De Rotterdam Complex, NL: Workers from tomas koolhaas on Vimeo.

The first thing one notices of Tomas Koolhaas’s newest short film—really a clip, taken from Rem, his full length feature about his father—is the conspicuous absence of our central protagonist. Apart from a brief glimpse of Rem (in hard hat) surfacing from the depths of OMA’s on-going ‘De Rotterdam‘ project to survey the prospective horizon, the architect is entirely missing from the proceedings. Instead, Koolhaas the filmmaker chooses to frame the toil of the complex’s builders in an effort to capture the “raw condition[s]” of the construction site—articulated here as both gritty work (concrete pouring, paving, spraying) and the kinship that forms from shared back-breaking labor.

The clip juxtaposes the moody, yet frank footage against a frenetic score of wheezy syncopated beats, which accurately conveys the electric staccato of the building site while muting all of its unfocused clamor. Taken together with the previous two snippets Koolhaas has released, it’s clear that the polished production and pointed critique of the finished film will be a far cry from the quiet, sentimental poignancy associated with the architect-”biodoc”, as best exemplified by Nathanial Kahn’s My Architect. Needless to say, we’re excited.

Architizer caught up with Tomas Koolhaas to ask him about the project and what it’s like to accompany his father to work. Click through for the interview.

De Rotterdam complex; Rendering: OMA

De Rotterdam complex under construction

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Photo courtesy of The Dallas Morning News.

This post is part of a series dedicated to the 13th Venice Architecture Biennale. Architizer will feature on-the-ground reports, along with profiles of  firms and projects—including The Better Block—showcased in the U.S. pavilion’s exhibition, “Spontaneous Interventions,” organized by the Institute for Urban Design with curatorial oversight by Cathy Lang Ho, David Van Der Leer, and Ned Cramer.

The Better Block is a Texas-based group focused on low-cost “rapid urban revitalization” projects: Think bike lanes, sidewalk improvements, and pop-up shops. The group’s efforts have spread far and wide, from Las Vegas to Ft. Lauderdale, and the federal government recently awarded the organization a “Champion of Change” award. Architizer caught up with cofounder Jason Roberts to learn about the group’s origins and the status of current and future projects. Be sure to scroll down to watch a video. Read more.

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Hearst Building (left), Gareth Pugh Spring/Summer 2009 (right), image via T Magazine..

Architecture and fashion. It’s a convergence we’ve seen time and time again, whether in Adolf Loos’s polemical essays about proper dress or in the twisted rubber of a pair of Lacoste sneakers designed by Zaha Hadid. We recently got a chance to speak with Karen Moon, co-founder of the newly launched StyleMusée, about the overlap between these two areas of design. StyleMusée is described as “a customizable style inspiration board keeping you at the pulse of fashion. It lets users visually explore the fashion industry’s social media posts on Facebook to discover designers and muses they love… and never knew they loved.” Their hope is to eventually take the style inspiration that people find in social media and offer tailored shopping recommendations. Their first editorial, Architectural Interpretations, immediately caught our attention, and Moon gave us the lowdown on building, dwelling, thinking…and dressing. Check out the interview after the jump.

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OMA Managing Partner-Architect David Gianotten speaks at a public ceremony for Chu Hai College. Image (c) Chu Hai College.

Yesterday we brought you the first half of our recent conversation with David Gianotten, the Partner-in-Charge at OMA Hong Kong. David leads many of OMA’s largest projects, like the Taipei Performing Arts Center, the Shenszhen Stock Exchange, and the new Chu Hai College Campus. In the second half of our interview, which follows, we covered topics considerably more informal, from what David would do with only 24 hours in Hong Kong, to whether the blue foam model still reigns supreme at his office (we broached the topic of all-nighters, as well). Read on.

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David Gianotten with Michael Suen, China’s Secretary of Education. Via.

As far as the insular world of architecture goes, it’s difficult to overstate the influence of OMA (refer to this diagram produced by Metropolis, “Baby Rems,” if you need help). Known for their intensely simple, powerful rhetoric, the office’s polemic has softened a bit in recent years – Rem Koolhaas’ lectures often include an image showing a post-Recession increase in “PLANNING, THINKING, WAITING and FEELING.”

But while the aggressive, market-driven language of 90s-era-OMA presentations was softening, the office was quietly taking on a series of extremely ambitious projects. The language in this spate of new buildings is not dissimilar to early OMA work, like the Maison à Bordeaux or Ville Nouvelle Melun Senart, where “edit-to-amplify” was both the message and the methodology.

Partner David Gianotten, an Amsterdam-native who opened an OMA office in Hong Kong last year, is leading many of the largest projects. We spoke to Gianotten recently over Skype, and he told us what’s changed at OMA, and what’s stayed the same. Here’s the first half of our conversation.

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Square HQ, photo (c) Jasper Sanidad.

AOL. Facebook. Yelp. StubHub. eBay. Most recently, the up-and-coming Square. Studio O+A‘s client list reads like a who’s who of Silicon Valley.

Last week we had the chance to chat with Director of Design Denise Cherry, who revealed the dream client still missing from the list (hint: they’re trying not to be evil), among other secrets of an innovation architect (for example, most of the “workers” in these photos are O+A employees). Much like the superstar tech clients she works with, Cherry is a youngster: she started as an intern at Studio O+A in 2005, working her way up the ladder with remarkable speed. Click through for Our interview, plus exclusive images of their newest project.

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House of Air is a trampoline-gallery that caters to the “young, energetic and affluent population” of San Francisco.

As an entire nation asks “should we panic?,” the general consensus seems to be that Gen-Y’s “entrepreneurial start-up spirit” will save America. Yet, just how concerned the start-up/tech world is with improving the lot of the general public is dubious – in fact, Twitter recently profited massively by leveraging their business against San Francisco’s city government.

Yesterday we had an auspiciously-timed chat with Mark Horton, the San Francisco architect behind the trampoline city House of Air, who commented on everything from the relative dearth of great architecture patronized by tech entrepreneurs to an indoor ski jump he’s currently designing.

Click through for our full Q&A with Horton (who takes his kids to House of Air so often that he suspects he’s earned his architect’s fee back).

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“Bigger than furniture; smaller than architecture.”

Designed by Normal Projects, a multi-disciplinary New York based creative firm, this 450-square foot studio apartment for a single schoolteacher on the Upper West Side of Manhattan contains a few (blue) surprises. Saving up enough money to buy the apartment while living out of his mother’s home, the owner desired a dynamic multifunctional space. We asked Michael Chen, principal of Normal Projects, to caption the interior shots on the apartment’s Architizer project page.

Follow the jump for more images and the architect’s explanation.

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