Rem Koolhaas, the Irreverent – Neither Modernist nor Historicist

[Zephyr]

EuraLille aka Euralille and Lille Grand Palais - Grand Palais Detail 3

Rem Koolhaas / OMA
Lille Grand Palais
1990 - 1994
Lille, France


Lille Grand Palais' Exhibition Hall

© flickr / dalbera

© flickr / dalbera


Lille Grand Palais
transitional areas

© flickr / dalbera

​

 

[Zephyr]

NEVER BUILT - Two Jussieu Libraries in Paris

The first image in this post is of a sheet of folded paper used to create a continuous ramp across several levels of one of two proposed buildings. Seems like fun-and-games? Not really. The same idea was used later in the Royal Dutch Embassy [Berlin, Germany] project (posts # 50-57), as part of what I called the "river of light' in that structure.

Thus far we have shown one other Rem Koolhaas project which received first prize in competition, but failed to become part of the built environment - Sea Terminal [Zeebrugge, Belgium] project (post # 71). This is the second first-prize project to experience the same fate. Given what is available on the Internet we can only show you specifically one of two Jussieu library buildings proposed for Paris.

The official OMA website has a bit more visuals, but not much more. This post will give you mostly a structural view of two 3D models, and the OMA/AMO explanation (see ending passage in this post).

Rem Koolhaas
Deux Bibliothèques de Jussieu
Proposed 1992
Paris, France


Oragami of the Architect

Courtesy uniroma / ©: OMA / Koolhaas

An early crude 3D Model of the Design

© NAI Collection


Elaborate Structural 3D Model of the Interior Design

Courtesy elkongraphia
​

From the OMA/AMO website:

In the award winning scheme for two libraries at Jussieu, a technical university in Paris, OMA radically reconfigures the typical library layout. Rather than stacking one level on top of another, floor planes are manipulated to connect; thus forming a single trajectory - much like an interior boulevard that winds its way through the entire building.

The implantation of the new library represents the insertion of a new core, which should at the same time resuscitate the original significance of Albert`s project.

However beautiful, Albert`s campus is windy, cold and empty, but more important for its disfunctionality is the fact that Jussieu is a network, not a building. Its endlessness psychologically exhausts in advance any attempt to `inhabit` it. Intended as the essence of the campus, the pedestrian parvis is experienced as a residue, a mere slice of void sandwhiched between sockle and building.

To reassert its credibility, we imagine in this project the surface of the parvis as pliable a social magic carpet. We fold it to form a `stacking` of platforms which is then enclosed to become a building which is to be `read` as the culmination of the Jussieu network.

These new surfaces - a vertical, intensified landscape - are then `urbanized` almost like a city: the specific elements of the libraries are reimplanted in the new public realm like buildings in a city. Instead of a simple stacking of one floor on top of the other, sections of each floor are manipulated to connect with those above and below.

In this way a single trajectory traverses the entire structure like a warped interior Boulevard. The visitor becomes a Baudelairean `flaneur`, inspecting and being seduced by a world of books and information and the urban scenario.

Through its scale and variety the effect of the inhabited planes becomes almost that of a street, a theme which influences the interpretation and planning of the Boulevard as part of a system of further supra-programmatic `urban` elements in the interior: plaza`s, parks, monumental staircases, cafes, shops.

© OMA / AMO

SOURCE Under 'Jussieu - Two Libraries' Project Information​

 

[Zephyr]

Strange Things Uncovered While Researching Rem - #10

Rem’s fascination with Africa’s largest city … the Documentary


Koolhaas's fascination with Lagos stems from the apparently unplanned nature of this growth, and the ability of the city to cope with the influx of people without visible mechanisms to deal with the outcomes of growth.

… Presenting himself as a public intellectual involved in questions of politics and culture and a prolific author with a poetic turn of phrase, Koolhaas is as close to a Renaissance man as you can get in our times. After watching Lagos/Koolhaas however, it becomes clear to what extent Koolhaas has de-renaissanced (to coin a verb) our understanding of the role of the architect in society. Instead of the visionary pathfinder engaged in the shaping of the physical and social worlds, Koolhaas portrays the architect as someone breathlessly pursuing a reality that is moving too fast for his grasp, held transfixed and helpless in contemplating the world as a purely visual phenomenon.

… One of the outcomes of Koolhaas's interest in a city like Lagos is that it offers the chance to see Africa not like Bob Geldof and Bono want us to see it, as a site of helplessness and an object of charity, but as a locus of dynamism and aspiration. The downside of this is that a place like Lagos becomes interesting and worthy of our own consideration only when someone like Koolhaas shows interest in it.

Karl Sharro
August 2006

A Book ... then a Film

left from book cover - Courtesy Harvard Education;
right from film - Courtesy First Run Icarus Films​

Lagos, Nigeria is Africa’s biggest city, and projected to be the third largest in the world by 2010. It has been a city of interest to Koolhaas for some time now. This reflects his journalism background as much as anything else. He has traveled there several times, writing a book on the subject, and this post is in reference to a documentary film made by director Bregtje van der Haak.

Some have called this a glorified video, at 55 minutes, but having seen it I would call it a typical small-scale documentary in format, but infinitely interesting film in its content.

As far as Africa goes, Nigeria is considered by many: one of the most corrupt, fastest growing, and chaotic countries on that continent. Moreover, Nigerians can be found around the world, and I have met many that way. I have found them in places ranging from Europe to South America, and from Hong Kong to Chicago. Personally, the Nigerians I have met - many in fact from Lagos - appear to be some of the most adaptable people to urban life, that perhaps I have ever known.

- Zephyr

Lagos / Koolhaas (2002)
a documentary film by
Bregtje van der Haak
55 minutes​

 

[armenm]

Zephyr: thanks a lot for compiling OMA's work on the UT site - it's more comprehensive than any retrospective I've seen on the firm, and it's a real good primer on what the firm is all about. Good work.

 

[Zephyr]

First of all, a hearty welcome to Urban Toronto! I am honoured to have received your very first post, and thank you for your kind words.

I am determined to cover Rem Koolhaas through this thread and using the Internet to visually document his work. I hope to give a glimpse of the complex person that I believe he is, based on my understanding of his work, his interests and his broad perspective. (Moreover, if you detect any sick humour that occasionally crops up here, I will probably plead guilty as charged.)

You might take a look at the Richard Meier thread, also in this section, but much further down the list. I am working on the last segment there and it will be updated somewhere in the near term with several more posts.

Finally, as I have stated already, if you or anyone else want to comment on any part of this thread, even if it goes back to the first page, feel free to do so at anytime.

- Zephyr

 

[Zephyr]

Dutch House - Exterior Only

Some say Dutch House is Rem’s equivalent to Mies’ Farnsworth House or Johnson’s Glass House – not Patio Villa which was never a house in the first place. But if this is true the exterior is a disappointment indeed. The timing of the idea was somewhere between 1992 and 1993, which would place it in the period when Kunsthal was nearing completion. You will see the detailing resembles a small-scale version of the Streetside of Kunsthal, along with one of the ajoining sides. The rear of Dutch House has an all-weather exterior curtain due to issues with sunlight - an inelegant solution for this problem.

As the official OMA website notes tell us (see below), this house is actually two structures combined into one. Evidence of this duality are found in a slanting, raised platform, that is also landscaped on one elevation, and a passage way between structures, that can only be observed from the interior.

You will note that the house has no city associated with it. The owners dictated the absence of this information. Aside from the website, I could only find pictures of decent detail at Flickr, apparently photographed by one lone insider.

Rem Koolhaas
Het Nederlandse Huis
(Dutch House)
1993 - 1995
Geen stad (No city), Nederland


Exterior Sequence

© flickr / dysturb
​

From the OMA/AMO website:

Challenged by highly uneven topography and a 4m height restriction, OMA designed this private residence to occupy space both above and below ground. The embedded design accommodates a maximal program -- four bedrooms, kitchen, living room, study and two terraces -- while making a minimal formal gesture.


Marking the termination and final frontier of the ice-age, an endmorene remains as a Dutch hill, about 50m above sea level. The 5000m2 site is located here, in a forest of pine on fine golden "beachsand". Aside from the unstable ground conditions, specific site requirements include height restrictions of 4 m from adjacent road and excessive limitation of buildable area. Literal interpretations of these given dictate a frame of total length and roof height.
Manipulations of terrain became subsequent. A drive-through path was carved out to ensure efficiency of access and exit.

The program consists of facilities for two permanent residents - the parents - and for three grown-up daughters, visitors at most. To fade the presence of their absence, a programmatic split was introduced, materialized by the slab, held by one house holding the other.

How to translate the two different conditions of occupation related to specific site and ground, autonomously and with moments of interaction, became our focus. Further, to compress maximum program into a minimal amount of formal gestures.

At zero level, one wrapping wall is defining a continuity of inside areas and patios for the daughters "motel", introverted and grounded.
The floating deck supports a crystallized container of parents program. One hingpoint, the pivoting bridge/horizontal door feeds both bedroom unit with patio above/service entry below. The content of wall itself is dictating, but leaving surrounding space free within the glass-box. Physically detached, but visually inclusive of site. Various treatments of glass and shadings are manipulating this mutual relationship, according to program and orientation.

The node of the house is a central ramp, providing visual and functional connection between the two counterparts.

Paradoxically this physical cut is where reconcilation is found.

© OMA / AMO​

SOURCE Under 'Dutch House' Project Information​

 

[Zephyr]

Dutch House - Interior Detail

Dutch House is more innovative on the inside than out. This page visually demonstrates the following: how the exterior, raised landscape element, is translated to the interior; the opening and closing of both the exterior and interior curtains; and finally, a glimpse of how the structural gap is handled via a passageway.

Rem Koolhaas
Het Nederlandse Huis
(Dutch House)
1993 - 1995
Geen stad (No city), Nederland


Interior Detail


Matching Exterior (top row) to Interior (next two row)

Left to Right: Opening simultaneously both the Exterior and Interior curtains
Note 1 - Exterior curtains are only visible in left photo (covering a larger window area there)

Passageway Between what was once Two Structures
now Combined into One
Note 2 - Similar to a suspension bridge, the passageway floor is partially supported by cables from above

All of the above: © flickr / dysturb
​

 

[Zephyr]

Educatorium - Exterior 1

"Educatorium," has a confusing backstory not worth exploring here. What we have in terms of a building, is a type of Lecture Hall at University, that deliberately is designed to be multifunctional and inviting to students and teachers alike. As one Japanese architectural group put it, via our translation, "this is not a completely clean architecture" meaning clearly defined in all its elements converging into one purpose. But time has proven this is a very dynamic concoction, that encourages learning and interaction.

There was an added goal for OMA also worth mentioning. If we were to retrofit our current jargon it would be the goal of making a "green" Architecture when Educatorium was finally built. Curiously, the official website description below, never mentions this goal directly. Christophe Cornubert was OMA's specialist in this area, and he was pulled into the project to work with Koolhaas as a design equal, in order to ensure this building would be environmentally friendly. There will be more on this in subsequent posts.

Rem Koolhaas and
Christophe Cornubert
Educatorium Universiteit Utrecht / De Uithof
(Educatorium, University of Utrecht at De Uithof Campus)
1993 - 1997
Utrecht, Nederland


A Modern building in the pastoral settings of rural Holland ...

© flickr / bryanboyer


... Not!

Below the Distortions of a "Fisheye" Lens to capture an entire Streetside elevation

© flickr / Doomster

Segmented views from left to right
Displayed respectively from top to bottom

All above in this section are from © flickr / Doomster
​

From the OMA/AMO website:

Composed of two planes which fold to accommodate a range of distinct programs including an outdoor plaza, two lecture halls, cafeteria and a testing facility. Planes interlock to create a single trajectory in which the entire university experience – socialization, learning, examination – is encapsulated.


The Educatorium is conceived as a new center of gravity for the Uithof University Campus. Point of departure of the design are two sheets which fold and interlock. The concrete slab is treated as a malleable surface which allows an optimum fit for each program. The sloped planes of the entrance plateau, function like an urban plaza or mixing chamber. Beneath this area is sheltered the bicycle parking and intersecting bike-path.

Above the mixing chamber is the two-story block of examination halls. While specifically planned for mass examinations they are also designed to allow varied configurations of furnishing and inhabitation.

The two auditoria are accessed via the large entry area ramp. Oriented towards the north side the larger auditorium is open to the view of the botanical gardens. Two curving walls enclose the room, one solid, one of glass. Laminated with a holographic film which changes between transparent or translucent depending on the viewer`s point, the glass wall acts as a fabricated cloud alternately clearing and obscuring the view to the outside while providing a screen of privacy for the interior.

In the ceiling, steel reinforcement bars emerge from the exposed concrete slab. Steel and concrete dissociate allowing each material to work at optimum efficiency: the 20cm thick concrete slab is made to span 21 metres.

The second auditorium with 400 seats is situated to the south. Spanning between two massive walls the roof structure is a densely packed series of I-beams forming a surface of steel.

The cafeteria is situated beneath the floor of the auditoria. The lines of columns are denser to the south, almost disappear to the north towards the landscape beyond. Designed to accommodate up to 1000 people, the sloping ceiling together with the "random" columns generats a series of "places" within the large room.

Circulation in the Educatorium is organized around a cruciform of two corridors subdividing each plan into quadrants and functioning as the main connectors. A second system of paths allows the building to function as a network. By merging the "pauze" areas with circulation, larger open territories are generated as part of strategy of eliminating frontiers in favour of more subtle techniques of separation or inclusion.

© OMA / AMO

SOURCE Under 'Educatorium' Project Information​

 

[Zephyr]

Educatorium - Exterior 2

The following photographs are not so photogenic as the first for the Educatorium, but they do reveal how certain matters are handled.

The building position, as it were, is due to lot restrictions on the campus. Sun streams into the backside, or the side opposite the street, and is handled by a curtain on the left. This curtain can be retracted or removed. The right of the backside, is a permanent wall, similar to what we saw on one of the Kunsthal's elevations in earlier post to this thread.

Rem Koolhaas and
Christophe Cornubert
Educatorium Universiteit Utrecht / De Uithof
(Educatorium, University of Utrecht at De Uithof Campus)
1993 - 1997
Utrecht, Nederland


Backside of Educatorium:
The view seldom photographed

Overview Panoramic Using a 'Fisheye' Lens

© flickr / bryanboyer

A Sampling of Photographs of the Backside
on a rainy and dreary day

Courtesy - degas, nuac and nagoya​

 

[Zephyr]

Educatorium - Selective use of Concrete

The Educatorium roof was planned as a veritable garden of sedum; water was to be partially recycled (from elsewhere) in toilets to remove waste; and materials were carefully chosen and reworked to achieve an environmentally friendly structure.

Rem Koolhaas and
Christophe Cornubert
Educatorium Universiteit Utrecht / De Uithof
(Educatorium, University of Utrecht at De Uithof Campus)
1993 - 1997
Utrecht, Nederland


Exterior Detail - Concrete used in Roof Base and Floor Beneath It
Exposed during Construction as a Feature of the Design

© lycos nederland


Exterior Detail
Educatorium's Environmental Roof just after Completion

"Educatorium roof was planned as a veritable garden of sedum"

© Zinco

© lycos nederland


Concrete translated to the Groundfloor Cafeteria
as an Exposed Ceiling

Courtesy art life shop


Concrete Outline as Shown in:
Angled View of Finished Building (next row); Closeup detail (last row)

© flickr / bryanboyer

© galinsky
​

 

[Zephyr]

Educatorium - Interior 1

The Model used for the interior of the Educatorium is displayed in a specific sequence below.

After the base is displayed, floors are added in each photograph (most in the rear. You will note that some areas stay the same due to the fact that they span that floor as well as the one before.

Rem Koolhaas and
Christophe Cornubert
Educatorium Universiteit Utrecht / De Uithof
(Educatorium, University of Utrecht at De Uithof Campus)
1993 - 1997
Utrecht, Nederland


3D Model of Interior Design
from Lower Level to Top Floor[/I]

All the above: Courtesy Collegi D’Aparelladors (Barcelona) / © OMA ​

 

[Zephyr]

Educatorium - Interior 2

The Educatorium toilets not only used partially recycled water (from elsewhere) to remove waste - resulting in a lower use of fresh water - they also were part of a design to use less energy in processing that waste.

Continuing ... not only are these toilets colourful, they are usually one colour for most walls and the floor. This theme of one colour and/or one material for both floor and many of the walls are selectively illustrated throughout the building.

Rem Koolhaas and
Christophe Cornubert
Educatorium Universiteit Utrecht / De Uithof
(Educatorium, University of Utrecht at De Uithof Campus)
1993 - 1997
Utrecht, Nederland


Interior Detail - Toilets

...water was to be partially recycled (from elsewhere) in toilets to remove waste....

left - Courtesy rent an eye; right - © flickr / morphina_org

© flickr / arquitextonica


Interior Detail - The Audio-Video "Egg"

Note how egg opens in top row, left

left - Courtesy Archined / © Hans Werlemann; right - © galinsky

© flickr / fdo h

© flickr / fdo h
​

 

[Zephyr]

Educatorium - Wood meets Concrete

You have seen the concrete roof covered with sedum, and when exposed during construction, and afterwards in the ceiling of the cafeteria.

Now we look at concrete that is covered in laminated and shaped wood. This has a triple purpose - aesthetics (a word that Mr. Koolhaas would probably not use), acoustic, and durability.

Rem Koolhaas and
Christophe Cornubert
Educatorium Universiteit Utrecht / De Uithof
(Educatorium, University of Utrecht at De Uithof Campus)
1993 - 1997
Utrecht, Nederland


Matching the Finished and Curved Concrete surface on the outside
with the Interior use of Laminated and Curved Wood on the inside

...materials were carefully chosen and reworked to achieve an environmentally friendly structure....

Courtesy Floornature /© 1999 Antonio Paiva

© flickr / fdo h

Approaching Curved Wall from Ramp-like Staircase

© flickr / mattmanucd
​

 

[Zephyr]

Educatorium - Interior 3

Outside, the largest of two Auditoria, appears to be a massive curving metallic structure in the hallways. Its shiny surface reflecting the wood in those hallways, and using a series of exposed aka 'naked' low-energy florescent lamps to illuminate the way.

Next to this Auditorium is the slightly smaller Audio/Video Auditorium - entered through an egglike pod on the upper level. The latter Auditorium was seen in a prior post.

Inside the largest Auditorium is a wall composed of panels of flat and then curved glass. This glass side, in turn, faces out on botanical gardens. (I guess the lecturer(s) will always know how effective his/her/their words, by the presence or absence of wandering eyes in the daylight hours. )

Rem Koolhaas and
Christophe Cornubert
Educatorium Universiteit Utrecht / De Uithof
(Educatorium, University of Utrecht at De Uithof Campus)
1993 - 1997
Utrecht, Nederland


Largest of Auditoria viewed from Hallways

© lycos nederland

© flickr / arquitextonica

left - © flickr / morphina_org;right - © flickr / abel groenewolt


Largest of Auditoria viewed from Inside

© flickr / fade to grey

Above row of photos - Courtesy of degas, nuac and nagoya

Courtesy of Collegi D’Aparelladors (Barcelona)
​

 

[Zephyr]

Educatorium - Bicycles not Motor Vehicles are sheltered

We of the 'real world' are accustomed to seeing motor vehicles, belonging to the VIPs or Executives, parked inside reserved areas of the typical office building - the rest of the motor vehicles, motorcycles and bicycles, would be outside.

At the Educatorium it is the bicycle, not motor vehicle, that 'parks' inside the shelter of the building, at the lower-level.

Rem Koolhaas and
Christophe Cornubert
Educatorium Universiteit Utrecht / De Uithof
(Educatorium, University of Utrecht at De Uithof Campus)
1993 - 1997
Utrecht, Nederland


Left to Right:
Streetside Excursion to see the Parking Area
of the Bicycles

Note - Bicycles can enter or exit on ramp in leftmost photo

Above row of photos - Courtesy of degas, nuac and nagoya

Coming Up the Ramp from Bicycle Parking
in the Morning

Courtesy Wikipedia

Walking Down the Ramp to Bicycle Parking
in the late Afternoon

© flickr / mattmanucd

​