REM KOOLHAS

INTRODUCTION
 Born : 17th November 1944 at Rotterdam, Netherlands
 Studied Architecture at AA School of Architecture, Cornell University, NewYork
 The Dutch designer has earned acclaim as an author, a theorist, an urban planner,
a cultural researcher, and a professor at Harvard.
 Rem Koolhaas’ projects are completed by the Office for Metropolitan
Architecture (OMA), which is a leading international partnership practicing
contemporary architecture, urbanism, and cultural analysis.
 In 1978, based on his observations, Koolhaas penned Delirious New York, which
he frequently described as a "manifesto for Manhattan," and which discusses in
detail patterns of urban growth. 
 Pritzker prize in 2000
DESIGN PHILOSOPHY
Koolhaas style has been called as deconstructivist , modernist and structuralist.
Known for his striking, often gravity-defying structures, Rem Koolhaas has built a
reputation as one of the top architects of the 21st century. 
He lean towards Humanism. His works searches for a link between humanity and
technology.
Koolhaas was influenced by post-modern Japanese architectural theory as well as his
experience in reconstruction and invention in the Netherlands and Indonesia.
Koolhaas is also an advocate for Post-Modern Metabolism (mega-structures should
emerge organically from the community and culture to meet contemporary needs) in
architectural design and function.
OMA bases their work on the premise that in our modern, high-technological society,
traditional city structures have become obsolete. They see no point in adhering to site-
specificness in an increasingly globalized world and thus, their projects are strictly self-
referential.
 McCormick Tribune Campus Center in IIT
viewed from the southwest 2003
The De Rotterdam Complex 2013
Seatlle library 2004

 Beijing headquarters for CCTV.

Embassy of the Netherlands, Berli

n
, Germany2004
Seoul National Museum of Art 2005
THE SEATTLE LIBRARY, WASHINGTON
 The Seattle Central Library redefines the library as an institution not just dedicated to the
book, but as an information store where all potent forms of media are presented equally
and legibly.
 “Our first operation has been the "combining" and consolidation of the apparently
ungovernable proliferation of programs and media. By combining like with like, we
have identified five platforms, each a programmatic cluster that is architecturally
defined and equipped for maximum, dedicated performance. Because each platform is
designed for a unique purpose, they are different in size, density, opacity.
The in-between spaces are like trading floors where librarians inform and stimulate,
where the interface between the different platforms is organized - spaces for work,
interaction, and play. (And reading).” -OMA
THE SEATTLE LIBRARY, WASHINGTON
 The new Seattle Public Library
houses the library's main
collection of books,
government publications,
periodicals, audio visual
materials and the technology to
access and distribute
information from the physical
collection online.

 The building is divided into

eight horizontal layers, each
varying in size to fit its
The stacks, arranged along a continuous
function. A structural steel and
glass skin unifies the spiral ramp contained within a four-story
multifaceted form and defines slab, reinforce a sense of a world organized
the public spaces in-between.
with machine-like precision.
THE SEATTLE LIBRARY, WASHINGTON

 Situated on a sloping site between 4th

and 5th street the new library will have
entrances on both street levels.

 The entrance level on 4th Street,  one

of Seattle's main thoroughfares, houses
the Children's Library and foreign-
language resources.

 Rows of escalators lead to the 5th

Street "Living Room" lobby located
under a 50-foot-high sloping glass
wall.  The lobby can also be reached
directly from a covered walkway that
runs the length of the 5th Avenue
facade.
THE SEATTLE LIBRARY, WASHINGTON
 The carpeted "Living Room" contains
the fiction stacks while non-fiction are
located on the "Dewey Ramp"; a four-
story ramp that allows people to browse
through books in a continuos sequence.
The Reading room, on the top floor, has
 views of Puget Sound and the
surrounding mountains.
THE SEATTLE LIBRARY, WASHINGTON
 The Book Spiral implies a reclamation of
the much-compromised Dewey Decimal
System. By arranging the collection in a
continuous ribbon—running from 000 to
999—the subjects form a coexistence that
approaches the organic; each evolves
relative to the others, occupying more or
less space on the ribbon, but never forcing a
rupture.
Fourth floor, Central
Public Library, Seattle,
Washington. This floor
contains conference
rooms, classrooms, and
at least one office. The
bright red hallways
contrast to the blues and
metallic tones that
dominate most of the rest
of the library.
THE SEATTLE LIBRARY, WASHINGTON
 Koolhaas sees the new library as a
custodian of the book, a showcase
for new information, a place for
thought, discussion and reflection
- a dynamic presence.
 The fact that the contents of a
whole library can be stored on a
single chip, or the fact that a single
library can now store the digital
content of all libraries, together
represent potential rethinking: new
forms of storage enable the space
dedicated to real books to be
contained; new forms of reading
enhance the aura of the real book.
 CCTV
Headquarters,
China
2012
CCTV HEADQUARTERS, CHINA
CCTV Headquarters, designed by OMA as
a reinvention of the skyscraper as a loop,
defies the skyscraper's typical quest for
ultimate height.
Instead of competing in the race for
ultimate height and style within a
traditional two-dimensional tower 'soaring'
skyward, CCTV's loop poses a truly three-
dimensional experience, culminating in a
75-metre cantilever.
The design combines the entire process of
TV-making, formerly scattered in various
locations across the city, into a loop of
interconnected activities.
The building is visible from most of
Beijing; it sometimes comes across as big
and sometimes small, from some angles
strong and from others soft.
 CCTV's form facilitates the combination
CCTV HEADQUARTERS, CHINA of the entire process of TV-making in a loop
of interconnected activities.
 Two towers rise from a common
production studio platform, the Plinth.
Each tower has a different character
Tower 1 serves as editing area and
offices,
and the lower Tower 2 is dedicated to
news broadcasting.
 They are joined by a cantilevering
bridge for administration, ‘the Overhang’

SITE PLAN SECTION

CCTV HEADQUARTERS, CHINA

 The forces at work within the structure are rendered visible on the facade: a web
of triangulated steel tubes - diagrids - that, instead of forming a regular pattern of
diamonds, become dense in areas of greater stress, looser and more open in areas
requiring less support.
 The facade itself becomes a visual manifestation of the building's structure.
CCTV HEADQUARTERS, CHINA
The self-supporting
hybrid facade structure
features high performance
glass panels with a sun
shading of 70 percent
open ceramic frit, creating
the soft silver-grey color
that gives the building a
surprisingly subtle
presence in the Beijing
skyline.

Rising from a common platform the two towers lean towards each other and
eventually merge in a perpendicular, 75-meter cantilever.

The innovative structure of the building is the result of collaboration between

European and Chinese engineers to achieve new possibilities for the high-rise.
 IINTERIORS

The 10,000-square metre main lobby, in Tower 1, is

an atrium stretching three floors underground, and
three floors up. It has a direct connection with
Beijing's subway network, and will be the arrival
and departure hub for the 10,000 workers inside
CCTV headquarters. Connected to the lobby, 12
studios (the largest is 2,000 square metres) perform
the main function of the building: TV making. Thank You…