7 Reasons to Revere Rem Koolhaas!

Bold, controversial, and influential – this is how you can, concisely, describe Rem Koolhaas’s architectural achievements. Rem Koolhaas has always been a free… free of the pressure of a signature style and of the desire to be understood. There is a whole list of reasons Why Rem Koolhaas Should Be Your Role Model!

7 reasons to revere Rem Koolhaas

1. “It’s an amazing life.”

Architect, author, theorist, Pritzker Prize winner, and professor at Harvard University, Rem Koolhaas pays tribute to his ingenuity at the tender age of 71, to his Asian upbringing and Soviet-inspired Architecture.

Having been titled the World’s Most Daring Architect and Most Influential Architect, for letting originality meander effortlessly, has only abetted the growth and success of his brainchild OMA – Office for Metropolitan Architecture, the studio from where several stars, including Zaha Hadid, have emancipated themselves laughs Rem humbly.

He expresses gratitude to be present in the world when things are radically changing, for his architecture and designing is about articulating a particular ambition, a supplement to intervene in an urgent situation, and the rest is history in a great sequence of opportunities.

2. “I see myself as an alert reporter.”

Rem Koolhaas essentially began his professional life as an interviewer. The convention of describing changes rose from there. The intellectual interest to formulate issues in the sharpest way possible arises from his roots as a journalist – a provocation for a greater design.
He states that it’s never too late to try.

3. “Architecture is a form of Scriptwriting.”

According to the illustrious architect, it’s like practically describing a scene in a movie, you point that this is the living room, here is a staircase and there is the kitchen, hence showcasing architectural constructivism.
Unsurprisingly the switch from Scriptwriting to Architecture originated naturally within him.

Fun fact: Rem had even collaborated with the Dutch director Jan de Bont, whom we know as the director of Twister.

4. “As a writer it’s heavy to be confronted with your own rhetoric.”

The role of architecture helping him define daily life is what essentially triggers Architect Rem Koolhaas. Subsequently, when current technology overrules design and thrills individuals, he finds it horrifying that digital devices have infiltrated the basic elements of architecture, recounting his experience at the Venice Biennale 2014, where OMA stood as the showstopper.

He believes that realizing the importance and positive use of tech will be true only once one has understood the structure or the process of design. Is being high-tech a sinister dimension then?

5. “OMA loves camouflage.”

More than just resisting the idea of a singular aesthetic, Rem reiterates that his firms’ interest doesn’t lie in asserting a particular identity at every condition. An excellent design has the duty of being stimulating.

Architecture for him is a very interesting combination of imposition, yielding, and absorption of an environment, context, and a clear understanding of the subtlety of being different because each case is different.

6. “The Dutch can’t handle praise.”

Following the lead of Peter Eisenmen quoting, “I love Rem, and I feel it’s very important to have lived in the time of Rem.” in candid praise of his style of building, Rem shyly confesses the Dutch have never been attracted to pursue celebrity. They are content in their safe haven, precisely why OMA is situated in Rotterdam, a city completely immune and comfortably indifferent to who they are.
Apart from the famous and flamboyant, CCTV Headquarters, Beijing and the Seattle Central Library, which raised uncertainties of Rem Koolhaas being a Starchitect, two newest works of the architect are the Garage Museum of Contemporary Art; A pre-assembled concrete pavilion whose design emanates original Soviet-era features and cutting-edge tech advancements, followed by the Prada Foundation, South Milan.

7. “Art and architecture must benefit from each other’s challenges.”
It’s an indisputable saying that a conversation with Rem can make one feel like a whole new person again.