Rem Koolhaas
Rem Koolhaas co-heads the work of both OMA and AMO, the research branch of OMA, operating in areas beyond the realm of architecture.
Rem Koolhaas founded OMA in 1975 together with Elia and Zoe Zenghelis and Madelon Vriesendorp. He graduated from the Architectural Association in London and in 1978 published Delirious New York: A Retroactive Manifesto for Manhattan. In 1995, his book S,M,L,XL summarized the work of OMA in “a novel about architecture”.
His built work includes the Qatar National Library and the Qatar Foundation Headquarters (2018), Fondation d’entreprise Galeries Lafayette in Paris (2018), Fondazione Prada in Milan (2015/2018), Garage Museum of Contemporary Art in Moscow (2015), the headquarters for China Central Television (CCTV) in Beijing (2012), Casa da Musica in Porto (2005), Seattle Central Library (2004), and the Netherlands Embassy in Berlin (2003). Current projects include the Taipei Performing Arts Centre, a new building for Axel Springer in Berlin, and the Factory in Manchester.
Rem Koolhaas directed the 2014 Venice Architecture Biennale, is a professor at Harvard University, and is preparing a major exhibition for the Guggenheim museum entitled Countryside: Future of the World.
OMA
OMA's completed projects include Rijnstraat 8 (2017); Il Fondaco dei Tedeschi (2016); the Faena District in Miami (2016); Pierre Lassonde Pavilion, a new building for the Musée national des beaux-arts du Québec (2016); Timmerhuis, new home for Rotterdam’s municipal offices (2015); the new headquarters for China Central Television (CCTV) in Beijing (2012); the Casa da Musica in Porto (2005); the Seattle Central Library (2004) and the urban infrastructure Euralille in Lille (1994). OMA has built numerous cultural institutions, including recently: the Fondazione Prada in Milan (2015) and the Garage Museum of Contemporary Art in Moscow (2015). Rem Koolhaas explored the notion of spatial modularity in the Dee and Charles Wyly Theater in Dallas (2009) and in the Maison à Bordeaux (1998). In France, OMA recently constructed the Bibliothèque Alexis de Tocqueville (2017) and the new CentraleSupelec campus in Saclay (2017). OMA will soon deliver the Simone Veil bridge in Bordeaux, the Parc des Expositions in Toulouse, the Taipei Performing Arts Centre in Taiwan, the Danish Architecture Centre in Copenhagen, Denmark, the Qatar National library in Doha and a new building for the Axel Springer publishing house in Berlin.
AMO
Since 1998, the think tank AMO has applied architectural theory to other disciplines such as politics, publishing, media, fashion and sociology. Research projects conducted by AMO include The Image of Europe on the future of Europe and its representation in symbols and visual language, commissioned by the European Union in 2004; Roadmap 2050, a masterplan to set up a renewable energy network within Europe and Cronocaos, an investigation into the preservation of heritage which was exhibited at the Venice Biennale in 2010. Recently, AMO has completed the new display system for the Stedelijk Museum’s permanent collection in Amsterdam, making use of innovative steel walls that generate a non-linear path through the exhibition space and create unique connections between art and design works. AMO is also leading the research project Countryside: Future of the World, an exploration of radical changes in the countryside conducted in collaboration with the Guggenheim Museum. Furthermore, AMO designs scenographies for the fashion shows of Prada and Miu Miu.