Metamorphosis Binckhorst

After designing the tram tunnel and Netherlands Dance Theatre for The Hague, Rem Koolhaas and OMA embark on a mega project in the residential Dutch city. Chosen out of three competing firms, the Office of Metropolitan Architecture will give new life to the old industrial area called Binckhorst.
Projected changes include revamping of the Brinckhorstlaan into the Champs Elysées of the North.


Existing landmarks on the ±250 acres are the former Caballero Factory, a wind mill, cemeterySint Barbara, a harbor and a castle Kasteel Binckhorst.

The Binckhorst will become a residential area with 4500 - 5000 homes of which 30% will be social- or subsidized housing.

The plans for the area, which will be presented in October of 2006, will include office space, restaurants, cafes, shops and other facilities which will stimulate job possibilities within the neighborhood. At the moment 1100 people work at Binckhorst, the projected number for 2025 is 15,000 according to the advice by Houthoff Burumawhich was published in March of this year.

Iwan Baan at Serpentine Pavilion Opening

Photographer Iwan Baan sheds his new media light on the opening of the Serpentine Pavilion Gallery. See "the egg" up close by day and by night.

Tony Hall visits Serpentine Pavilion

Some people get to have all the fun. Check out, and keep an eye on Tony Hall's blog. He posted some well taken photograps of the Serpentine Pavilion in London on his blog. According to his comment at this -OMA Arch. Fan in Seattle- site, he'll be attending some of the presentations within "the egg".

Time Out Park Nights at the Serpentine Gallery

SERPENTINE GALLERY MARATHON: LONDON

STARTS 6pm FRIDAY 28 JULY
ENDS 6pm SATURDAY 29 JULY
24 HOURS

Rem Koolhaas and Hans Ulrich Obrist interview over 50 people in 24 hours. Leading artists, architects, philosophers, writers, filmmakers and economists debate critical issues of the day with particular focus on London.

FRIDAY 28 JULY
6pm - 9pm
Ken Adam / David Adjaye / Brian Eno / Zaha Hadid / Charles Jenks / Hanif Kureishi / Ken Loach / Tim O’Toole / Yinka Shonibare

9pm - 12am
Michael Clark / Tony Elliott / David Greene and Sam Hardingham / Susan Hiller / Tim Newburn / Tom McCarthy

SATURDAY 29 JULY
12am - 3am
Ron Arad / Marcus du Sautoy / Pedro Ferreira / Mark Leckey / Roger Hiorns / Olivia Plender / Peter Saville / Richard Wentworth / Jane and Louise Wilson / Cerith Wyn Evans

3am - 6am
Abake / Shumon Basar and Marcus Miessen / Anat Ben-David / Sophie Fiennes / Russell Haswell / Damien Hirst / Ant Genn

6am - 9am
Zygmunt Bauman / Michael Bracewell and Linder / Ryan Gander / Gilbert and George / Iain Sinclair / Caruso St John

9am - 12pm
Eleanor Bron / Mark Cousins / Giles Deacon and Katie Grand / Patrick Keiller / Isaac Julien / Doreen Massey / Mary Midgley

12pm - 3pm
Peter Cook / Richard Hamilton / Gustav Metzger / Gautam Malkani / Chantal Mouffe

3pm - 6pm
Tariq Ali / David Bailey / Hussein Chalayan / Doris Lessing / Milan Rai / Marina Warner

PAVILION TICKETS
The 24-hour interview marathon is made up of eight three-hour sessions. Each pavilion ticket allows access to the Pavilion for one three-hour session.

LAWN TICKETS
Access to the Pavilion lawn on Friday evening or all-day Saturday. Interviews will be relayed by audio outside the Pavilion.

Pavilion Tickets: £15 (£10 concessions) for a 3 hour session

Lawn Tickets: £5 (no re-admittance) Friday or Saturday

Serpentine Gallery
Kensington Gardens
London W2 3XA
T 020 7402 6075

Tickets
Time Out Park Nights
or at the Gallery Lobby Desk

Schedule of contributors may be subject to change

Time Out Park Nights at the Serpentine Gallery is supported by:
Arts Council England
Lottery Funded
The Royal Parks
Pilsner Urquell

Serpentine Gallery Pavilion 2006

On July 13 the the Serpentine Pavilion will be opened to the public. From then until October 15 all kinds of activities and events will take place. Rem Koolhaas will for instance interview artists he has invited himself. On July 28 and some time in October, a 24-hour debate marathon will take place. Admittance is free, and you can have a coffee or watch a video inside the Pavilion.

Realdania at Bryghusgrunden in Copenhagen

Judging committee of Realdania unanimously has chosen OMA to design buildings and public space on the location of the old Brewery site in the neighborhood called Bryghusgrunden.

Rem Koolhaas and Ellen van Loon will head the design team, while Chris van Duijn has been appointed to head the project team.

Within an area covering 12.000 square meters, the architects need to envision Realdania's new headquarters, gallery space for the Danish Architecture Centre, housing, offices and recreation areas. All this interspersed with public space, to create a lively ambiance. Projected opening date is in 2010.

Realdania is a strategic foundation created with the objective of initiating and supporting projects that improve the man made environment. The foundation's mission is to enhance quality of life in Denmark, by means of quality design and building.
Realdania was established in late 2000 following a merger between two large financial institutions. At the end of 2005 RealdaniaÂ’s net capital amounted to approx. 3,9 billion Euro. In 2005 the foundation's grants amounted to approximately 120 million Euro. Realdania is currently involved in approx. 45 strategic flagship projects and approx. 210 focus projects.

Gazprom

Rem Koolhaas is one of seven architects who have been invited to present a concept for a new office of the Russian gas company Gazprom in Saint Petersburg. The building should be 900 feet tall and may cost 750 million dollars.
Gazprom CEO Alexei Miller requires the design to fit well within the historic environment of the city. Community members will also have a say. This will be one of Saint Petersburg's most prestigious projects. The city has been attracting many national and international companies.
Whether the project will be realized isn't all together clear yet. Gazprom's stockholders would rather see the company invest money in nuclear energy projects. Interesting aside, Gazprom has interest in hunting clubs and raising pigs.

OMA in The Hague

OMA has had a close relationship with The Hague for over 25 years. Founded in London in 1975 in London, part of the reason to move the office to the Netherlands in 1978, was the firm's sketch design for the extension to the Dutch House of Commons. Today The Hague has the highest number of OMA buildings in the Netherlands. A good and timely reason for a show.

From June 23-August 20, 2006, Stroom a center for visual arts and architecture, houses the exhibit "OMA in the Hague". The first complete overview of all projects: studies, designs, master plans and built projects, such as the Netherlands Dance Theatre, pop/ rock venue Paard van Troje and The Souterrain. Also shown are designs that were never executed: the price winning design for the new city hall, the plans for the second city centre at the Prins Claus Plein and the visionary transformation of highway A13 into a grand boulevard comparable to the Champs Elysees in Paris. Projects which, had they become reality, would have completely changed the image of The Hague. Future OMA projects will be presented as well, such as the new neighborhood close to the Central Station and the master plan for the industrial area The Binckhorst.

Opening Reception: June 22, 2006 at 5 p.m.
Open to the public from June 23 - August 20, 2006
Wednesday - Sunday, 12 noon - 5 p.m.

To RSVP for a tour of built, never realized and future project sites on July 7, 2006 check out information at Stroom site
The tour starts at 11 a.m. and finishes around 6 p.m. The program includes lunch, and a lecture by one of OMA's partners Floris Alkemade. Fee € 37.50

It's also possible to just attend Alkemade's lecture "OMA in the Hague", at Het Paard van Troje, Prinsengracht 12, The Hague, for €5.-- RSVP at the Stroom site.

Stroom Den Haag
Hogewal 1-9
2514 HA Den Haag
The Netherlands

Stroom Den Haag

OMA is al meer dan 25 jaar nauw verbonden met de stad Den Haag. OMA verhuisde in 1978 vanuit Londen naar Nederland, mede naar aanleiding van hun schetsontwerp voor de nieuwbouw van de Tweede Kamer. Inmiddels is Den Haag uitgegroeid tot de stad met de hoogste ‘OMA-dichtheid’.
Met de tentoonstelling ‘OMA in Den Haag’ presenteert Stroom het eerste volledige overzicht van alle projecten: studies, ontwerpen, masterplannen en de gerealiseerde bouwprojecten, zoals het Nederlands Danstheater, poppodium Paard van Troje en het Souterrain. Daarnaast worden ook de niet-uitgevoerde ontwerpen getoond: het prijswinnende ontwerp voor het nieuwe stadhuis, het plan voor een tweede stadscentrum bij het Prins Clausplein en de transformatie van de A13 tot een boulevard met de allure van de Champs Elysées. Projecten die, als ze wel waren uitgevoerd, de stad Den Haag een heel ander gezicht zouden hebben gegeven. Ook de toekomstige OMA-projecten voor Den Haag komen aan bod, waaronder de nieuwbouw bij het Centraal Station en een masterplan voor industrieterrein De Binckhorst.

Opening: donderdag 22 juni 17.00 uur

23 juni t/m 20 augustus 2006
wo t/m zondag, 12.00 – 17.00 uur

Stroom Den Haag
Hogewal 1-9
2514 HA Den Haag
The Netherlands

Stroom Den Haag

Prince Ramus and King Koolhaas

Joshua Prince-Ramus is leaving the OMA nest, he's setting up office with another OMA architect, Erez Ella. The new partners are taking all of OMA's New York staff with them. Name of the new firm: REX.
Koolhaas keeps royal front in New York Times article of 5/14/2006.

OMA versus Austria

OMA used the idea of bar codes to design the logo for the European Union. The colors of the flags of participating countries take the place of the well known black and white verticals.
Austria chairs the EU at the moment and representatives claim that OMA is responsible for turning around the colors of the Baltic State. The order of the colors is blue black white, but appears as black blue white in the logo.
This is not a black and white issue, this is a colorful argument. May the true color surface.

Dee and Charles Wyly Theater in Dallas, Texas

OMA builds the Dee and Charles Wyly Theater at the Dallas Center of the Performing Arts.
Ground breaking took place on November 10, 2005.

Image courtesy OMA

Hard Hatted Joshua Prince-Ramus

OMA is all over the map. At the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) in Pasadena, Joshua Prince-Ramus leads the team that's working on the Walter and Leonore Annenberg Center for Information Science and Technology, while Los Angeles based Gruen Associates provides executive architecture services.

"We are delighted to have a design partner of the highest caliber in OMA. The combined intellect of Rem Koolhaas and Joshua Prince-Ramus will help us realize the full potential of the physical vision for IST," said David Baltimore, president of Caltech. "I am confident that they will design a building that will encourage the effective exchange of ideas across academic disciplines."

Peter Schroder, professor of computer science and chairman of the Annenberg Center building committee noted, "OMA's approach to the design of a building is as exacting and thorough as our approach to science and engineering. We have a real meeting of the minds."

Gruen Associates also has numerous well-known buildings to its credit, including such Los Angeles-area projects as the Museum of Contemporary Art, the Los Angeles Convention Center renovation, and the Pacific Design Center.

Caltech will be represented on the project by Bonnie Khang-Keating, the Institute's head architect and director of the architecture and engineering department on campus.

The Walter and Leonore Annenberg Center for Information Science and Technology will serve as the interdisciplinary home for IST at Caltech. IST brings together people from different academic backgrounds to work on challenging problems that share a common theme of information. It is the first activity of its kind in the nation organized at an institutional level.

Rem Koolhaas returns to Alma Mater

OMA has signed with Cornell University in Ithaca, N.Y. to design the new Millstein Hall.

The new building will be used by the College of Architecture, Art and Planning and will accommodate classrooms, studios and office spaces for each of the College's departments. The building will also offer a major lecture hall, as well as a boardroom.

OMA's design will enable integration with an already existing building, which in previous design concepts had been earmarked for demolition. The project budget is estimated at US $34 million and groundbreaking will start in 2007.

Joshua Prince-Ramus, OMA partner and head of the firm's New York office, will lead the design team, together with Rem Koolhaas, who is a 1972 AA graduate, and one of the department's visiting lecturers since 2005.

AMO & Platform 21

AMO, OMA's research office for architecture and new markets is involved with concept consulting for Platform 21


Quote:

"Platform 21 is a new stage for design, fashion and creation.
As our name implies, Platform 21's focus is on contemporary issues and topics that will be of relevance in the future. We aim to create dynamic spaces for a variety of projects and activities that question and give insight into how the world is shaped around us.

The domain of creation is - at least to us - not something professionals have a monopoly on. We are interested in creative developments in fashion and design, including amateur initiatives. Platform 21 functions as an international meeting point, real and virtual, where seemingly disparate groups can inspire and strengthen each other: a network for people curious to explore our new century.

We are starting in a temporary home: a beautiful round chapel in the Zuidas district of southern Amsterdam. During this initial period, we look forward to experimenting with different ways of exhibiting design and fashion, showing the process of creation, and allowing interested designers and companies to share and test their latest projects.

www.platform21.com is another stage where we can show, tease, inform, question and play. It will develop into a 'little brother' or 'big sister' of Platform 21's real space, depending on the traffic it attracts.

In 2009, Platform 21 will move to a new 5,000m2 building near our present location. What this building will look like, how it will function, and who is going to design it are questions that have yet to be answered.

The Platform 21 concept will be developed further with the help of our founders, ING Real Estate, Premsela - Dutch Design Foundation and the Amsterdam City Council.

In the meantime, we hope to welcome you as a visitor, a contributor or a critic, online and our new site."

Serpentine Annual Architectural Commission

OMA has been invited to design the 2006 pavillion for the Serpentine Gallery.
Six architects have preceded Rem Koolhaas in designing a temporary pavillion.
In 2005 Portuguese architects Alvaro Sizra, winner of the 1992 Pritzker Prize, and Eduardo Souto de Moura, creator of Braga, Portugual's stadium carved out of a granite hillside, created the temporary structure.

In 2006 visitors to Kensington Gardens can have their tea and enjoy programs; lectures and events determined by Koolhaas, in OMA's creation.
Serpentine's director, Julia Peyton-Jones, wants pavilion designers to be ambitious. As in each of the previous six years, the pavilion will be sold and dismantled after the exhibition period comes to an end; the structure given another life, somewhere else.


Situated in a classical 1934 tea pavilion and surrounded by the beautiful parkland of Kensington Gardens, the Serpentine is a unique Gallery in a perfect setting. Since it was founded in 1970, it has established an international reputation for excellence, presenting pioneering exhibitions of modern and contemporary art. Man Ray, Henry Moore, Andy Warhol, Bridget Riley, Damien Hirst and Rachel Whiteread are just a few of the artists who have exhibited at the Gallery.

Under the patronage of Diana, Princess of Wales, the Serpentine undertook a £4 million renovation of the Gallery which was completed in 1998. The new design, contained within the footprint of the original building, maintains the elegant character of the Grade II listed pavilion whilst offering maximum flexibility for the exhibition of works of art.

The Serpentine is right at the heart of contemporary culture in London and is one of the country's most popular public galleries, attracting over 500,000 visitors a year. The Serpentine organises up to five exhibitions annually, as well as its annual architectural commission, and is the only publicly funded gallery in London to consistently maintain free admission.

The Serpentine Gallery's renovation scheme was designed by John Miller and Partners.

Krentz Award

photo © Timothy Hursley

Already in December 2003, while still under construction, Seattle Central Public Library received the Krentz Award from the British Columbia Region of the Canadian Institute of Steel Construction (CISC).

To create the glass and steel "curtain wall", The Erection Company (TEC) used 4,644 tons of steel, enough to make 20 Statues of Liberty

The Krentz Award “honors outstanding engineering and architectural achievements exemplified through functional and expressive use of steel as the primary structural element.”

Conventional vertical columns carry the weight of the building. Slanted ((2 3/4 inch thick) steel box columns support the books spiral (4 tiers connected by a gently sloping path), carrying the load in a directional manner, or take the lateral loads, created by wind and/ or earthquake movement of the curtain wall.

Structural engineers were Arup Worldwide and Magnusson Klemencic Associates. Steel fabricator was Canron West. Steel erector was The Erection Co. Inc., Hoffman Construction Co was the general contractor/construction manager.

CISC is a national industry organization that represents the structural steel, open web steel joist and steel platework fabricating industries. The group awards annual Steel Design Awards of Excellence; this is the first year the regional award has gone to a project outside of British Columbia. Representatives from three architectural firms and two engineering firms judged the submission. Alexandra Harris, the Library’s capital program director, accepted the award at a ceremony Nov. 20 2003, in Vancouver, B.C. The award is a miniature steel representation of the library structure.

AMO in Russia

OMA's think tank AMO has been invited to take a close look at the exhibition policy of The Hermitage in Saint-Petersburg. Objective: How can the museum with one of the largest art collections in the world improve exhibition possibilities. Much of the treasures are in stock, never shown. Branches in London and Amsterdam have been opened recently, but the question is, how to use the existing building in a better manner. Rem Koolhaas and Michail Piotrovsky, the director of the Hermitage signed an agreement for this assignment.

The involved parties hope to find funding for this multi-million Euro research project in both Russia and the Netherlands.

"Hermitage" comes from the French "L'Ermitage", the place where the hermit lives.
The time of exposure to the world has arrived!

OMA One of 30 Dutch Firms Involved in China's Building Boom

OMA's design for the headoffice of Central Chinese State Television, CCTV.






Delft Blue is wanted in China (where it hails from anyway, there's nothing like going home), but architects have to follow authorities' guidelines.

Influenced by the Olympics which will take place in Being in 2008, China is experiencing a building boom. Skyscrapers appear where bulldozers have taken down what's no longer wanted. Half of the world's yearly production of concrete and one third of the steel production is used to raise whole new cities. Delft Blue facades, tulip decorations, copies of Dutch isles and wetlands, it all goes.

"Fast" is the motto. Fast design, speedy delivery. Dutch style is popular, but style does not equal Dutch Design. Not all architects want to submit to the ruling authorities. Others take on the challenge to stay true to their own ideas, while catering to the client.



Until November 26, Dutch Architects in Booming China, an exhibit at Arcam, Prins Hendrikkade 600, Amsterdam, The Netherlands. Open Tue - Sat 1-5 PM.
Book with same title, in English and Chinese, available at Arcam, online and in some specialty bookstores ISBN: 90-7686-331-8 Published by Arcam in: 2005 € 29,50

OMA Designs for PCM 3 Major Newsrooms Under One Roof

In my interpretation of the latest news from OMA, Floris Alkemade, the principle architect on the PCM account, plays with language. Words materialized. Three major newspapers, De Volkskrant, Trouw and NRC will find a new home in a giant column on the outskirts of Amsterdam. A pillar, the perfect metaphor --extended conceit-- for newspaper journalists. In Dutch "pillar" is often used to describe the political or religious affiliation of the different media.



The base or pedestal will house public spaces: a book store, a cafe where journalists will meet, media meeting rooms and lobbies where students, who live in the neighborhood, can get together. A floor with a low threshold, bringing in the community. A classic column, including fluted grooves (cannula), the "pillar" of the media will house the offices of PCM, the umbrella corporation. Transparency and daylight will be important. But the choice of materials hasn't been made. The architrave or head of the column will house the editorial offices. In the existing offices of De Volkskrant, journalists closed the blinds, trying to keep the light out. The people in the news room want a certain amount of seclution, while interaction remains crucial.

A Tour Guide's Take on Seattle Central Public Library

My aim is to fill in the stories between opening day in May 2004 and now. So keep checking, there will be more, in the future, about the past.