Office For Metropolitan Architecture

Rem Koolhaas and Elia Zenghelis started working together in the early 1970s at the Architectural Association, the London-based architecture school, where Koolhaas was a trainee and Zenghelis an instructor. Their first significant task was the utopian/dystopian project Exodus, Faena Miami Forum or the Voluntary Prisoners of Architecture (1972 ). This task proposed a linear structure, cutting through London like a knife. Other jobs consisted of City of the Captive Globe (1974 ), Hotel Sphinx (1975 ), New Welfare Island/Welfare Palace Hotel (1975-- 76), Roosevelt Island Redevelopment (1975)-- all "paper" jobs that were not (planned to be) constructed, and all situated in Manhattan, the topic of Koolhaas's book Delirious New York, A Retroactive Manifesto for Manhattan (1975 ). [1]
The founding of OMA corresponded with the firm's entry in the architectural design competition for a brand-new Dutch parliament building in The Hague in 1978, with Zaha Hadid. OMA was one of the first-prize winners (amongst some 10 others), and the task was extensively talked about and released. The entry for the Dutch parliament competitors was the very first of a series of questionable and successful global competitors entries by OMA in the 1980s that were not built by OMA.
OMA in the 1980s
OMA's first major commissions were The Netherlands Dance Theatre (1981) in The Hague and IJ-Plein Urban preparation (1981-- 1988) in Amsterdam. Full of "first mistakes", the Dance Theater is the very first understood design in which the ideas of Rem Koolhaas were made apparent. OMA developed the school, the community center, and two blocks of real estate.
The 2nd-- probably the most mature style of OMA up until that date-- was Villa Dall' Ava in Paris (1984-- 1991). The client, according to Koolhaas, asked for a "work of art". Many delays afflicted the home that it "became a record of our own (OMA's) growing up".
Numerous studies were made during the late 1970s and 1980s: Study for the renovation of a panopticon jail in Arnhem in 1979, Boompjes tower slab in Rotterdam (1979 ), Housing for Berlin IBA (1980, not understood, and the factor OMA would not develop anything in Berlin any longer in the 20th century, the Dutch Embassy Building being the comeback), [citation required] master strategy for a world exhibit in Paris (1983 ). A lot more important however were the competition entries OMA designed in this period. They acquired the workplace global fame (but not one style was actually built). [citation needed]
OMA in the 1990s
In the 1990s OMA got renown through a series of groundbreaking entries [citation required] in significant competitors: e.g., Tres Grande Bibliothèque and Two Libraries for Jussieu University, Paris, France (1993 ). Throughout these years OMA also realized enthusiastic projects, ranging from personal houses to big scale city plans: Villa dall' Ava, Paris, France (1991 ), Nexus Housing, Fukuoka, Japan (1991 ), the Kunsthal, Rotterdam (1992 ).
The Euralille (1994 ), a 70-hectare service and civic center in Lille, northern France consisting of the European center for high-speed trains, transformed an as soon as dormant center of more than 50 million inhabitants into a site offering connection, and a variety of modern activities. [citation needed] In 1999 OMA completed the Maison à Bordeaux, a villa for a customer in the hills outside Bordeaux, France. [3] The villa's most striking function is a platform in the very center of your home that moves freely in between the three floorings and allowed the customer to move with his wheelchair on all three levels of the vacation home. [citation required] The design was developed in partnership with engineer Cecil Balmond.
OMA in the 21st century
OMA was awarded the agreement for the Seattle Central Library, finished in 2005, in spite of not having been on the list of companies originally welcomed to submit styles. Former Seattle local Joshua Prince-Ramus, a partner, heard from his mom about the meeting for interested companies at the last minute and flew in from the Netherlands. This 11-story glass and steel structure is a striking addition to the Seattle cityscape.
In Asia OMA just recently completed the enormous Central China Television Headquarters building in Beijing, and the brand-new structure for the Shenzhen Stock Exchange is currently under construction. In January 2009 OMA won the competitors to develop a performing arts centre in Taipei and in June 2009 the workplace won the competitors to design "Crystal Island", a transport and cultural center in the centre of Shenzhen.
In October 2011, the Barbican Art Gallery introduced their exhibit "OMA/Progress", the first major presentation of OMA's work in the UK, curated by Belgium-based creative collective Rotor.
OMA (and Rem Koolhaas) are well known for controversial projects such as the proposal to adapt part of the Museum of Modern Art into a promotional area titled MoMa Inc
.



The founding of OMA corresponded with the firm's entry in the architectural design competition for a brand-new Dutch parliament building in The Hague in 1978, with Zaha Hadid. OMA was one of the first-prize winners (among some 10 others), and the job was widely gone over and published. The entry for the Dutch parliament competition was the first of a series of effective and questionable worldwide competitors entries by OMA in the 1980s that were not developed by OMA.
Much more important however were the competition entries OMA designed in this duration. Throughout these years OMA also recognized enthusiastic projects, ranging from private residences to big scale metropolitan plans: Villa dall' Ava, Paris, France (1991 ), Nexus Housing, Fukuoka, Japan (1991 ), the Kunsthal, Rotterdam (1992 ).