Rem Koolhaas

Born in Rotterdam in 1944, Koolhaas worked as a journalist and screenwriter in Amsterdam before moving to London to study architecture. After three years in New York (1972-75) he returned to London, where he co-founded the Office for Metropolitan Architecture (OMA). OMA’s completed projects include a master plan for the city center and the Grand Palais in Lille, France; the Educatorium at Utrecht University in the Netherlands; and two exhibition halls in Las Vegas (one for the Guggenheim Museum and another for a joint venture between the Guggenheim and the Hermitage Museum of St. Petersburg). Among Koolhaas’s current projects are the renovation and expansion of the Seattle Public Library and the Prada Corporate Identity Project.
OMA’s sister organization, AMO, is an architectural think tank and consulting firm founded by Koolhaas to research the relationship between society and the built environment. Koolhaas is the recipient of many awards, most notably the 2000 Pritzker Prize. He is Professor of Practice of Architecture and Urban Design at Harvard’s Graduate School of Design.

January 21, 2002