REM KOOLHAAS
BACKGROUND
Remment Lucas "Rem" Koolhaas was born on the 17th of November
1944 in Rotterdam, Netherlands to Anton Koolhaas (age 71). He is a
Dutch architect, architectural theorist, urbanist and Professor in
Practice of Architecture and Urban Design at the Graduate School of
Design at Harvard University. Koolhaas studied at the Architectural
Association School of Architecture in London and at Cornell
University in Ithaca, New York.
Koolhaas is the founding partner of OMA and of its research-oriented
counterpart AMO based in Rotterdam, the Netherlands. In 2005, he
co-founded Volume Magazine together with Mark Wigley and Ole
Bouman.
In 2000, Rem Koolhaas won the Pritzker Prize. In 2008, TIME
Magazine put him in their top 100 of The World's Most Influential
People. He then soon other awards such as:
Chevalier de Lgion d'honneur (2001)
Praemium Imperiale (2003)
Royal Gold Medal (2004)
Golden Lion of the Venice Biennale of Architecture for lifetime
achievement (2010)
OMA (Office for Metropolitan Architecture) was founded by Rem Koolhaas
himself in 1975 with architects Elia Zenghelis, Zoe Zenghelis and (Koolhaas's wife)
Madelon Vriesendorp in London. They were later joined by one of Koolhaas's
students, Zaha Hadid who would soon go on to achieve success in her own right.
PROJECTS
CCTV Headquarters
(CHINA CENTRAL TELEVISION HEADQUATERS)
The CCTV Headquarters is a 234 m (768 ft), 44-story skyscraper on
East Third Ring Road, Guanghua Road in the Beijing Central
Business District (CBD). The tower serves as headquarters for China
Central Television (CCTV) that was formerly at the China Central
Television Building located at 11 Fuxin Road some 15 km to the
west.
Completed in 2012 as the headquarters for China Central Television
(CCTV), the 473,000-square-metre building comprises two towers
that lean against each other and are connected by a 75-metre
cantilevered section.
The CCTV Headquarters won the 2013 Best Tall Building Worldwide
from the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat.
The building consists of two 50-story legs which houses offices and
production studios which are then joined at the top by a 13 story
bridge whose angled forms juts out precariously over the plaza.
Rem Koolhaas and Ole Scheeren of OMA were the architects in
charge for the building, while Arup provided the complex
engineering design. The construction of the building is considered to
be a structural challenge, especially because it is in a seismic zone.
Koolhaas has said the building "could never have been conceived by
the Chinese and could never have been built by Europeans. It is a
hybrid by definition". Because of its radical shape, it's said that a
taxi driver first came up with its nickname (d kch) (),
roughly translated as, "big boxer shorts". But the Locals often refer
or call it "big pants". (Dare to do something different)
The CCTV building was part of a media park intended to form a
landscape of public entertainment, outdoor filming areas, and
production studios as an extension of the central green axis of the
CBD.
Mr. Koolhaas stated this when constructing the building
"The more time you spend with it, the harder it is to pin the building
down. The legs, which taper as they rise to slightly different heights,
distort your normal sense of perspective".
He has also represses all the most obvious signs of the human scale
like the repetitive windows and floor slabs of the towers.
Seattle Central Library
The Seattle Public Library's Central Library is the flagship library of The Seattle
Public Library system. It is a 11-story glass and steel building located in downtown
Seattle, Washington was opened to the public on May 23, 2004.
Rem Koolhaas and Joshua Prince-Ramus of OMA/LMN were the principal architects
for this building.
This public library can hold about 1.45 million books and other materials, features
underground public parking for 143 vehicles, and includes over 400 computers open
to the public. The library has a unique, striking appearance, consisting of several
discrete "floating platforms" seemingly wrapped in a large steel net around glass skin.
In 2007, the building was voted #108 on the American Institute of Architects' list of
Americans' 150 favorite structures in the US. It was also one of two Seattle buildings
included on the list of 150 structures, the other being Safeco Field.
The buildings exterior consists of diagonal steel and I-beam structural systems that
form diamond shapes overlaid with a skin of glass and an aluminum sun-screening
element.
The Seattle Central Library has many design elements and features to lessen its
energy and environmental impact on our planet. It has a transparent building design
that maximizes the use of natural light and allow views both into and out of the
library. The library is also certified by LEED Silver Stormwater collection and
reuse system Hybrid engineering systems.
The main design objective by Rem Koolhass was to create a building that honors
books, and at same time, is very forward-looking to reflect major technological
advances in the information business.Following his extensive research, the design is a
direct expression of the modern librarys program and the functional requirements of
its users.
The Creator's Words
"Although the library is sculptural, it is not in any way an attempt to make a
form. The library's appearance comes from pushing boxes around to stay
within the height and setback restrictions and zoning codes."
