REM KOOLHAAS will be giving a public lecture in the occasion of Politecnico di Milano’s 150th Anniversary.
The lecture is part of the cycle of public lectures Mi/arch curated by Stefano Boeri.
After having just graduated in architecture at the Architectural Association School of Architecture in London, Rem Koolhaas published his first book, Delirious New York: A Retroactive Manifesto for Manhattan, in 1978. Koolhaas founded the Office for Metropolitan Architecture (OMA) in London (1975) with Madelon Vriesendorm and Elia and Zoe Zenghelis. Focusing on contemporary design, the company won a competition for an addition to the Parliament in The Hague and a major commission to develop a master plan for a housing quarter in Amsterdam. OMA’s work includes several areas beyond architecture, such as media, politics, renewable energy and fashion. In 2000 he won the Pritzker Architecture Prize for his long journey of research and experimentation.Together with Claudio Abbado, Ken Loach and Mario Merz, Rem Koolhaas won the 2003 edition of the Praemium Imperiale, a prestigious award given by the Japan Art Association and was also considered for the Nobel Prize of the Arts in 2010. He was awarded the Gold Lion at the Venice Biennale of Architecture and the Royal Gold Medal RIBA in 2012. Mr.Koolhaas is a professor at Harvard University and was appointed as curator for the 14th edition of the Venice Biennale of Architecture that will take place in 2014. Among his architectural works, the Shenzhen Stock Exchange building, the Wyly Theatre in Dallas, China Central Television in Beijing, the Taipei Performing Arts Centre, the new wing of the College of Architecture at Cornell University in New York, the home of the Rothschild Bank in London, the Guandgong Baosteel Building in Guangzhou and the National Museum of Arts and Science in Rabat, Morocco. In Milan, he’s currently working on the headquarters of the Fondazione Prada, which is the transformation of a former industrial building in the south of the city. The existing buildings will gain an additional space that will be dedicated to exhibitions, along with an auditorium and a museum.