HafenCity Hamburg

image courtesy OMA
Rem Koolhaas and Ellen van Loon have presented the design for the Science Center and Aquarium in Hamburg's HafenCity.
Playful in design, building blocks create an eyelet on edge. The building, a magic ring of activity in the harbor, permits an eye on the city, on the river, and on the future.
Marc Paulin will be the principle architect for this project.

Maggie's Centre

Rem Koolhaas will design a "home-away-from-home" for patients of the Beatson Oncology Center in Glasgow. Founded by and named after the late Maggie Keswick Jencks, the client, Maggie's Centre has in the past commissioned architects such as Frank Gehry and Zaha Hadid

OMA Tower in Delirious New York

More than three decades after Rem Koolhaas's book Delirious New York rolled of the press, Rem Koolhaas is going to add a 60,000 square foot, 22-story high tower to the Big Apple's landscape.

The tower will house the Creative Artists Agency Screening Room and other facilities of CAA.

Koolhaas will take the lead, in partnership with Shohei Shigematsu, Director of OMA New York.

The tower, which will be located in Madison Square Park, is expected to be finished in 2010.

A Tomb for All People - The Great Pyramid

Dance like an Egyptian, be memorialized like a Pharao.

Rem Koolhaas is said to head committee which will choose architect to design and build The Great Pyramid

You can make reservations to be buried or have a memorial stone placed now.

Presentation of the tomb's model were presented during The Great Pyramid Festival on September 2nd, 2007.

RIBA European Award

The Royal Institute for Britisch Architects (RIBA) had awarded Rem Koolhaas and Ellen van Loon of OMA with the RIBA European Award for their design of Casa da Musica in Porto.

In 2003, three years after het received the Pritzker Prize, Rem Koolhaas was awarded RIBA's Royal Gold Medal.

Dubai Renaissance II

Rem Koolhaas and Fernando Donis will give an other shot at the Dubai Renaissance.
With their "anti icon" proposition they offer a real clean design, the White Page, a reflective element within the sardonic forest of iconic imagination.

SculptorAnish Kapoor, landscape architect slash textile designer Petra Blaisse and industrial designer Konstantin (gimme 9 pedal bins) Grcic will collaborate with Koolhaas to add the spectacular to what at first glance comes across as a lighter in the desert.

Rem Koolhaas elected to AAAS

Bright light, brilliance.
The photo that accompanies the announcement that Rem Koolhaas will join the American Academy of Arts and Sciences (AAAS) couldn't have been chosen better. On October 6 Koolhaas will join like brilliant minds for the induction ceremony at the AAAS headquarters in Cambridge.

Er gaat hem geen licht op, hij heeft het licht daar zelf geplaatst.

Jobs at OMA

It's not really my business, and if you were looking, you already know, but still, it may be good to check and see if there's a position for you at OMA.

Besides, this is as good a time as any to point out that the OMA site is new and improved, with head shots of all the partners, way finding that makes sense, links that deliver. In other words, all round attention for detail, a signature web site for a firm such as OMA.

Who's on First?

Every creative person knows: world wide and at the same time, others wrap their minds around exactly the same ideas.
Writers know: you don't get copyright for an idea alone, it's the approach of the story that count, as well as the moment of publication.

A box, is a box, is a box, but for what it contains, the measurements, the material it's been made of, the color and print, the signature and branding.

bd: the architects' website, reports that Rem Koolhaas has pointed out that the designs for city plans in Abu Dhabi by OMA and by Foster + Partners show great resemblances.

Rotterdam City of Architecture 2007

The Kunsthal is one of 40 sites used and highlighted during Rotterdam 2007.

The mayor of Rotterdam and council members have proclaimed 2007 the Year, and Rotterdam The City of Architecture.
The program throughout the year includes exhibits, art auctions, presentations of artifacts, theatre and a home show. There will be a trade fair —Architect '07, cruises to view prospective home sites from the water, walking tours and the dedication of new buildings.

The third International Architecture Biennial titled "Power —Producing the Contemporary City" will take place at the Kunsthal from May 24 - September 2, 2007

Rem Koolhaas Calls for Boycot

Building Design the British weekly for architects writes: "Rem Koolhaas has called on architecture’s superstars to join him in a campaign to overhaul the competition system, which he has condemned as “hideous” and a drain on resources and influence."

Shenshen Exchange SSE

Image: Office of Metropolitan Architecture.

OMA's second assignment in China houses the SSE. "The floor" of the stock exchange is elevated over a thus partially covered plaza with room for special events. Building of the complex will start at the end of 2007

OMA in Dubai

Photo Credit Artist Impression OMA 2006.

Jumeirah Beach

Sinterklaas at the Kunsthal

Typically Dutch. Until December 10 on display at OMA's Kunsthal in Rotterdam: Sinterklaas wrapping paper from the 1920's until now. History in paper: changes in quality of pulp, design, and a shift in subject matter (from emphasis on the saintly Bishop to his ghost-busting helper Pete) through eight and a half decades.

Pixels for GAZPROM

OMA Design. Gazprom City Competition St Petersburg. Copyright Holder - OFFICE FOR METROPOLITAN ARCHITECTURE (O.M.A.)

Honorary Doctorate Rem Koolhaas

The Catholic University of Leuven (KUL in Belgium) has awarded Rem Koolhaas an honorary doctorate.
"Koolhaas perceives developments within cities as mirroring those within the community."
Other honorees are film actor Robert Benigni, author David Grosman, and violinist Sigiswald Kuijken.

Rem Koolhaas: A Hero In His Own Time…

Time Magazine calls Rem Koolhaas "‘urban visionary who spotted a wealth of potential in our congestial cities." The founder of OMA has been added to the magazine's list: "60 Years of Heroes".

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.

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.