Rem "Cool"haas

 

When moving from the indexical to the diagrammatic, for me there is no bigger figure in this movement than Rem Koolhaas. To know Rem Koolhaas is to know his many models, diagrams, and processes. When you get past a Rem Koolhaas [project itself, and start to dive into the design and the design process, you start to get a small peak into the mind of Koolhaas. Koolhaas has buildings all over the world, but something more interesting about the buildings themselves is the diagrams and models of them. Throughout his career, he created a process of designing that would create a place for the questioning, harvesting, and production of ideas. His studio process focuses on looking at where and how they can make a breakthrough in a certain opportunity. Koolhaas and the studio at OMA like to do a lot of research before they start designing, which often comes in the form of a book. Rather than providing the answers, they come with questions that let the critic make the decisions. And this can be seen in the diagrams and models produced by OMA for their projects. They are produced in large quantities and have a great and immediate impact. Hundreds of ideas are turned into diagrams and models that are constantly critiqued and then developed into a final design. And a lot of those models and diagrams aren’t automatically or easily interpreted. For example, the many diagrams created in the design process of the Seattle Public Library aren’t the typical diagrams you expect to see in a project. These diagrams and projects are what made Koolhaas so popular and one could say “cool” in the architecture world.  In my opinion, Rem Koolhaas is somewhat the embodiment of “hot” and “cool” architecture as his architecture processes separate themselves from the norm, but are also “cool” in their look and function.