The Prada Transformer is a six-

month installation on the grounds

of the historic Gyeonghui Palace
at the center of Seoul, South Korea.
Conceived by architect Rem Koolhaas
of the Office for Metropolitan
Architecture, the Prada Transformer
is a tetrahedron-shaped pavilion
designed to house four events
devoted to art, film, fashion and
the broader culture of Prada. The
steel-framed pavilion rolls over
between exhibitions, creating a unique
environment for each new program.
PRADA
TRANSFORMER
SEOUL, KOREA
(Prada Transformer)
6 . OMA(Ofce for Metropolitan
Architecture) (Rem Koolhaas)
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Destabilization: Prada Transformer

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The fashion industry is based on change:
steady, predictable change. Twice a year
the vast network of designers, retailers,
manufacturers, critics and shoppers
holds its collective breath to nd out
what comes next.
If fashion is to be read beyond that
sense of manufactured anticipation,
the fashion designer must harness the
incessantly cyclical system to fuel an on-
going exploration that expands the
borders of the eld while questioning its
very assumptions. Prada has attempted
just that: to create an approach, at
once intellectual and contradictory, that
perpetually produces newness while
simultaneously investigating the limita-
tions of the system.
The goal is to embrace all the illogical
constraints of the fashion industry
never to retreat behind the label of
artist and to explore the way in which
a designer can create theory through
practice. To nd alternative perspectives,
an essential component of that explora-
tion has been to seek collaborators
outside of the fashion world and nd
inspiration in architecture, art, lm and
new media. Of those collaborations,
perhaps none have been so generative,
nor irreverent, as the work between
Prada and the Ofce for Metropolitan
Architecture (OMA).
One of the worlds foremost archi-
tects, OMA founder Rem Koolhaas, is
also one of its greatest skeptics, pointing
out the discrepancy between the accel-
eration of culture and the continuing
slowness of architecture. Prada and
OMA along with OMAs binary oppo-
site, the think-tank AMO have joined
forces on an ever-widening array cross-
media ventures, from stores and tempo-
rary environments to museums, exhibi-
tions, lms, websites and product
design.
If one feature of OMA/AMOs work for
Prada is to question the inherent stability
of architecture, the Prada Transformer
may be the apotheosis of that interroga-
tion. The Transformer dees the basic
tenets of gravity, stasis, orientation and
location. Designed to accommodate
four different public programs, the entire
tetrahedron-shaped pavilion ips over
after each phase and recongures for
a new use: the ceiling of one exhibition
becomes the oor of the next and the
wall of the one after thatand so on.
Each oor plan is especially shaped for its
content: Waist Down, a lm festival, an
art exhibition and a special closing event.
The Prada Transformer, notes Kool-
haas, is a dynamic organism, as
opposed
to a static object that arbitrarily ts a pro-
gram. What better place to situate a
dynamic organism than at the center of
one the largest, most vital cities on earth;
the Seoul metropolitan area is home to
almost 25 million people and growing.
Further accentuating the frisson between
the fast and the slow, the Transformer
rests on the front lawn of the traditional
16th Century Gyeonghui Palace, one of
the treasures of Korean Culture.
Architecture cant do anything that
the culture doesnt, Koolhaas remarks,
but rarely does the form of a building so
perfectly match both the content it is
designed to contain and the frenetic
culture from which it rises. The architec-
ture is literally wrenched from its founda-
tions and with the lumbering movements
of an awakened giant, learns to roll with
the punches.
Destabilization: Prada Transformer

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The Prada Transfor-
mer merges several
diverse disciplines
within a single
building. It unies
the somewhat
contradictory facets
of Prada such as
fashion company
versus art founda-
tion while main-
taining the auton-
omy of each.
The architecture
provides an ideal
spatial condition for
each of four differ-
ent events. Each
event has a dis-
tinctly shaped oor
plane: hexagon,
rectangle, cruci-
form, and circle. As
opposed to a typical
generic space that
accommodates
everything, the
Prada Transformer
literally ips over,
changing character
in response to the
requirements
of each event. This
concept yields a
certain paradox:
while the function of
each condition is
hyper-specic, the
form of the building
itself is eeting,
almost indenable.
Concept & Vision
1
2
3
4

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1
2
Geometry
The Prada Trans-
former is a tetra-
hedron. The four
planes have distinct
shapes hexagon,
rectangle, cruci-
form, and circle
inscribed within the
triangular geometry
of the tetrahedron.
Each of four plan-
ned events will take
place on a unique
steel-framed oor-
plate that makes up
one side of the
building. When the
building ips over,
each side takes on
different functions:
oors become
walls, walls become
ceilings and so on.
1
2
3
4
Waist Down
Cinema
Art Exhibition
Special Event
3 4
1
2
3
4

1 2
Geometry
1
2
3
4
Waist Down
Cinema
Art Exhibition
Special Event
1
2
3
4

3
4
Plans
1
2
3
4
Waist Down
Cinema
Art Exhibition
Special Event
1
2
1
2
3
4

3
4
Events
1
2
3
4
Waist Down
Cinema
Art Exhibition
Special Event
1
2
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Location: GyEOnghui Palace
Adding a contem-
porary element to
a historic context,
the Transformer
is located on the
grounds of the 16th
Century Gyeonghui
Palace, an essential
element of Korean
cultural heritage.
Seoul is one of the
most dynamic
and progressive
cities in the world.
It blends cutting-
edge technology
and traditional
culture; contem-
porary art with an
inuential enter-
tainment and
cinema industry;
sophisticated
design and
architecture with
trend-setting
fashion.
.
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1
2
3
4

1 2 3 4
Rotation
The Prada Transfor-
mer transforms by
rotation. The entire
structure is lifted
from its foundations
using four cranes,
ipped, then placed
back down. While
each transformation
marks a change in
event, the memory
of previous activity,
or anticipation of
the next, is present
in the walls and
ceiling. The change
in orientation also
allows for multiple
uses; for instance,
the projection
booth of the cinema
becomes the stage
of the special event.
1
2
3
4
Waist Down
Cinema
Art Exhibition
Special Event
1
2
3
4

1
2

3

4
Rotation
1
2
3
4
Waist Down
Cinema
Art Exhibition
Special Event
( )
.
.
Membrane
The entire structure
is wrapped in an
elastic, translucent
white membrane
normally used
to cover and store
large machinery.
Stretched tightly
over the steel frame,
the skin reveals the
hard geometries
of the oor plates
and provides an
amorphous connec-
tion between them.
PRADA transformer
PRADA transformer
Architecture
OMA (Ofce for Metro-
politan Architecture)/
Rem Koolhaas
PRADA
Patrizio Bertelli
Miuccia Prada
Renato Bodi
Kathleen Box
Angelica Brancoli
Simona Chiappa
Johnny Choo
Sergio Danese
Ivan Deleidi
Franco Desci
Luca Donati
Tomaso Galli
Eleonora Goia
Jan Kennedy
Reese Kim
June Lee
Marco Previtali
Francesca Reali
Alessandra Rodolfo
Massimo Salimbeni
Federica Salmerigo
Andrea Scapecchi
Daniele Scapecchi
Sebastian Suhl
Claudio Tonioli
Verde Visconti
Younghee Yang
Silvia Yoon
Paola Zancanaro
Architecture
& Construction
OMA
Partners
Rem Koolhaas
Ellen van Loon
Associates
Kunle Adeyemi
Kees van Casteren
Chris van Duijn
Design Architect
Alexander Reichert
with
Hyoeun Kim
Yerin Kang
Vincent Mc Ilduff
David Moon
Mariano Sagasta
Claudia Romao
Eva Dietrich
Alex de Jong
Wayne Congar
Miguel Huelga
de la Fuente
Gustavo Paternina-
Soberon
Namjoo Kim
SL + A (Steven Leach
and Associates)
Jonathan Kim
Mark Sang
Eunmin S&D
Byungho Cho
Junghun Ahn
Munjong Park
Hyunduck Lee
Byungwook Cho
Cocoon Holland BV
Alexander van der Zee
Nic Mol
Simon van de Pol
George van Coezand
Rob van Coezand
Jed Lee
Jan Langeraar
Rob de Nijs
Richard Witte
Lighting
Arnold Chan
Site Management
Laurence
Geoffreys, Ltd.:
Laurencina Farrant
Financial &
Technical Support
LG Electronics
Hyundai Motor Co.
Red Resource Inc.
UPS
Visit Korea
Committee
Special thanks to the
City of Seoul, Jongno-gu
and Cultural Heritage
Administration of Korea
prada-transformer.com
Prada Spa, 2009
All rights reserved.
No part of this book may
be copied in any form,
or transmitted by any
electronic, mechanical
or other means, without
the contributors and
publishers permission.
All photo and text
rights are held by Prada
Spa, Milan.
PRADA TRANSFORMER