Rem Koolhaas (Rotterdam, 1944) founded OMA in 1975 together with Elia and Zoe Zenghelis and Madelon Vriesendorp. Koolhaas worked as a journalist and screenwriter before beginning architecture, and writing has remained central to his architectural practice. In addition to architectural work with OMA, Koolhaas works in non-architectural disciplines – including politics, publishing, media, fashion, and sociology – through his think tank and research unit, AMO.
After studying at the Architectural Association in London, and at Cornell and the Institute for Architecture and Urban Studies in the US, Koolhaas wrote Delirious New York (1978). In 1995, S,M,L,XL summarized the work of OMA in a 1,200-page book that redefined architectural publishing. Since 1995 with the Project on the City research program at Harvard University, Koolhaas produced the books The Harvard Guide to Shopping (2002), an analysis of the role of retail and consumption in society and architecture, and Great Leap Forward (2002), a study of China’s Pearl River Delta; he also produced studies on Lagos, Roman architecture and the productivity of communism.
Recently completed OMA buildings led by Koolhaas include the new headquarters for China Central Television (CCTV) – a tower reinvented as a loop – in Beijing; Milstein Hall, a box that extends Cornell’s college of Architecture, Art and Planning; a bespoke new headquarters for Rothschild Bank in London; the Wyly Theatre, Dallas; and the Prada Transformer, a rotating multi-use pavilion in Seoul.
OMA buildings currently under construction include the Taipei Performing Arts Centre; new headquarters for G-star in Amsterdam; the Shenzhen Stock Exchange; and De Rotterdam, a mixeduse building on the river Maas.
In 1998, Koolhaas established AMO as a platform for using architectural thinking in nonarchitectural realms. Recent and ongoing AMO projects include “Cronocaos,” and “Public Works” for the 2010 and 2012 Venice Biennale; participation in the EU Reflection Group think tank, with the task of making proposals for Europe’s future in 2020; Roadmap 2050, a masterplan for a Europewide renewable energy grid; the design of catwalk shows for Prada and Miu Miu; the development of an educational program for Strelka, a new architecture school in Moscow and ongoing research into the countryside (globally) and the Russian hinterland. AMO has also guest edited an issue of Wired magazine as well as consulting on the future of Conde Nast magazines; proposed a “barcode” EU flag; and developed a curatorial masterplan for the Hermitage Museum in Saint Petersburg.

SELECTED BUILDINGS
CCTV Headquarters, Beijing, 2012
Rothschild Bank, London, 2012
Millstein Hall, Cornell, NY, 2010
Maggie’s Center, Gartnavel, 2010
Wyly Theatre, Dallas, 2009
Prada Transformer, Seoul, 2009
Serpentine Pavilion, London, 2006
Zeche Zollverein Museum and masterplan, Essen, 2006
Seoul National University Museum of Art, 2006
Casa da Música, Porto, 2005
Prada Epicenter, New York, 2001
Seattle Central Library, 2004
Netherlands Embassy, Berlin, 2003
IIT Campus Center, Chicago, 2003
Hermitage Guggenheim, Las Vegas, 2001
Maison à Bordeaux, 1998
Educatorium, Utrecht, 1997
Euralille Congrexpo + masterplan, 1994
Kunsthal, Rotterdam, 1992
Nexus World Housing, Fukuoka, 1991
Villa d’allava, Paris, 1991
Netherlands Dance Theatre, The Hague, 1987

SELECTED BOOKS
Project Japan: Metabolism Talks, Taschen, 2010
Al Manakh I and II, Archis, 2007 and 2010
Content, Taschen, 2003
Harvard Guide to Shopping, Taschen 2002
Great Leap Forward, Taschen, 2002
S,M,L,XL, Monacelli, 2005
Delirious New York, Oxford University Press, 1978

SELECTED EXHIBITIONS
(Im)pure, (In)formal, (Un)built, L’Ecole des Beaux-Arts, Paris, 2011
OMA/Progress, Barbican, London, 2010
Cronocaos, Venice Biennale, 2010
Dubai Next, Vitra Design Museum, Weil am Rhein, 2008
The Gulf, Venice Biennale, 2006
OMA in Beijing, MoMA, New York, 2006
Expansion and Neglect, Venice Biennale, 2005
Image of Europe: Vienna, Brussels, Munich, 2004
Content, Neue Nationalgalerie, Berlin, 2003
Cities on the Move, Hayward Gallery, London, 1999
Less is More, Milan Triennale, 1986
Our New Sobriety, Venice Biennale, 1980

TEACHING POSITIONS
Strelka Institute, Moscow
Professor in Practice of Architecture and Urban Design, Harvard University
Architectural Association, London
Institute for Architecture and Urban Studies, New York

SELECTED AWARDS
Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement, Venice Biennale, 2010
RIBA Gold Medal, 2004
Praemium Imperiale, Japan, 2003
Membership Legion D’Honneur, 2001
Pritzker Prize, 2000
Mies van der Rohe Award, 2005

EDUCATION
Architectural Association, London, 1969–72
Cornell University, 1972–73