Forecourt and St Stephen Walbrook at night © OMA by Philippe Ruault

OMA recently completed their first building in London. The new 21,000sqm building is located in the narrow medieval alley of St Swithin’s Lane, in the heart of the City, a dense context where OMA’s precise intervention is able to blend and become an active urban piece.

The building, thanks to its structural steel design, is lifted from the ground exposing new situations, connections and views, detonator of a new  streetscape where the public realm is as important as the office space above.

You can see Rem Koolhaas and Ellen van Loon discussing this project on a video posted earlier at ArchDaily.

More information courtesy of OMA after the break:

Project: Rothschild Bank Headquarters
Year: 2011
Client: NM Rothschild & Sons
Location: St Swithin’s Lane, City of London
Site: New Court, enclosed in cluster of buildings, adjacent to the 17th century St. Stephen Walbrook church; with main entrance on the narrow St. Swithin’s Lane
Program: Office headquarters: 13,000m2
Partners in charge: Rem Koolhaas, Ellen van Loon

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Rem Koolhaas and Ellen van Loon discuss their design of the Rothschild Bank headquarters in London. Viewing the bank as a “dynamic system”, the main task was to create an “always efficient and always pleasant” machine that will accommodate all of the Bank’s London staff and reunite its connections with the city, including the St. Stephen’s Walbrook. OMA’s design for the New Court is the fourth iteration of NM Rothschild & Sons’ headquarters, all of which have been built on the dense and narrow medieval alley of St. Swithin’s Lane.

The film was created by Miguel Santa Clara.

Reference: BD, OMA

Courtesy of Ruud Sies

De Rotterdam is a unique multifunctional building on the shores of the river Maas on the Wilhelminapier in Rotterdam designed by Office for Metropolitan Architecture (OMA) of Rem Koolhaas. Its remarkable mix of functions makes this building a true vertical city.

By following the construction for 4 years (January 2010 – end of 2013), Ruud Sies presents a photographic report on a very special project in the development of Rotterdam, one that also forms a link to the Wilhelminapier as a historic spot. The full report can be viewed here. More images after the break. read more »

© AIAS

The annual AIAS FORUM meeting for 2011 will take a break from the snow of the past two years (2009 Minnesota, 2010 Toronto) and be held in sunny downtown Phoenix, Arizona. FORUM is the annual meeting of the AIAS and the premier global gathering of architecture and design students. The conference provides students with the opportunity to learn about important issues facing architectural education and the profession, to meet students, educators, and professionals with common interests, and to interact with some of today’s leading architects through keynote addresses, tours, workshops and seminars, last years FORUM was attended by over 1,000 young and ambitious architecture students and AIAS members. This years Keynote Speakers will be Jeffrey Inaba, founder of C-Lab and former project manager with Rem Koolhaas and OMA, Brad Lancaster, author of www.harvestingrainwater.com, and University of Californa, San Diego architect and professor Teddy Cruz.

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Just recently, the author of architectural videos blog shared with us a video on OMA’s founding partner Rem Koolhaas‘ lecture which he gave at Cornell University on October 20th. His lecture was given on the occasion of opening Milstein Hall, the new extension to the faculty of Architecture, Art and Planning designed by OMA.

On October 19th Charlie Rose interviewed OMA founding partner Rem Koolhaas (his fifth appearance on the show).  The discussion ranges from Koolhaas’ current interest in the countryside, rather than the city, his firm’s newly completed Milestein Hall project at Cornell University, and the launch of the book Project Japan: Metabolism Talks written with Hans Ulrich Obrist and edited by Kayoko Ota.  Watch the interview here.

© Matthew Carbone

Milstein Hall, the new 25,000 sqf flexible studio space at Cornell’s College of Architecture, Art and Planning (AAP) in upstate New York, was opened last month for students.  The first new building in over 100 years for the AAP, the design by OMA was led by partners Shohei Shigematsu and Rem Koolhaas in collaboration with associate Ziad Shehab.

“Not only is this going to be our new home, but everyone has a new attitude,” AAP student Ben Waters told the Cornell Sun. “Everyone has this new-found sense of pride for the program.”  The excitement from students and the AAP surrounding the new hall comes with no surprise considering the danger that the program faced in early 2009 – threatening both their accreditation and the hopes of a new OMA designed building eliminated from the campus.

© Matthew Carbone

Featuring a unique hybrid truss system of 1,200 tons of steel to support two dramatic cantilevers Milstein Hall provides a must needed connection between the existing Sibley and Rand Hall.  Professor Mark Cruvellier shared, “We have a couple of buildings here on campus that were always divided, and we’d always have to run back and forth in the middle of winter.  Here, we have a building that not only connects Rand Hall and Sibley Hall together, but one that also embodies architecture and design ideas.”

Enclosed by floor-to-ceiling glass and a green roof with 41 skylights, this “upper plate” cantilevers almost 50 feet over University Avenue to establish a relationship with the Foundry, a third existing AAP facility.  The truss system allows for a wide-open upper plate that will house sixteen design studios.

“The upper plate of the box was a direct response to the need for interaction that the art field entails, though we realize this cannot be perfectly achieved or designed by architecture,” Shigematsu commented. “Our ambition for the upper plate was for it to serve as a pedagogical platform for the architecture, art and planning departments – an open condition that could trigger interaction and discussion. I am sure the students and faculty will generate unexpected uses and conditions that go beyond what we have planned for it.”

Thanks to architectural photographer Matthew Carbone for the amazing photos of this project!

Architects: OMA
Location: Ithaca, New York, USA
Client: Cornell University, College of Architecture, Art and Planning (AAP)
Project Area: 47,000 sqf addition to the College of Architecture, Art and Planning – Studios, Crit spaces, Auditorium, Exhibition, Exterior Workspace and Plaza.
Project Year: 2009-2011
Photographs: Matthew Carbone

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This video features an exclusive interview with Rem Koolhaas by BD online discussing the launch on October 6th of ‘OMA/Progress Exhibition’ at the Barbican Art Gallery. Curated and designed by Rotor, a Belguim-based collective, member Maarten Gielen and OMA founding partner Rem Koolhaas discuss the importance of this major retrospective, the stories being told, and the discoveries Rotor made after having a unique and unheard of ‘behind the scenes access’ to OMA – asking candid questions and reviewing materials from the archives of OMA offices.

The launch of the exhibit coincides with last weeks opening of Maggie’s Centre in Gartnavel, Glasgow and the Rothschild Bank Headquarters in London later this year. The OMA/Progress Exhibition will run through February 19, 2012.

This exclusive video of OMA’s Maggie’s Centre by BD online features OMA partner Ellen van Loon discussing the design for the cancer care center. Led by OMA Partners Rem Koolhaas and Ellen van Loon with Associate-in-charge Richard Hollington the Maggie Gartnaval center located in Glasgow opened today.

Ellen van Loon shared, “I enjoyed designing such an exceptional environment with this very dedicated and inspired team of designers and contractors. The sequence of spaces is an interplay of openness, retreat and support to underpin the Maggie’s programme.”

Image courtesy of OMA; photography by Philippe Ruault

Today marks the opening of Maggie’s Gartnaval, a new center for the charity located on the ground of Gartnaval Royal Infirmary in Glasgow, Scotland. Designed by OMA, the center aims to provide emotional and psychological support to those affected by cancer in the greater Glasgow area.

Rem Koolhaas commented, “We were touched to be asked to design a Maggie’s Centre, and invigorated by the opportunity to work on a completely different scale, with different ambitions, and in a different environment. Maggie’s is so unique and urgent among the projects we are working on.”

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In this video from Cities of Opportunity 2011, architectural superstar and OMA founder Rem Koolhaas shares his views on the contemporary evolution of the city and his vision for the future of urban centers. Produced by accounting giant PwC (a.k.a PricewaterhouseCoopers before their 2010 re-branding) and the Partnership for New York City, Cities of Opportunity 2011 “analyzes the trajectory of 26 cities, all capitals of finance, commerce, and culture and through their performance, seeks to open a window on what makes cities function best.”

Rem Koolhaas and Peter Eisenman, two of the most influential architects these days, discussing the current the issues which, for them, represent the most critical in architectural discourse today.

Both figures present ideas partly against the backdrop of their architecture, and conclude with a shared conversation chaired by CCA Founding Director Phyllis Lambert.

This event took place in June 2007 at the Center for Canadian Architecture, but as you will see the subjects in discussion are more present than ever.

OMA warmly thanks the CCA for sharing this film.

A year ago we told you about the Strelka Institute, a postgrad school for media, architecture and design in Moscow. The school focuses on a series of themes aimed to reshape Russia’s current role in the world: from the preservation of the urban environment and migration to the future of energy and the role of virtual space.

The curriculum for the first academic year has been developed together with AMO (OMA’s think tank) as a framework for these creative investigations. Research projects will be led by OMA head Rem Koolhaas, AMO director Reinier de Graaf and cultural advisor Michael Schindhelm.

On the opening lecture (video above) Rem Koolhaas explains the program (first 40 minutes), addressing several global issues. Koolhaas’ interest in Russia will now play a vital role in shaping the next generation of architects.

Rem Koolhaas will provide the Keynote Address for the upcoming Festival of Ideas for a New City on Wednesday May 4th at 7:00pm held at the Rosenthal Pavilion at the Kimmel Center. Tickets are currently available for purchase.

The Festival of Ideas for a New City is a major new collaborative initiative between scores of downtown organizations, from large universities to arts groups and community organizations, working together to affect change. The Festival is a first for New York and will demonstrate the power of the creative community to imagine the city of the future. The Festival will serve as a platform for artists, architects, designers, and other thought leaders to exchange ideas, propose solutions, create new problems, and invite the public to participate in improving urban life. The festival will run from May 4th-8th.

© Clément Guillaume

Chef Fre Peneau’s new restaurant, Le Dauphin is an 80 sqm ‘obsession in white’. OMA‘s Rem Koolhaas and associate Clement Blanchet received the Fooding 2010 award for their interior design of the restaurant that opened December 2010.

Architects: Rem Koolhaas and Clement Blanchet
Location: Paris, France
Client: Fred Peneau and Inaki Aizpitarte
Project Leader: Clement Blanchet
BET Structure: Mr Ropretre Office of Study
Lighting Designer: Odile Soudant
Project Year: 2011
Project Area: 80 sqm
Photographs: Ruault, Clément Guillaume

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© Christian Ritchers

One of the most prominent aspects of a design, if not the most important, is the consideration of the context and environment in which the proposed design will be found. In the case of the Dutch House by Rem Koolhaas, the unique and very challenging environmental conditions and topography of the site led to a design with interesting conditions that respond to these conditions.

More on the Dutch House in The Netherlands after the break.

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© Flickr User: harry_nl

Completed in 1997, the Educatorium in Utrecht, Netherlands was OMAs and Rem Koolhaas’ first university project.  Part of a larger masterplan for the campus of De Uithof for Utrecht University to create a more westernized version of a college campus, the Educatorium was designed to be the new center of campus, not only geographically but socially as well.

Understood to be the encapsulation of the entire university experience in one building, Koolhaas and his team at OMA conceptualized the Educatorium as a factory for learning in both the traditional formalistic approach as well as the informal student to student exchange.  The Educatorium was designed specifically so that the processes of socialization, learning, and examination would be entangled within one another blurring the boundaries between lounges, classrooms, and corridors such that there is a constant redefinition of what it means to learn in a social environment.

More on the Educatorium after the break. read more »

Chef Fre Peneau’s new restaurant, Le Dauphin is an 80 sqm ‘obsession in white’. OMA‘s Rem Koolhaas and associate Clement Blanchet received the Fooding 2010 award for their interior design of the restaurant that opened December 2010. Predominant materials of marble, mirrors and wood enlarge the space through reflection, and blur the boundary between interior and exterior.

© Hans Werlemann, courtesy OMA

With the ability to make even the simplest and straightforward programs spatially dynamic and in a constant state of redefinition, Rem Koolhaas and his firm OMA have redefined the term that “a house is a machine for living” in their design of Maison Bordeaux.  Completed in 1998, Maison Bordeaux sits on a small cape-like hill overlooking the city of Bordeaux.

The house was designed for a couple and their family, but before Koolhaas and OMA were commissioned for the project in 1994 the husband of the family was in a life threatening car accident that left him paralyzed from the waist down.  Two years after his accident, the couple approached Koolhaas to design them a new home outside of Bordeaux.  Despite having been paralyzed, the man did not want t straightforward house rather he wanted a complex design, stating: “Contrary to what you would expect. I want a complex house because the house will define my world.”

More on the Bordeaux House after the break. read more »

© OMA

Continuing our coverage of the Shenzhen Stock Exchange (SSE), OMA recently shared the latest photographs of the building while under construction. The building, located in the downtown area of Shenzhen, China, is expected to reach completion in April 2011.  The SSE, a new headquarters for China’s equivalent of the NASDAQ, is 132,000 sqm of offices, registration and clearing house, accessory area, securities information company, SSE office area, trading floor and technical operations.  The floating podium design, which is suspended 36 meters over a public plaza, projects 54 meters from the base of the tower.  The building broke ground in November of 2007, Rem Koolhaas along with local government and the officials from the SSE were in attendance.  Check out our previous coverage here.

Follow the break for the latest photographs of SSE.

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