rem-research-vs04  

After much discussion, the editors decided that there wasn’t a compelling case for the use of hashtag and italicization, so we gave it the treatment of a foreign word - italicized on the first occasion and then afterward, left as plaintext. _ Stephanie

“At the culmination of this process we have asked Rem Koolhaas to engage himself in an original research project.” _ President of La Biennale Paolo Baratta after introduction of the guiding principles of the 2014 Venice Architecture Biennale (oma.eu 2013)

Research is a convoluted and emphatic process. It must have a method. Before one achieves method, one must have a position, contextualizing the investigation within a broader identified body of knowledge. The case toward an objective question is then argued. This leads a suggestion being made for the investigation to have contributed to a knowledge system a smidgeon of material. When compared to research, Remresearch appears as a tangent. It aspires to be a body of knowledge in itself, rather than in the context of a broader discipline. Research is produced to be read, while #remresearch is to be sold. Remresearch views data as its argument. Data is its research. Fans wait in eager anticipation for the next blockbuster research. The colors, fonts, charts, everything about it and of the document. What makes it even better is that it is never positioned alone but as of a collaborative work of a collective.

Appeal of the genre has been phenomenal enough that people no longer want to be a part of any stylistic schema or spatial reason, rather pursuits in architecture generate a research tab. Spatial manipulations, material inquiry, regional biases, and mystic orientations have waned. Research adds a new meaning to what style as entity has contributed to the conversation about building. Research is the new style, and Remresearch is its most visible voice.

Beyond a certain critical mass a building becomes a big building. You can’t react to it. You can only look with either amusement or amazement. Expounding on ideals, big research is a designed entity rather than a structured argument. Remresearch should be seen as only as method of presentation of an idea. It contains research, instead of being research. It cannot be evaluated as a whole but in bits. Copy - as visual prescription of promoting magnificence in production - is its only future. To decay or to rise to new strata is thus left to those that seek stylistic association with it.

Born

Remment Lucas Koolhaas

17 November 1944 (age 69)

Rotterdam, Netherlands

Nationality

Dutch

Alma Mater

Architectural Association School of Architecture,

Cornell University

Awards

Pritzker Prize (2000)

Praemium Imperiale (2003)

Royal Gold Medal (2004)

Practice

Office for Metropolitan Architecture

Selected Buildings

Casa da Música in Porto

Seattle Central Library

Netherlands Embassy Berlin

China Central Television Headquarters

CONTRIBUTORS

Michael Abrahamson, Stan Allen, Joseph Altshuler, Serafina Amoroso, Haik Avanian, Cecil Balmond, Dorin Baul, Aaron Betsky, Petra Blaisse, Jim Bogle, Ole Bouman, Mat Bower, Eric de Broche des Combes, Brian Bruegge, Galo Canizares, Stephen Cassell, Archie Lee Coates IV, Rene Daalder, Ozge Diler, Ryan Drummond, Keefer Dunn, A. A. Dutto, Erez Ella, Valeria Federighi, Kim Förster, Jeffrey Franklin, Joseph Godlewski, Adam Himes, Matthias Hollwich, Julia van den Hout, Frances Hsu, Bernard Hulsman, Hans Ibelings, Klaus, Charlie Koolhaas, Tomas Koolhaas, Andrew Kovacs, Jimenez Lai, Stephanie Lee, Thomas Lozada, Winy Maas and Jacob van Rijs, Brandon Martinez, Isaac Mathew, Kyle May, Philipp Oswalt, Roberto Otero, Steven K. Peterson, Wim Pijbes, Jacob Reidel, Michael Rock, Joanna Rodriguez-Noyola, Fernando Romero, Alejandro Sanchez, Mika Savela, Jonathan A. Scelsa, Kyle Schumann, Brian Slocum, Galia Solomonoff, Frederieke Taylor, Will Thomson, Madelon Vriesendrop, Luke Yosuke Willis, Human Wu, Albena Yaneva, Alejandro Zaera-Polo and Zoe Zenghelis,

INFORMATION

English, 2014

184 Pages

Full Color

38” Full Color Foldout

Comes with Bookmark

100 Illustrations

Softcover, 5.5 x 8.5 in.

ISBN 978-0-9904224-0-2