Books 

Looking for Koolhaas

Luis Fernández-Galiano 
30/11/2015


This monograph was begun twenty years ago, started to take shape ten years later, and finally comes to light now, when all of us involved in it have changed, and so has the world. An explanation of the delay is in order, along with some information on the relationship between AV/Arquitectura Viva and Rem Koolhaas/OMA during this long period. Althouth AV has featured Koolhaas regularly, it is in Arquitectura Viva that his work has been given more attention: going by magazine covers alone, while in AV he has only appeared in issue 72 (1988) through the Maison à Bordeaux, in dialogue with Bacon, and in 98 (2002), with his project for European identity, Arquitectura Viva has produced five issues where the work of Rem Koolhaas graces the cover, from 12 (1990) to 159 (2014) through 23 (1992), 57 (1997) and 83 (2002), the latter containing nine critical essays on the Guggenheim of Las Vegas and the Prada of New York, therefore practically monographic, and described as ‘obsessive’ by Koolhaas in our correspondence. AV has thus been less ‘obsessive’ about following Koolhaas, but it may be worth mentioning that ten of his works have appeared in the selection that since 1997 we include in our Yearbook: 1997 Educatorium, 1998 Maison à Bordeaux, 2002 Prada NY, 2003 Embassy in Berlin, 2004 Library in Seattle, 2005 Casa da Música, 2009 CCTV, 2011 Cornell, 2013 De Rotterdam, and 2014 Shenzhen Stock Exchange...
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