international finance community into Dubai as an innovative metropolis," says Hashim Al Dabal, CEO of Dubai Properties. "While the architecture and interior design of these two buildings will definitely attract a lot of attention, they will also contribute a valuable added bonus to Dubai Business Bay.

Roland Heiler, Managing director of the Porsche Design Studio in Zell am See: "We are delighted to be able to work on this project with internationally acclaimed partners like Dubai Properties and Rem Koolhaas. What is more, the new buildings provide an ideal platform from which we can further expand the presence of our brand in this important region."

Dubai Properties LLC is one of the three major real estate development companies of Dubai and a member of the publicly-owned Dubai Holding. Among other things, the company is the building contractor in charge of the Jumeirah Beach Residence real estate project, which includes apartments, villas and hotels but also leisure facilities such as shopping centers, sport and fitness clubs, and office rooms. Furthermore, Dubai Properties developed the Business Bay area, a property of 6.4 million squarmeterses where both residential and commercial buildings are planned.

Porsche Design is a global luxury men'’s brand and is hallmarked by engineered products. Professor Ferdinand Alexander Porsche established the Porsche Design brand in 1972 and the products attract consumers with their technical innovation, and represent functionality, and timelessness in its purest form. Porsche Design products are sold in exclusively owned retail and franchise stores, shop-in-shops, upscale department stores, and specialty stores.
The Porsche Design Studio is located in Zell am See, Austria, asymbolizesses the distinctive, classic styling typical of all products of the Porsche Design Group. The Studio also works for third parties active in the fields of industrial and product styling. It is one of the most renowned design studios of Europe.

Rem Koolhaas was born in Rotterdam in 1944 and is one of the most famous internationally acclaimed architects of our time. The best-known projects created by the architectsÂ’ office OMA, which was founded in 1975, include the Dutch Embassy in Berlin, the concert hall Casa da Musica in Porto and the Public Library in Seattle. On top of numerous other awards, Koolhaas received the >Pritzker Prize, which is generally held to be the equivalent of the >Nobel Prize in architecture.

Wednesday, October 18, 2006

Koolhaas to design Rothschild Headquarters

In 1975 Rem Koolhaas, Madelon Vriesendorp and Elia and Zoe Zenghelis founded the Office of Metropolitan Architecture in London. Thirty-five years later Rem Koolhaas is hired by David Rothschild to design the new headquarters of the Rothschild investment bank in The City.
The ten story building will be topped by the "Sky Pavilion" from where clients will be able to enjoy the view of landmarks such as St. Paul's Cathedral. The building is expected to be finished within three years time.

Iwan Baan for OMA at MoMa

November 15, 2006 – February 26, 2007, the walls at MoMa's Architecture and Design Galleries will be papered with Iwan Baan's photographs of OMA's CCTV in Beijing.

Tuesday, October 17, 2006

OMA in Beijing at MoMa

November 15, 2006 – February 26, 2007, MoMa presents designs OMA - Ole Scheeren and Rem Koolhaas, for CCTV in Beijing. The Architecture and Design Galleries will be wall papered with Iwan Baan's photographs of OMA in Beijing.

From the web site of MoMa:

"The China Central Television Headquarters by Ole Scheeren and Rem Koolhaas is one of the most innovative architecture projects under construction today. Scheduled to open for the Beijing Olympics in 2008, the complex, which comprises three buildings and a media park situated on a site east of Beijing's Forbidden City, embodies a proposal for social and urban change through a rethinking of the tall building. CCTV is a private building that will have a uniquely public Visitor's Loop, while its mirror image—TVCC, or the Television Cultural Center—is a public structure housing a state-of-the-art broadcasting theater, cultural facilities, and a five-star hotel.

"The international architectural partnership Office of Metropolitan Architecture (OMA) won the competition for its design in 2002, and the project broke ground in 2004, with OMA partner Ole Scheeren leading its design and execution. The immersive installation explores the project's internal complexity and richness, its integration of public and private uses, and its structural innovation through an array of graphics, renderings, and explanatory texts as well as large- and small-scale models,many of them presented publicly here for the first time. A selection of architectural drawings from MoMA's collection will situate the project as one of the most visionary undertakings in the history of modern architecture."

The exhibit is organized by Tina di Carlo, Assistant Curator, Department of Architecture and Design, and Alexandra Quantrill, Curatorial Assistant, Department of Architecture and Design.

Tuesday, October 10, 2006

Serpentine Gallery Post Marathon October 13-14

During the Serpentine Gallery Marathon: London in July 2006, Rem Koolhaas and Hans Ulrich Obrist interviewed more than 70 protagonists of the London scene. Following the enormous success of this event, Post Marathon will feature live interviews with key figures about the influence of commerce on the cultural industry.

Post-Marathon live events at the Serpentine Gallery Pavilion:

Friday 13 October 2006 6:30-7:30 p.m. Rem Koolhaas and Hans Ulrich Obrist interview Jeff Koons

Saturday 14 October 2006 12 Noon-6 p.m. Rem Koolhaas and Hans Ulrich Obrist will conduct a series of interviews
to key players and thinkers in the cultural and financial world.

Speakers include: Thomas Demand, Chris Dercon, Jimmie Durham and Maria Thereza Alves, Dan Graham, Zaha Hadid, Samuel Keller, Tobias Meyer, Sarah Morris, Miuccia Prada, Saskia Sassen, Matthew Slotover and Amanda Sharp, Gayatri Chacrovati Spivak, Stephan Truby.

Post-Marathon is conceived as live research into the growing interest of investors and economic forces in the cultural industry - cultural studies, contemporary art and architecture in particular. New attitudes such as sponsorship of cultural events as a more efficient form of branding and advertising, management's use of critical theory, and the
interest of hedge funds and corporations in art collecting as a form of investment have recently changed the relationship between finance and culture.

Post-Marathon will address issues of power and the invisible laws governing the art market and the art world as well as the interaction between money, culture and creativity in a global perspective. The corporate and financial world and finance are capitalizing on culture not only with contemporary art acquisition, but also by rediscovering the key role of culture as well as western aesthetics in the globalised economy. More and more, business and industry is looking at art, architecture and
culture as a source for new inspiration. Is this interest shaping a new cultural and economic scenario? Why are the financial and business worlds interested in the previously disregarded cultural industries?

Post-Marathon purposely takes place during the Frieze Art Fair, a major event for art and for London that has changed the cultural landscape of the city. Such a background will be the perfect occasion to investigate the overlap and interaction between capital and culture. Post-Marathon will seek to consider the current situation and to identify new categories for the understanding of the changing role of culture in the global economy.

Tickets: Friday 13 October £5 (£3 concession), Saturday 14 October £10 (£8 concession), TicketWeb 08700 600100
www.ticketweb.co.uk, www.timeout.com/parknights, or at the Gallery Lobby Desk, Phone: 020 7402 6075
Press Enquiries: Tom Coupe, 020 7298 1528 tomc@serpentinegallery.org

Wednesday, October 04, 2006

Contemporary Art Museum in Riga, Latvia

image Office of Metropolitan Architecture.

The OMA team, led by Rem Koolhaas and Reinier de Graaf has finished the design for the Latvian Contemporary Art Museum in Riga. Local cooperator is "Jaunr?gas att?st?bas uz??mums" Ltd. The project is one of the first examples of public and private partnerships in Latvia.

OMA has developed the complete concept for re-appropriation of the old TEC-1 building in Andrejsala, location of the former electricity center, and Riga's artsy enclave. Within the territory of almost 40 hectares public and residential space is combined.