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The Office for Metropolitan Architecture (OMA) is founded in London in 1975, with the ambition to address contemporary society and to build contemporary architecture. Early work consists of a number of polemic competition entries.

In New York, as a Visiting Fellow at the Institute for Architecture and Urban Studies (IAUS), Rem Koolhaas writes Delirious New York: A Retroactive Manifesto for Manhattan. The publication coincides with the exhibition "The Sparkling Metropolis " at the Guggenheim Museum. The book documents the symbiotic relationship between mutant metropolitan culture and unique architecture, the research underpinning the book interfuses with OMA’s design work.

In 1978 a competition entry is completed for the extension of the Dutch Parliament. Appreciation for this design results in the first major commissions, the IJ-plein master-plan with two apartment blocks in Amsterdam, completed in 1986, and the Netherlands Dance Theater in The Hague, completed in 1987. Rotterdam becomes the base for the OMA office.

Three built projects are completed in 1991, the Villa dall’Ava overlooking the Eiffel Tower, Byzantium, a mixed use apartment-building on the Amsterdam Vondelpark and Nexus Housing, two apartment-blocks in Fukuoka, are completed in 1991. In 1992 the Kunsthal and its Museum Park in Rotterdam are opened. The Dutch House is completed in 1993.

In 1994 the Lille Grand Palais (expo hall, congress center and rock-concert hall) is inaugurated, together with Euralille, a business and civic center, masterplanned by OMA with individual buildings by Nouvel, de Portzamparc and Shinohara. Centered on a major hub for the TGV, Euralille is the link between the city of Lille and the european high-speed train network. The Educatorium, a building for the University of Utrecht of which OMA is also the masterplanner, was opened in october '97 and the Maison à Bordeaux, a house on the hills of Bordeaux, was finished in february 1998. In 1999 the 2^nd Stage Theatre is opened in New York.

A number of buildings is now under construction: the H-project, a center for social studies and research and physical education in Seoul, Korea, and the Souterrain, a 1.2 km long underground transport interchange with tram stations, parking garage and poster museum connected to the basements of the major department stores and to the parkingroutes.

Major projects currently in the design phase are an Headquarters Building in Los Angeles, the Chassé-terrain, a housing project for the historic center of Breda, the new city centre for Almere, Nheterlands, the Netherlands Embassy in Berlin, and the IIT university building in Chicago, after winning the competition.

Study commissions for the development of New Seoul International Airport City and the new center of Almere in 1995, the Amsterdam Airport City, a Hyperbuilding in Bankok, the competition entry for the Airport Terminal for Zürich in 1996, the masterplan for Hanoi New Town in Vietnam, for the Genoa Harbor in Italy and for the post airport city for Schiphol-Amsterdam are projects that explore the possibilities of future urban development in changing conditions in the making of cities.

Increasing expediency and impermanence liberate urbanism from self imposed atavistic duties and preoccupation with control. This condition invites urban design to explore contemporary and locally defined concepts and to imagine potential for development.

OMA has a staff of architects, urban planners and landscape-designers of plutinational origin, led by Rem Koolhaas. Architects, designers and technicians work in close collaboration. Consultants and external critics participate from the beginning of the design. During construction locally based teams, combining local and Rotterdam staff, work on site.

OMA has consistent working relationships with (structural) engineers. Cecil Balmond with his engineering team at Ove Arup and Partners is a key-figure in the Kunsthal, Lille Grand Palais, Euralille and many other projects. Competitions are a laboratory for design and for the exploration of the possibilities of collaboration between disciplines. Throughout the designproces architecture and engineering are integrated to inform, influence and determine each other. In 1995 this approach is intensified through an association with the Rotterdam De Weger Group, specialized in civil engineering, harbours and airports. The two offices work independently and reinforce each other in design, research, engineering and management.

Research, publications and exhibitions associated with OMA’s work are promoted by the Groszstadt Foundation. Groszstadt was involved in the realization of "SMLXL", a novel about architecture by Rem Koolhaas and graphic designer Bruce Mau, and in the 1994 exhibition OMA/Rem Koolhaas and the Place of Public Architecture, conceived by MoMA, NY and shown in 1995 in the Wexner Center for the Arts and in TN-Probe, Tokyo.

1999 Stage Theatre, New York, USA

1998 Maison à Bordeaux, France

1997 Educatorium, Utrecht, Netherlands

1994 Lille Grand Palais, Lille, France

1994 Euralille Masterplan, Lille, France

1993 Dutch House, Netherlands

1992 Kunsthal, Rotterdam, Netherlands

1991 Villa dall’Ava, Paris, France

1991 Nexus Housing, Fukuoka, Japan

1991 Byzantium, Amsterdam, Netherlands

1989 Patio Villa, Rotterdam, Netherlands

1987 Netherlands Dance Theatre, The Hague, Netherlands

1999 MAB Tower, Rotterdam, Netherlands

1999 House in Rotterdam, Netherlands

1998 Haus um die Schenkung, Berlin, Germany

1998 ‘t Paard Poppodium, The Hague, Netherlands

1997/98- IIT University Building, Chigago, USA

1997- Netherlands Embassy, Berlin, Germany

1997- Schiphol Logistic Parc, Netherlands

1996 Carré Building, Breda, Netherlands

1996- Chassé-terrain, 700 apartments, Breda, Netherlands

1996- Headquarters Building , Los Angeles, USA

1994 Parkingarage Almere, Netherlands

1994- Almere, city center, Netherlands

1992- Souterrain, Parking Garage, Tram Stations and Tram Tunnel, The Hague, Netherlands

1999 Schiphol post airport city, Amsterdam, Netherlands

1998 Song Do New Town, Korea

1997 Hanoi New Town (study)

1996 Universal City, masterplan forUniversal City in Los Angeles (study)

1996 Hyperbuilding, Bankok, Vietnam (study)

1996 Airportcity, Schiphol, Amsterdam (study)

1995 Airport City, Seoul (study)

1995 A4 highway corridor, Holland (study)

1993 Air Alexander, New Urban Frontiers (study)

1991 Urban Design Forum, Yokohama, Japan (study)

1991 Le Grande Axe, Paris, France (competition)

1987 Plan for the "new town" of Melun Senart, France (competition)

1983 World Exposition 1989, Paris, France (study)

1982 Parc de la Villette, Paris, France (competition)

1998/98 IIT, University Building, Chicago, USA ( 1^st prize)

1997 Extension MoMA, NY

1996 Luxor Theater, Rotterdam, Netherlands

1994 Metro Dade Center for the Arts, Miami, Florida USA

1994 Tate Gallery, London, UK

1994 Cardiff Bay Opera House, UK

1992 2 Bibliotheques Jussieu, Paris, France( 1st. prize)

1991 Palm Bay Hotel Conference Centre, Agadir, Morocco

1989 ZKM, Karlsruhe, Germany (1st. prize)

1989 Bibliotheque de France, Paris, France (honourable mention)

1989 Frankfurt Airport Office Complex, Frankfurt, Germany (1 st. prize)

1989 Ferry Terminal, Zeebrugge, Belgium (1st. prize)

1988 Netherlands Architectural Institute, Rotterdam

1986 City Hall, The Hague, Holland (jury selection)

1978 Extension Parliament, The Hague, Netherlands (2nd prize ex aequo)

1997 American Institute of Architects (AIA), Book Award for SMLXL

1993 Visiting Scholar, The Getty Centre, L.A. , Califonia

1992 Antonio Gaudi Prize, for Lille Urbanism Project

1992 The Architectural Institute of Japan, Best building in Japan for Nexus Housing, Fukuoka, Japan

1991 Prix d’Architecture, for Villa dall’Ava, Paris, France

1986 Rotterdam Maaskant Prize, Rotterdam, the Netherlands

1974 Progressive Architecture Award with L. Spear

1998 Living (Vivre), Arc en Rêve, Bordeaux, France

1997 New Urbanism: Pearl River Delta, Documenta X, Kassel, Germany

1995- Euralille-Pose, Exposer, travelling exhibition

1994-95 Rem Koolhaas and the Place of Public Architecture, Museum of Modern Art, New York/Wexner Museum, Columbus, Ohio, USA/ Tokyo, Japan

1990 Rem Koolhaas, OMA in Lille, Musée de Beaux Arts, Lille, France

1990 OMA Recent Projects, Collegio d’Arquitectes, Barcelona, Spain

1990 Energieen (group exhibition, with Cindy Sherman, Anselm Kiefer,

Sigmar Polke, Jenny Holzer), Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam, Netherlands

1989 Fin de Siècle, OMA at IFA, I.F.A., Paris

1989 OMA: The First Decade: Boymans Museum, Rotterdam

1988 OMA 1972-1988, Architektur Museum, Basel

1988 Deconstructivism (group exhibition), Museum of Modern Art, New York

1988 Recent Work, Max Protech Gallery, New York

1978 The Sparkling Metropolis, Guggenheim Museum, New York

1990- Professor of Architecture, Harvard University, Cambridge, USA

1991-92 Professor of Architecture, Rice University, Houston, Texas, USA

1988-89 Professor of Architecture, Technical University, Delft, Netherlands

1976 Architectural Association, London, England

1975 University of California, Los Angeles School of Architecture, LA, USA

1975 Institute for Architecture and Urban Studies, New York

Delirious New York: A Retroactive Manifesto for Manhattan (New York: Oxford University Press, 1978). Reprinted in November 1994 by 010 Publishers, Rotterdam.

OMA: S M L XL together with the Canadian graphic designer Bruce Mau (010 Publishers, Rotterdam, and Monacelli Press NY, December 1995)

Kenchiku Bunka Vol. 54 no.628 February 1999

A+U 342, 99:03

El Croquis Special (no. 53 and no. 79) 1999

Architecture and Urbanism no.217, October 1988

Arch+, no.132, June 1996

Kenchiku Bunka Vol. 50 no.579 January 1995

EL Croquis no.53, March 1992 and no.79, 1996

L’Architecture d’Aujourd’hui no.280, April 1992

Lucan, Jacques. OMA/Rem Koolhaas (Princeton University Press/ Electa Moniteur, 1991)

Goulet, Patrice. Six Projets (Paris: I.F.A.1990)

Goulet, Patrice. Lille (Paris: I.F.A. 1990)

Architecture d’Aujourd’hui no.238, April 1985

Last modified: 1 June 1999