Rem Koolhaas

Lore & Background

Rem Koolhaas was born in Rotterdam in 1944 to a novelist father and a mother whose father was a modernist architect. The family lived in Rotterdam, Amsterdam, and Jakarta, where Koolhaas spent formative years. He began as a journalist at age 19 before studying architecture at the Architectural Association in London and later at Cornell University and the Institute for Architecture and Urban Studies in New York.

In 1975, he co-founded OMA (Office for Metropolitan Architecture) with Elia Zenghelis, Zoe Zenghelis, and Madelon Vriesendorp. His early unbuilt projects, such as the Parc de la Villette and a residence for the Prime Minister of Ireland, as well as the Kunsthal in Rotterdam, put into practice ideas from his book *Delirious New York* (1978). He later led the 'Project on the City' at Harvard, producing books on Lagos, shopping, and Chinese urban growth.

Reader's Guide

Koolhaas is regarded by some as a significant architectural thinker and urbanist of his generation, and by others as a self-important iconoclast. His book *Delirious New York* analyzed Manhattan's high-rise architecture and introduced concepts like 'cross-programming' and the 'culture of congestion.' His later work at Harvard examined sprawling 'non-cities' and the influence of shopping, coining the term 'generic city' for purpose-built new towns. Critics have accused him of cynicism, while his designs—such as the Seattle Public Library—have drawn both praise and criticism. His office OMA gained prominence through online marketing, but some, like *New York Magazine* critic Justin Davidson, have called his later work a waste of resources. Koolhaas was elected to the American Philosophical Society in 2014.

Did You Know?

• Koolhaas co-wrote the Dutch film noir *The White Slave* in 1969 and later wrote an unproduced script for American soft-porn director Russ Meyer.
• His maternal grandfather, Dirk Roosenburg, was a modernist architect who worked for Hendrik Petrus Berlage.
• Koolhaas's early OMA contribution to the 1980 Venice Biennale was one of only three façades that did not use Post-Modern motifs.
• He coined the phrase 'generic city' to describe purpose-built new towns in southeast Asia.

Notable Quotes (Wikiquote)

"Architecture is a dangerous mixture of power and impotence." — Rem Koolhaas "I live in a Victorian apartment building in London." — Rem Koolhaas "The city is no longer. We can leave the theatre now." — Rem Koolhaas "Bigness is no longer part of any urban tissue. (...) Its subtext is fuck context." — Rem Koolhaas