Dutch Parliament Extension, The Hague, 1978 [13th century]; OMA’s first preservation project. Watercolor by Madelon Vriesendorp. ©OMA

OMA’s major installation ‘Preservation’ opens next week in Venice at the 12th International Architecture Exhibition, alongside exhibits on current work around the world and a new, large-scale preservation project in Venice itself.

OMA’s installation will assert the critical position of preservation in architecture and urbanism and occupies two large rooms in the Palazzo delle Esposizioni. The installation includes historic objects and photographs, analysis of the rapid growth of preserved urban and natural territory, and a take-away display of OMA’s own projects spanning 35 years. ‘Preservation’ will redefine this under-explored theme as one of urgency within and beyond architecture’s disciplinary boundaries.

A new OMA project in Venice, the Fondaco dei Tedeschi, embodying many of these ideas, will be announced during the Biennale. A former trading post and customs house owned by the Benetton family and dating from 1228, the Fondaco, centrally located and adjacent to the Rialto bridge, will be converted into a culturally-programmed department store which preserves the building’s historic profile.

OMA’s conceptual masterplan for the West Kowloon Cultural District will be presented in an exhibition, Quotidian Architectures, organized by The Hong Kong Institute of Architects and the Hong Kong Arts Development Council. Part of the government’s ambition to redefine Hong Kong as a cultural as well as financial hub, the proposal includes a diverse program of cultural facilities set on public landscape overlooking Victoria Harbour. Rem Koolhaas will participate in a forum on the competition, ‘Hong Kong Arts: Imagining the Future.’

Koolhaas and OMA partner Reinier de Graaf will also participate in ‘Rethinking Education’, a symposium co-hosted by OMA and the Strelka Institute, to be held in Venice. OMA and its think tank AMO have designed an educational programme for the Moscow-based research platform which addresses the future of cities in Russia and abroad.

As part of the Biennale’s opening events, Rem Koolhaas will be awarded the Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement upon the recommendation of Kazuyo Sejima, the director of this year’s Biennale.

“Rem Koolhaas has expanded the possibilities of architecture,” says Sejima. “He creates buildings that bring people together and in this way forms ambitious goals for architecture. His influence on the world has come well beyond architecture. People from very diverse fields feel a great freedom from his work.”

Il Fondaco dei Tedeschi, Venice, Italy, 2010 [13th century]; OMA’s most recent preservation project. ©OMA

OMA proposal for the expansion to the Kunstmuseum in Basel, Switzerland.

“The cruel problem of the annex is its fundamental subservience; typically of inferior scale and compromised aesthetics, it cannot exist on its own, while its predecessor did very well without it. Although the new building clearly needs to extend and complement Basel’s Kunstmuseum, it is equally crucial that it proclaims its independence. If it is to be successful, the institution needs a new name: “Kunst Zwilling”.

The site and its context intimidate – so much history, so little time. Too careful and the project shrivels, too flamboyant and it backfires. We propose a shape that is independent, beautiful and that “accidentally” behaves well in the context. Not exactly aligned, it fits carefully in all the perspectives but is strong enough to declare its independence – both from its immediate neighbors and the older museum – like one of Ellsworth Kelly’s forms. Read the rest of this entry »

The Architectural Association School is mounting the first ever retrospective of the books produced by the Office for Metropolitan Architecture – a practice co-founded by a writer, Rem Koolhaas, largely on the basis of a book, Delirious New York (1978).

The centrepiece of the show is a specially-made 40,000-page book, binding together hundreds of OMA’s pamphlets and books made over 35 years of architectural thought, work and provocation.

OMA Book Machine: The Books of OMA runs from 8 May until 4 June 2010 at the AA School Gallery.

Many OMA books – like S,M,L,XL (1995) and Exodus or the Voluntary Prisoners of Architecture (made by the founders of OMA in 1975, and submitted by Koolhaas as his fifth-year thesis at the AA) – have had a decisive impact on architectural practice and book publishing in general. Read the rest of this entry »