REM KOOLHAAS

Architecture & Enginee

A throng of about 1,200 people packed into Benaroya
Hall Wednesday afternoon to hear architect Rem
Koolhaas offer an update on the design of the
Seattle’s new $159 million Central Library.

Koolhaas’ firm, the Office of Metropolitan Architects based in

Rotterdam, and LMN Architects of Seattle are joint venture
partners on the project.

There is little discernible change from the preliminary design unveiled in

December, when an overflow crowd attended the first public presentation of
the radical design. Aspects of the design, such as the interior configuration,
landscaping and the specific slope of floors, are now being fine-tuned.

Koolhaas, the recent winner of the Pritzker Prize of architecture, reminded the
audience that libraries must evolve both in terms of expanding their function and
embracing new technology if they are to survive.

Unflattering descriptions of the unusual structure have abounded in the

media and, in some cases, among Seattle residents. But, Koolhaas, who
radiates intensity and serenity at the same time, is unfazed. “We really like
criticism,” he said. “Architecture is born in confrontation.”
When asked about the infamous Seattle process, Koolhaas said that he’s
“never been involved in such an elaborate system where so many voices are
raised.”
REM KOOLHAAS
 Engineers from Seattle-based Skilling Ward Magnusson Barkshire and
international engineering giant Ove Arup offered a brief overview of the
mechanical and structural elements of the building. The most visible design
feature of the building, its steel tubing, also provides the building’s
structural support, which has given many in the design community pause.
The message from Jon Magnusson, principal of SWMB, to the skeptics: “Yes,
it will stand up.” Structural engineer for the curvilinear Experience Music
Project, SWMB is no stranger to challenging projects.

Magnusson noted that of the five most seismically active “ We really like criticsm.
geologic zones in the country, Seattle is ranked fourth.
Koolhaas said at the December presentation that the Architecture is born in
irregular angularity of the building would resist seismic confrontation.”
movement: Atila Zekioglu of Ove Arup confirmed that, -rem koolhaas
saying, “We feel very confident that the library possesses
a seismic system that far surpasses the quality of typical
buildings.”

Stephen Jolly, mechanical engineer with Ove Arup, said despite being
surrounded by larger buildings, the new Central Library will get a lot of sun
exposure. To mitigate the effects of heat and light, the inside and outside glass
panes used in the building will be double-insulated with a special solar coating.
He said the engineering team is developing a unique laminate to coat parts of
the metal that will be most subject to high temperatures.
The building, in keeping with the city’s sustainable design goals, will use free
cooling and a rainwater reclamation system.

The radical design, whether it’s adored or despised, is certain to put Seattle on the
design world's map. The angular building appears transparent, clad in two layers of
glass, which are supported by a lattice-like system of steel tubing encased in copper-
colored mesh.

REM KOOLHAAS
 Koolhaas described the skin as the weaving of two metal
elements — I-beams and hollow steel tubes sandwiched
between two layers of glass. The effect, he said, will be a
“textile-like sheen, creating a rich series of conditions of
reflecting light.”

The general form of the building is a marked departure

from the typical symmetrically stacked high rise. It
Model of the new $159 million features 15 floors that span five main “platforms,” or
Central Library levels that are designated for primary library functions.
Between these are areas that appear to float. These in-
between spaces will house public uses, such as a
children’s room and a socially interactive space, termed
the “living room.”
Design development of the new library begins June 1.

At 355,000 square feet, the new library will be about 72 percent larger than the
existing library. It will also house more than 1.4 million books; the existing
library has room for less than 800,000.
Construction is scheduled to begin in mid-2001 and end in 2003. The
construction cost is $90 million. The new library will be built on the site of the
existing facility at 1000 Fourth Ave.

REM KOOLHAAS
The Seattle Public Library last year selected Koolhaas from a pool of 29
local, national and international architects. The finalists were Steven
Holl Architects of New York, and Zimmer Gunsul Frasca of Seattle and
Portland.
The project is funded by a $196.4 million bond measure approved in
1998 by Seattle voters to renovate and expand its entire library
system.

Koolhaas joins the roster of high-profile architects now shaping the Puget
Sound’s urban landscape — including Frank Gehry for the Experience
Music Project, Peter Bohlin for Seattle’s new City Hall, Terry Farrell &
Partners for the new aquarium on the city’s waterfront, Antoine Predock
for the Tacoma Art Museum, and Stephen Holl for the Bellevue Art
Museum.

REM KOOLHAAS
 REM KOOLHAAS’S CAMPUS CENTRE AT THE
ILLINOIS INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY

Lecture hall
Multipurpose hall

Railway above the

building
Access ramp to the
dining hall

Fire place on dark stones in

the dining hall

Lighthing in fron of the

lecture hall Central communication
space
An access ramp
Rem Koolhaas Designs a Death Star
for the UAE

The proposed Ras al Khaimah Convention and

Exhibition Centre in the UAE bears a striking
resemblance to the Death Star. Designed by Rem
Koolhaas and Reinier de Graaf as part of their
collaboration with OMA, the sphere holds a
convention centre, hotel rooms, apartments, offices
and retail space.

I can't imagine this building being accepted. It's

terrifying and uninviting. They would have a
hard time convincing confabs to hold their
events in the dark matter.
If it does get approved it'll only be because of
the Koolhaas name, which would be a huge
shame.
 Rem Koolhaas Learns Not
to Overthink It

The stairs from the ground-level plaza to the main foyer of

Rem Koolhaas's Casa da Musica in Oporto, Portugal.

REM KOOLHAAS
Rem Koolhaas'ın Konferansına
Kayıtlar Hızla Artıyor
REM KOOLHAAS OMA SEATLE PUBLIC LIBRARY,
SEATLE, WASHINGTON.

"The stacks, arranged along a continuous spiral ramp contained

within a four-story slab, reinforce a sense of a world organized
with machine-like precision."
Nicolai Ouroussoff
Los Angeles Times

The new Seattle Public Library houses the library's main

collection of books, government publications, periodicals,
audio visual materials and the technology to access and
distribute information from the physical collection online.

The building is divided into eight horizontal layers, each

varying in size to fit its function.  A structural steel and
glass skin unifies the multifaceted form and defines the
public spaces in-between.
Situated on a sloping site between 4th and 5th street the new library will have
entrances on both street levels.
The entrance level on 4th Street,  one of Seattle's main thoroughfares, houses the
Children's Library and foreign-language resources.  
Rows of escalators lead to the 5th Street "Living Room" lobby located under a 50-
foot-high sloping glass wall.  The lobby can also be reached directly from a covered
walkway than runs the length of the 5th Avenue facade.

The carpeted "Living Room" contains the fiction stacks

while non-fiction are located on the "Dewey Ramp"; a
four-story ramp that allows people to browse through
books in a continuos sequence.  
The Reading room, on the top floor, has  views of Puget
Sound and the surrounding mountains.
Koolhaas sees the new library as a custodian of the book, a showcase for new
information, a place for thought, discussion and reflection - a dynamic presence.

The fact that the contents of a whole library can be stored on a single chip, or the
fact that a single library can now store the digital content of all libraries, together
represent potential rethinking: new forms of storage enable the space dedicated to
real books to be contained; new forms of reading enhance the aura of the real book.
Our first operation has been the "combining" and consolidation of the apparently
ungovernable proliferation of programs and media. By combining like with like, we
have identified five platforms, each a programmatic cluster that is architecturally
defined and equipped for maximum, dedicated performance. Because each platform is
designed for a unique purpose, they are different in size, density, opacity.

The in-between spaces are like trading floors where librarians inform and
stimulate, where the interface between the different platforms is organized -
spaces for work, interaction, and play. (And reading).
Rem Koolhaas @ IIT

An amazing building (The

McCormick Tribune Campus Center)
by Rem Koolhaas which houses the
student union and cafeterias for IIT 
 THANK YOU

PRESENTATION BY :
HALIMAH,AZEMA N FARIDAH

REM KOOLHAAS
BSB 1 2008