rem koolhaas

All Systems Go for Koolhaas' Prada Transformer

Filed under: Events, Art

Chanel may have just pulled the plug (as we reported last month) on its Zaha Hadid-designed Mobile Art Pavilion, but Prada is going ahead with plans for an even more ambitious project. Despite the economy, the luxury Italian fashion house just began construction on the Prada Transformer, a tetrahedron-shaped "transformative building" designed by starchitect Rem Koolhaas (rendering above), on the grounds of Gyeonghui Palace in Seoul, Korea. Koolhaas, who won the Pritzker Prize in 2000 and also designed the Prada flagship store in Manhattan, describes the building as a "dynamic and living organism'' because it transforms itself into different structures to suit various events. The location of the project, the single largest communications platform for the Prada group worldwide in 2009, speaks to the importance of the Asian market in a depressed luxury goods environment.

Scheduled to open at the end of March, the Prada Transformer will stage a range of art, cinema, culture and fashion events though August. the 65-ft. high tetrahedron is composed of four different shapes, a hexagon, cross, rectangle and circle. "Once a month, cranes will lift and rotate the structure into a different facade and floor plate configuration," the Korea Times reports. "When rotated, each side will be the venue of a different cultural program." On the outside, the entire structure will be wrapped with an elastic translucent membrane. Prada partnered with LG Electronics (makers of the Prada cell phone) and the Hyundai Motor Company on the ambitious scheme, which if successful will probably travel to other cities as well.

Tags: Architecture, Asia, Chanel, Italian fashion, ItalianFashion, Korea, Prada, Pritzker Prize, PritzkerPrize, Rem Koolhaas, RemKoolhaas, Seoul

Richard Meier's Modern Masterpieces

by Jared Paul Stern (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Decor, Estates, Books, Real Estate Developments

Photo by Scott Frances / Esto

Every edifice ever built by rationalist architect Richard Meier -- and then some - is featured in a new mega monograph about to be published by Taschen: Richard Meier & Partners: Complete Works 1963-2008. The extra-large $150 volume showcases Meier's entire career to date, including such stunning commissions as the Getty Center in Los Angeles, the City Hall and Library at the Hague and the beauteous Southern California beach house pictured above. Meier, one of the world's top architects - or "starchitects" as he and a select few of his contemporaries such as Frank Gehry and Rem Koolhaas are known - has an insatiable appetite for large swaths of white, but it works (to say the least). Meier will be at Taschen's New York store to sign copies on June 3rd from 6 - 8 p.m. You can preview the book in the gallery below.

Gallery: The Works of Richard Meier

Tags: Architecture, Frank Gehry, FrankGehry, Getty Center, GettyCenter, Rem Koolhaas, RemKoolhaas, Richard Meier, RichardMeier, Starchitects, Taschen

Torre Bicentenario, Mexico Celebrates Independence With A Large Tower

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Estates

Mexico City will have a new tower that will be Latin America's tallest building. Mexico City is already home to the tallest building in Latin America, the Torre Mayor which is 738 feet (55 stories). The new building, the Torre Bicentenario will be 984 feet tall and 85 stories. The building will be home to offices, restaurants and a convention center and will cost an estimated $600 million. The design is by Rem Koolhaas famed for his designs of the Prada stores in New York and Los Angeles and other places as well as the Seattle Central Library. The building is set to be completed in 2010, when Mexico celebrates 200 years since the start of its battle for independence from Spain. Not the most stunning design I've ever seen but perhaps the low center of gravity provides some protection again earthquakes.

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Tags: mexico, mexico city, rem koolhaas, skyscraper, torres bicentenario, TorresBicentenario, tower