Video: Ellen van Loon, Architect Profile
Ellen Van Loon is an architect at the forefront of her field. Alongside six partners, including Rem Koolhaas and Reinier de Graaf, her work at the Dutch architecture practice, OMA, has encompassed some of the most iconic modern buildings in the world, including the award-winning Casa da Musica in Portugal. Two of her projects, The Rothschild Bank headquarters and Maggie’s Centre near Glasgow, were recently nominated for the RIBA Stirling Prize. She joined the practice in 1998 to lead the design for the headquarters of Universal Studios in Los Angeles. Her specific expertise lie in the balance of business acumen and an in-depth understanding of all technical and operational aspects. Here we profile Ellen, with The Rothschild Bank as a backdrop, learning about the strong bond that forms between architect and building.
425 Park Avenue: OMA’s proposal
OMA has shared with us their proposal for the 425 Park Avenue competition, organized by New York City developer L&L Holding Co to replace the existing, ageing tower with a new state-of-the-art, LEED-certified skyscraper. The competition was awarded to Foster + Partners, as reported earlier.
The competition also included Atelier Christian de Portzamparc, Ateliers Jean Nouvel, Herzog & de Meuron, KPF, Maki and Associates, Renzo Piano Building Workshop, Richard Meier, Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners and Zaha Hadid Architects; and all the projects will be presented today at the MAS NY Summit.
OMA’s project was led by partners Shohei Shigematsu and Rem Koolhaas. Shohei is in charge of the NY office, where he has been researching strategies for towers in NY and other areas, including a skyscraper in Madison Park, a mixed-use project in Jersey and the Bicentennial Tower in Mexico.
More information after the break:
100 years under the Dome : 1912-2012
Beginning on October 16th, 2012, Galeries Lafayette in Paris, France, will be celebrating the 100 year anniversary of the Dome designed by architect Ferdinand Chanut and glass artist Jacques Gruber in 1912. 100 years under the Dome will be held at the flagship store of the boulevard Haussmann, a true Parisian symbol. In addition, the gallery will launch an exhibition called 1912-2012. Chronicles of a Creative Itinerary by architect Rem Koolhaas and his studio OMA, along with a collaboration called Chrysalide between visual artist Yann Kersalé and Djuric Tardio – Architectes.
Join us after the break for more stunning images for the anticipated celebration.
National Art Museum of China competition entry / OMA
OMA has shared with us their proposal for the new National Art Museum of China (NAMOC) in Beijing. The Rotterdam-based practice is one of the all-star contenders competing to design the 1.3 million square feet NAMOC that will be built next to the Herzog & de Meuron-designed Bird’s Nest. Even though rumors are flying about a potential winner, the jury won’t announce the final results of the competition until November.
Given the epic proportions of the NAMOC, OMA has chosen to treat the massive structure as a small city by integrating a variety of city-like districts throughout. The proposal includes a range of experiences in both “classical, orthogonal” museum spaces as well as contemporary, open-plan areas. Continue after the break to learn more.
OMA wins competition for new engineering school in France
OMA has been selected from four competing international architectural practices to design the new École Centrale engineering school and its surrounding urban development in the research and innovation zone of Saclay, southwest of Paris.
Spearheaded by Clément Blanchet, director of OMA projects in France, the winning “lab city” concept contrasts the corridor linearity of the typical laboratory. The design proposes a low level, glass-roofed superblock that contains an interior open plan grid, where various activities can interact and be overlooked simultaneously. Continue after the break to learn more.
Venice Biennale 2012: Public Works, Architecture by Civil Servants / OMA
“Forty years ago the public cause proved a powerful source of inspiration. Given the numbers of architects that chose to serve it, one might even speak of a common ground. In the age of the ‘starchitect’, the idea of suspending the pursuit of a private practice in favor of a shared ideology seems remote and untenable. In the context of the 2012 Venice Architecture Biennale, this exhibition hopes to provide a small contribution towards finding that common ground once more…” – OMA Partner Reinier de Graaf, August 2012
Throughout Europe in the late 1960s and early 1970s, large public works departments employed architects to design a multitude of public buildings in an effort to serve the public cause. Reinier de Graaf describes this “heyday of public architecture” as “a short-lived, fragile period of naïve optimism – before the brutal rule of the market economy became the common denominator.”
Koolhaas to be the Biennale’s next Director?
Hot on the heels of the Jencks Award, yet another accolade is rumored to be coming Rem Koolhaas‘ way. The claims are flying about the twitterverse: OMA’s Koolhaas will be the next Director of the Venice Biennale.
Dezeen first reported the story after reading a tweet by the Biennale’s current Assistant Director to David Chipperfield, Kieran Long (Long’s also the architecture critic for London’s Evening Standard as well as the former Editor-in-Chief of Architectural Review/The Architect’s Journal). You can read the tweet for yourself below:
Of course, it’s all still rumors at this point, but we’ll keep you updated of any developments in the story.
Story via Dezeen
OMA’s Reinier de Graaf talks Megalopoli(tic)s
OMA partner Reinier de Graaf explores the relationship between the megalopolis and politics at the Berlage Institute, where he conducted a one-week masters class devoted to the concept of Megalopoli(tic)s – “a very large ambitious political structure dealing especially with the act of governing complex metropolitan areas”.
De Graaf begins by stating we must “think globally”. In 1950, New York and London were the only cities with more than 8 million inhabitants. Currently, there are 26 cities of over 8 million people and by 2020 there will be 37. In terms of population and GDP, countries have been surpassed by cities and cities have been surpassed by corporations. De Graaf states that the city is the physical manifestation of globalization, and as cities continue to rapidly grow, it is imperative that we question the logistics that go into governing them.
Imagine Doxiadis’ global Ecumenopolis city (1967) that depicts the city as no longer a product of nations but rather a international product, which he envisioned as a conglomerate of urbanized regions straddling the world.
OMA reimagines retail for Coach’s new stores
American retailer Coach has commissioned OMA to develop a new merchandising system that accommodates Coach’s wide diversity of products while returning to the clarity of Coach’s heritage stores. Since establishing its first workshop 1941, Coach has expanded from a specialist leather atelier to a global distributor of “democratized luxury goods”. This expansion has clouded the clarity of the brand’s original library-like stores, which used a rigorous organizational system that categorically sort projects inside minimal wooden shelving at assisted counters. OMA intends to create a flexible, modular system that embodies the clarity of the original stores and responds to the individual needs of locale.
Continue reading for more.
Four Pritzker-Prize winners to submit conceptual designs for new office tower in Manhattan
L&L Holding Company, LLC, today announced that four of the world’s most acclaimed architecture firms – Foster + Partners (Lord Norman Foster), Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners (Lord Richard Rogers), OMA (Rem Koolhaas) and Zaha Hadid Architects – are participating this week in the conceptual design phase of its architectural competition for a new office tower to be constructed at 425 Park Avenue in Manhattan.
In April of this year, L&L Holding invited 11 of the world’s most accomplished architects to express their interest in competing for the commission to design a new tower at 425 Park Avenue. Of those invited, nine firms chose to enter the competition. After careful deliberations, L&L Holding narrowed its list to the four selected firms, each of which is led by a Pritzker Prize-winning architect with extensive international experience and proven expertise in office tower design.
The architects and their teams have prepared and are presenting their conceptual designs this week for a 650,000 square foot tower that will be designed to high L.E.E.D. sustainability standards.
Floriade 2022 proposal for Holland Central / OMA
OMA has released their 60-hectare master plan proposal for Floriade 2022 – the next occurrence of Europe’s largest horticultural expo that attracts an average of two million international visitors every ten years since it was established in 1960, which is currently open in Venlo. As part of a team that includes the province of South Holland, eight local municipalities and ARCADIS, OMA is helping Holland Central compete against three other cities within the Netherlands to become the next Floriade host.
Continue after the break to learn more.
Seattle Library: Homeless Man Interview Clips / Tomas Koolhaas
Earlier we shared with you these rough clips of the recently completed CCTV Headquarters in Beijing, filmed by Tomas Koolhaas as part of a feature length documentary film that he currently making about his father, Rem Koolhaas. In this short clip, Tomas Koolhaas interviews a homeless man inside the Seattle Central Library as an attempt to capture his unique experience within the glass and steel mesh walls of the famous public library.
Tomas Koolhaas studied at the Los Angeles Film School. Upon graduating, he spend ten years working as a cinematographer and has recently switched his focused more towards directing and writing. The documentary film, REM, is set to debut in 2013. Watch for updates here on the REM Facebook page.
OMA Hopes on Turkey
UPDATE: In an e-mail to ArchDaily, a Sr. PR Manager at OMA told us that while Victor van der Chijs expressed his hopes that Turkey will host the Olympics in an interview with an Anatolia news agency earlier this month, OMA is not planning on opening an office in Turkey any time soon.
OMA, the Rotterdam-based, Dutch architecture and urban development firm, has its eyes set on the location of its next office: Turkey.
Why? They think it’s a safe bet hope that Turkey will edge out both Madrid and Tokyo for the 2020 Summer Olympics.
As Victor van der Chijs, a partner at OMA, told Anatolia: “We believe that Turkey will win the Olympics. In our opinion it is almost certain [...] Comprehensive investments in sports facilities, infrastructure services and transportation will be needed. That is why we want to take part in urban master planning and projects to prepare for the Olympics.”
Could OMA, who have offices in New York, Beijing, and Hong Kong (and considered having one in Brazil), be starting a new trend? With “legacy” being the new Olympic buzzword (see: our 3-part Olympic City Guide) and smart urban-planning and architecture a necessary part of the Olympic bid, could Architects begin cashing-in on (and perhaps ensuring) Olympic Glory, even before the Games are bestowed?
If so, it seems the torch starts here.
Story via Hürriyet Daily News.
AD Round Up: OMA Part II
For today’s Round Up, we bring you the second part of previously featured projects by one of our favorite studios, OMA. Take this opportunity to check again the unique Prada Transformer. Also you can see OMA’s new landmark for Shenzhen, an interesting group of buildings and open spaces connected by an elevated pedestrian system, the ‘Ring Connector’.Don’t miss the proposal for Rotterdam City Hall or The Rotterdam, the biggest building in the Netherlands. Finally check out The Interlace a 170,000 sqm residential project in Singapore.
Video: CCTV Headquarters / OMA
Enjoy this interesting footage captured by Tomas Koolhaas – son of Rem Koolhaas – in February 2012 of the recently completed China Central Television (CCTV) Headquarters in Beijing. The monumental structure took eight years to complete and is OMA‘s first major building in China, as well as their largest project to date. The building is planned for occupancy later this year to broadcast the London 2012 Olympics. Check out our previous coverage for more building information.
Continue after the break to view a short clip inside the CCTV building during construction!
Construction begins on OMA-designed G-Star RAW Headquarters
Today, in the industrial Zuidoost area of Amsterdam, construction begins on the new OMA-designed headquarters for the fashion brand G-Star RAW. Led by OMA partners Reinier de Graaf, Ellen van Loon and Rem Koolhaas, the project will consolidate G-Star RAW’s existing disparate facilities into a single 27.500m2 horizontal building.
Continue after the break to learn more.
Kanye West’s seven-screen pavilion / OMA
An OMA-designed temporary pavilion at the 2012 Cannes Film Festival was inaugurated today with a screening of Kanye West’s debut short film Cruel Summer. The pavilion, with a design led by Shohei Shigematsu, is a raised pyramid containing a seven-screen cinema invented by West’s creative team, Donda.
Continue after the break for more.
OMA designs stage set for ancient Greek theatre in Syracuse
On May 11, 2011, the performance of Aeschylus’s Prometheus Unbound premiered on OMA‘s (Office for Metropolitan Architecture) stage set for the Greek Theatre in Syracuse, Sicily. The design consists of three transformable architectural devices that can be reinterpreted among the different spaces of the theater. These devices date back to 5th century BCE.
More after the break.
‘Très Grande Bibliothèque (Very Big Library)’ Exhibition
On view now until September 9, the ‘Très Grande Bibliothèque (Very Big Library)’ Exhibition at the Canadian Center for Architecture (CCA) presents materials produced by OMA, in response to an international competition launched by France’s then president, Francois Mitterrand, in 1989 to design the new bibliotheque nationale de France. Curated by Rem Koolhaas and Clement Blanchet of OMA, the concept of their proposal resided in the notion of the library spaces being excavated as voids from a ‘solid cube’ containing the archives. The concept offered great architectural freedom, with the public spaces (or voids) being liberated from the constraints of a predeterminded structure or form. More information on the exhibition after the break.
Filmare L’Architettura / Festival dei Popoli
The workshop Filmare l’architettura, just concluded in Florence. It took place in the home-studio by Leonardo Savioli and was aimed at educating videomakers in documenting the architectural space. The results of this experience, promoted by the Region of Tuscany, produced by Festival dei Popoli and led by Filippo Macelloni, will be presented to the public on May 15 at the Faculty of Architecture in Florence.
