Rem Koolhaas/OMA: The Construction of Merveilles

The creator of buildings that stand out as surrealistic marvels amid the skylines of America, Europe, and Asia, Rem Koolhaas, along with his Office for Metropolitan Architecture (OMA), is justly considered as one of the leaders of contemporary architecture. This book, the first critical monograph on the work of Koolhaas and OMA, goes beyond just describing projects and places Koolhaas's career in a cultural context, helping readers understand the creative process of modern architecture. Projects are presented in chronological and thematic order, retracing Koolhaas's career from his student days to his experimentation at the end of the 1970s, and ending with his recent works in Porto, Seoul, and Beijing. The individual projects are analyzed from conception to construction, with attention to the conceptual and technical reasons for material and configuration choices. The book addresses Koolhaas's theoretical ideas, reflecting on the fundamental principles of contemporary architecture.