https://www.architecturalrecord.com/rss/1330-office-for-metropolitan-architecture en-us When I went to Rotterdam to see the largest single building in The Netherlands, the eponymous De Rotterdam by OMA, it reminded me of something. But I couldn't put my finger on it. 

]]> 1403-de-rotterdam-office-for-metropolitan-architecture.asp Sun, 16 Mar 2014 12:30:00 -0400 https://www.architecturalrecord.com/articles/7970-de-rotterdam De Rotterdam Rising from the Wilhelminapier, the 1.74 million-square-foot complex brings together residential, office, and hotel components on top of a plinth that has shared spaces for conferences, restaurants, shops, and recreation.   Photo © Iwan Baan De Rotterdam De Rotterdam acts as the fulcrum for the redevelopment of the Wilhelminapier area, which includes (from bottom to top of photo, left) the Erasmus Bridge by UNStudio and buildings by Renzo Piano, Álvaro Siza, Mecanoo, and KCAP Architects.   Photo © Iwan Baan De Rotterdam OMA designed areas in the building’s plinth, such as the office lobby (left) and vertical circulation for the restaurants (slide 4).   Photo © Iwan Baan De Rotterdam OMA designed areas in the building’s plinth, such as the office lobby (slide 3) and vertical circulation for the restaurants (left).   Photo © Iwan Baan De Rotterdam As it has done in large Asian projects like the CCTV tower in Beijing and the Shenzhen Stock Exchange, OMA exposed the building’s structural frame on the inside and used it as an important element in spaces such as the stair hall for restaurants and bars.   Photo © Iwan Baan De Rotterdam Generous balconies on the residential section of the project provide city views from the apartments.   Photo © Iwan Baan De Rotterdam For a special issue of The New York Times Magazine in September 2002, the newspaper’s architecture critic Herbert Muschamp invited a number of architects to propose designs for various sites at Ground Zero in Manhattan. OMA devised a scheme for a mixed-use building with the same program and tripartite organization as De Rotterdam.   Image courtesy OMA De Rotterdam Drawing courtesy OMA De Rotterdam Drawing courtesy OMA De Rotterdam Drawing courtesy OMA De Rotterdam Drawing courtesy OMA Promising to “kill the skyscraper,” Rem Koolhaas and his colleagues at Office for Metropolitan Architecture (OMA) grabbed international attention in 2002 when they won the competition to design a huge headquarters in Beijing for China Central Television (CCTV).

]]> china-central-television-oma.asp Thu, 15 Nov 2012 23:30:00 -0500 https://www.architecturalrecord.com/articles/7911-cctv-headquarters CCTV Headquarters Although 'only' 768 feet tall, the 41-story CCTV building has 5.1 million square feet of space for production, broadcast, and administration functions.   Photo © Iwan Baan CCTV Headquarters Set near the city's Third Ring Road, it has already become a landmark in a part of town that is changing from an industrial area to a new central business district. To its right is SOM's 74-story China World Trade Center.   Photo © Iwan Baan CCTV Headquarters A web of diagonal steel bracing is visible on all facades and expresses the forces acting on the structure'dense where they are great and looser where they are less.   Photo © Iwan Baan CCTV Headquarters The glazing has a monolithic gray tone, which helps it blend in with the city's notoriously polluted skies and hide dirt.   Photo © Iwan Baan CCTV Headquarters The building's unconventional form seems to change as you move around it, so its presence in the city shifts too.   Photo © Iwan Baan CCTV Headquarters Gardens open only to CCTV employees offer places to relax.   Photo © Iwan Baan CCTV Headquarters TVCC plays the more public sidekick to CCTV 's corporate headquarters.   Photo © Iwan Baan CCTV Headquarters The architects let exposed structural elements such as bracing and columns animate the interiors'including this generic office area.   Photo © Iwan Baan CCTV Headquarters Large skylights and clerestory windows add drama to the entry pavilion.   Photo © Iwan Baan CCTV Headquarters On the plaza level, the circulation loop includes almost-Gothic arcaded perimeter hallways.   Photo © Iwan Baan CCTV Headquarters A canteen will occupy a dramatic light-filled space near the top of the building.   Photo © Iwan Baan CCTV Headquarters CCTV began moving into the building in the spring and broadcast the London Olympics from its new studios this summer, four years after it had hoped to cover the Beijing Games from there. About 10,000 people will work in the building, which had an official construction budget of $795 million but has been reported to have cost at least $900 million. The building now comes alive at night.   Photo © Iwan Baan CCTV Headquarters Rem Koolhaas leads a tour of the entry pavilion.   Image courtesy OMA CCTV Headquarters Rem Koolhaas leads a tour of the entry pavilion.   Image courtesy OMA CCTV Headquarters Rem Koolhaas leads a tour of the entry pavilion.   Image courtesy OMA CCTV Headquarters Rem Koolhaas leads a tour of the entry pavilion.   Image courtesy OMA CCTV Headquarters Rem Koolhaas leads a tour of the entry pavilion.   Image courtesy OMA CCTV Headquarters Rem Koolhaas leads a tour of the entry pavilion.   Image courtesy Arup CCTV Headquarters Rem Koolhaas leads a tour of the entry pavilion.   Photo by Clifford Pearson CCTV Headquarters The entry pavilion.   Photo by Clifford Pearson CCTV Headquarters Looking from the entry pavilion to a lower level where commuters will arrive from the subway.   Photo by Clifford Pearson CCTV Headquarters The public area on the 37th floor.   Photo by Clifford Pearson China-Central-Television-OMA-30.jpg CCTV Headquarters Koolhaas and Hans-Ulrich Obrist on the 37th floor.   Photo by Clifford Pearson CCTV Headquarters Looking down 37 stories.   Photo by Clifford Pearson CCTV Headquarters Stair leading to the 38th floor.   Photo by Clifford Pearson In an exhibition he organized at the New Museum in New York City last year, Rem Koolhaas took the preservation movement to task, arguing that it had become an “empire” all too successful at tying the hands of architects and suffocating daring thinking.

]]> milstein-hall-cornell-university.asp Wed, 15 Feb 2012 12:00:00 -0500 https://www.architecturalrecord.com/articles/7397-milstein-hall-cornell-university A hybrid truss that combines vertical and angled supports carries the giant “plate” 50 feet over University Avenue.   On track for LEED Silver certification, the building features a green roof and 41 skylights that reduce the need for electric light in studios.   Milstein-Hall-Cornell-University-03.jpg Aluminum coffers add a Postmodern touch to the space between Sibley and Milstein and continue in the new audiorium. Photo © Philippe Ruault Within the building’s big steel box, the architects tucked curving concrete elements, such as a bridge leading to the auditorium and stairs to the second floor. Photo © Philippe Ruault An internal dome encloses a 5,200-square-foot crit space and was cast in a single 12-hour concrete pour. Radiant floors heat all spaces, and chilled beams cool them.   The large second floor provides flexible space for studios for about 200 students, and connects directly to Sibley and Rand Hall (not shown).   The 253-seat auditorium also serves as the university’s boardroom. Large armchairs can be arranged in different patterns, and even retracted below the flat portion of the floor. Climbing the outside of the concrete dome, OMA-designed seats can fold down to create amphitheater tiers. A Petra Blaisse-designed curtain uses a drawing from a 17th–century architecture book.. Photo courtesy Figueras International Seating "The 253-seat auditorium also serves as the university’s boardroom. Large armchairs can be arranged in different patterns, and even retracted below the flat portion of the floor. Climbing the outside of the concrete dome, OMA-designed seats can fold down to create amphitheater tiers. A Petra Blaisse-designed curtain uses a drawing from a 17th–century architecture book. Photo © Philippe Ruault The 253-seat auditorium also serves as the university’s boardroom. Large armchairs can be arranged in different patterns, and even retracted below the flat portion of the floor. Climbing the outside of the concrete dome, OMA-designed seats can fold down to create amphitheater tiers. A Petra Blaisse-designed curtain uses a drawing from a 17th–century architecture book.   Photo by Clifford Pearson Photo by Clifford Pearson Photo by Clifford Pearson Photo by Clifford Pearson Photo by Clifford Pearson Photo by Clifford Pearson Photo by Clifford Pearson Photo by Clifford Pearson Photo by Clifford Pearson Photo by Clifford Pearson Image courtesy Office for Metropolitan Architecture Image courtesy Office for Metropolitan Architecture Image courtesy Office for Metropolitan Architecture Image courtesy Office for Metropolitan Architecture A radical, looping structure, the headquarters of China Central Television (CCTV) stands as an antidote to the typical skyscraper.

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