OMA

Total Projects from OMA: 8

OMA is a leading international partnership practicing architecture, urbanism, and cultural analysis.

The office is led by five partners – Rem Koolhaas, Ellen van Loon, Reinier de Graaf, Shohei Shigematsu and Managing Partner, Victor van der Chijs – and employs a staff of around 220 of 35 nationalities. Architects, researchers, designers, model makers, industrial designers and graphic designers work in close collaboration, and expert consultants are intimately involved from the beginning of the design process.

OMA's recently completed projects include the Wyly Theatre in Dallas (with REX, 2010), Prada Transformer, a rotating multi-use pavilion in Seoul (2009), the Serpentine Gallery pavilion in London and the Zeche Zollverein Historical Museum and masterplan in Essen (2006), the Seoul National University Museum of Art (2005), the much acclaimed Casa da Música in Porto (2005), the Prada Epicenter in Los Angeles (2004), the Seattle Central Library (2004), the Leeum Samsung Museum of Art in Seoul (2004), the Netherlands Embassy in Berlin (2003), the IIT Campus Center in Chicago (2003), and the Prada Epicenter in New York (2001).

The work of Rem Koolhaas and OMA has won several international awards including the Pritzker Architecture Prize in 2000, the Praemium Imperiale (Japan) in 2003, the RIBA Gold Medal (UK) in 2004, the Mies van der Rohe – European Union Prize for Contemporary Architecture (2005) and the Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement at the 2010 Venice Biennale.

To accommodate a range of projects throughout the world, OMA maintains offices in Rotterdam, New York, Beijing, and Hong Kong.

The counterpart to OMA's architectural practice is AMO, a design and research studio based in the company's Rotterdam office. While OMA remains dedicated to the realization of buildings and masterplans, AMO operates in areas beyond the traditional boundaries of architecture, including media, politics, sociology, renewable energy, technology, fashion, curating, publishing, and graphic design.

AMO often works in parallel with OMA's clients to fertilize architecture with intelligence gleaned from this array of disciplines. This is the case with Prada: AMO's research into identity, in-store technology, and new possibilities of content-production in fashion helped generate OMA's architectural designs for new Prada epicenter stores in New York and Los Angeles. In 2004, AMO was commissioned by the European Union to study its visual communication, and designed a coloured "barcode" flag – combining the flags of all member states – that was used during the Austrian presidency of the EU. AMO also produced a major exhibition for the EU that travelled from Brussels to Vienna, Munich and Rotterdam.

AMO has consulted with Universal Studios, Amsterdam's Schiphol airport, Heineken, Ikea, Condé Nast and Harvard University, produced exhibitions at the Venice Biennale (on the Hermitage museum in St. Petersburg) and Venice Architecture Biennale (on preservation, and on the development of the Gulf), and guest-edited issues of the magazines Wired and Domus. Recent projects include the ongoing curatorial masterplan for the Hermitage, curating the exhibition 'Dubai Next' at the Vitra Design Museum in Weil am Rhein, and editing Al Manakh II, a guide to the increasingly interconnected Gulf region.

PARTNERS

Rem Koolhaas
Rem Koolhaas founded OMA in 1975 together with Elia and Zoe Zenghelis and Madelon Vriesendorp. He graduated from the Architectural Association in London and in 1978 published Delirious New York: A Retroactive Manifesto for Manhattan. In 1995, his book S,M,L,XL summarized the work of OMA in "a novel about architecture." He heads the work of both OMA and AMO, the research branch of OMA, operating in areas beyond the realm of architecture such as media, politics, renewable energy and fashion. Koolhaas has won several international awards including the Pritzker Architecture Prize in 2000 and the Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement at the 2010 Venice Biennale. Koolhaas is a professor at Harvard University where he conducts the Project on the City.

Victor van der Chijs
Victor van der Chijs joined OMA in 2005 as Managing Partner. Next to the day-to-day responsibility for OMA's operations, he is responsible for business development and expanding and professionalizing OMA's activities. Before joining OMA, he was Managing Director of Schiphol International BV (international airport management company). He also worked for the financial services group ING for over 10 years. Victor van der Chijs holds a masters degree in Law from the University of Amsterdam, and has followed extensive post-graduate education at the Amsterdam School of International Relations and at INSEAD, France.

Reinier de Graaf
Reinier de Graaf joined OMA in 1996 as project director for De Rotterdam, which is currently under construction. In 2002 he became director of AMO, the think tank of OMA, and produced "The Image of Europe," an exhibition illustrating the history of the European Union. He led several OMA projects in the Middle East, and in 2009 led the competition-winning design for Rotterdam’s Stadskantoor. De Graaf is also working on the Commonwealth Institute redevelopment in London. He is responsible for AMO's increasing involvement in sustainability and energy planning, which has included the publication in 2010 of "Roadmap 2050: A Practical Guide to a Prosperous, Low-Carbon Europe" with the European Climate Foundation.

Ellen van Loon
Ellen van Loon joined OMA in 1998 and became partner in 2002. She is currently leading a variety of projects, including the new Rothschild Headquarters in London, the Cordoba Conference Centre and the 'De Rotterdam' mixed-use building in Rotterdam. She oversaw the construction of Casa da Musica in Porto (completed in 2005) and the Dutch Embassy in Berlin (completed in 2003), and was a project manager for the development of the Universal headquarters in Los Angeles.

Shohei Shigematsu
Shohei Shigematsu joined OMA in 1998 and became a partner in 2008. He has led the OMA office in New York since 2006 and is responsible for OMA's operations in North America. He is currently in charge of Cornell University's new building for the College of Architecture, Art and Planning in Ithaca, NY, and a residential tower with Creative Artist Agency in Manhattan among other projects. Shigematsu was project leader for the winning competition entry for the CCTV headquarters in Beijing and has been a driving force in conceptual projects such as the Universal headquarters in Los Angeles, the Whitney Museum extension in New York, the Tokyo vertical Campus, the China National Museum and Prada Epicenters for Shanghai and London.

website: www.oma.eu

Featured Projects

	Casa da Musica Address: Av. da Boavista, 604-610, 4149-071 , PORTO - Portugal Architect: OMA Category: Cultural



	CCTV Headquarters Address: Jintong East Rd , BEIJING - China Architect: OMA Category: Office



	Dee and Charles Wyly Theatre (REX) Address: 2100 Ross Avenue, Suite 650 , DALLAS-TEXAS - United States Architect: OMA Category: Cultural



	Kunsthal Address: Westzeedijk 341 , ROTTERDAM - Netherlands Architect: OMA Category: Cultural



	McCormick Tribune Campus Center Address: South State Street 3201 , CHICAGO-ILLINOIS - United States Architect: OMA Category: Education



	Netherlands Embassy Address: Klosterstraße 50 , BERLIN - Germany Architect: OMA Category: Public



	Seattle Central Library Address: 4th Avenue 1000 , SEATTLE-WASHINGTON - United States Architect: OMA \| LMN Architects Category: Public \| Cultural



$Villa Dall\' Ava$	Villa Dall\' Ava Address: Av. Clodoald , PARIS - France Architect: OMA Category: Housing