Hasta La Ideas

Here are the latest photographs of the OMA-designed Shenzhen Stock Exchange, set to complete next month in the Chinese city (+ slideshow).

Designed by Rem Koolhaas’ OMA back in 2006, the much-debated structure comprises a 250-metre skyscraper with a vast podium hoisted up around its waist, forming a canopy for a public plaza at its feet.

The three-storey podium is suspended 36 metres above the ground to create the large trading rooms of the Stock Exchange, while a landscaped garden will be accessible on its roof.

A strict grid of square windows generates the facade of the 46-storey tower, while the surrounding podium displays a zigzagging sequence of structural trusses.

Scheduled to complete in May, the Shenzhen Stock Exchange is OMA’s second-largest building in China after the CCTV Headquarters in Beijing, which completed last year. The firm is also currently working on a second Shenzhen skyscraper in the city’s business district. See more architecture in Shenzhen or more projects in China.

Dezeen filmed a series of interviews with Rem Koolhaas, as well as OMA partners Reinier de Graaf and Iyad Alsaka at an exhibition about the firm’s work in London. Watch the movies or see all our stories about OMA.

Photography is by Philippe Ruault.

Here’s some extra information from OMA:

Shenzhen Stock Exchange

The essence of the stock market is speculation: it is based on capital, not material. The Shenzhen Stock Exchange is conceived as a physical materialization of the virtual stock market: it is a building with a floating base, representing the stock market – more than physically accommodating it. Typically, the base of a building anchors a structure and connects it emphatically to the ground. In the case of Shenzhen Stock Exchange, the base, as if lifted by the same speculative euphoria that drives the market, has crept up the tower to become a raised podium, defying an architectural convention that has survived millennia into modernity: a solid building standing on a solid base.

SZSE’s raised podium is a three-storey cantilevered platform floating 36m above the ground, one of the largest office floor plates, with an area of 15,000 m2 per floor and an accessible landscaped roof. The raised podium contains all the Stock Exchange functions, including the listing hall and all stock exchange departments. The raised podium vastly increases SZSE’s exposure in its elevated position. When glowing at night, it “broadcasts” the virtual activities of the city’s financial market, while its cantilevers crop and frame views of Shenzhen. The raised podium also liberates the ground level and creates a generous public space for what could have been what is typically a secure, private building.

The raised podium and the tower are combined as one structure, with the tower and atrium columns providing vertical and lateral support for the cantilevering structure. The raised podium is framed by a robust three-dimensional array of full-depth steel transfer trusses.

The tower is flanked by two atria – voids that connect the ground directly with the public spaces inside the building. SZSE staff enter from the East and tenants from the West. SZSE executive offices are located just above the raised podium, leaving the uppermost floors leasable as rental offices and a dining club.
The generic square form of the tower obediently blends in with the surrounding homogenous towers, but the facade of SZSE is different. The building’s facade wraps the robust exoskeletal grid structure supporting the building in patterned glass. The texture of the glass cladding reveals the construction technology behind while simultaneously rendering it mysterious and beautiful. The neutral colour and translucency of the facade change with weather conditions, creating a mysterious crystalline effect: sparkling during bright sunshine, mute on an overcast day, radiant at dusk, and glowing at night. The facade is a “deep facade”, with recessed openings that passively reduce the amount of solar heat gain entering the building, improve natural day light, and reduce energy consumption. SZSE is designed to be one of the first 3-star green rated buildings in
China.

The 46-storey (254m) Shenzhen Stock Exchange is a Financial Center with civic meaning. Located in a new public square at the meeting point of the north-south axis between Mount Lianhua and Binhe Boulevard, and the east-west axis of Shennan Road, Shenzhen’s main artery, it engages the city not as an isolated object, but as a building to be reacted to at multiple scales and levels. At times appearing massive and at others intimate and personal, SZSE constantly generates new relationships within the urban context, hopefully as an impetus to new forms of architecture and urbanism.

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by OMA nears completion appeared first on Dezeen.

OMA’s new Tokyo store for American accessories brand Coach is a glazed cube with a herringbone-patterned display system (+ slideshow).

Inspired by the categorised wooden storage systems of Coach‘s original 1940s stores, Coach Omotesando features a modular shelving system that Rem Koolhaas’ OMA has developed for all of the brand’s new stores.

Here, the shelves form a herringbone pattern that covers the glazed facade of the two-storey shop. Frosted glass panels were used to build the boxy shelves on the inside of the walls, while on the outside they form a system of horizontal louvres.

Once the store is open each box will be filled with an item from Coach’s latest collections, which include outerwear, footwear, jewellery, handbags and other accessories.

A staircase is positioned at the centre of the store, connecting womenswear on the ground floor with menswear on the first floor. This area also features a modular shelving system, although here it is broken up into a rectilinear grid.

Lighting is installed within the staircase tower, intended to create a central beacon that illuminates the store 24 hours a day.

OMA first revealed designs for the display system during the summer. Since then the studio has installed a smaller version at a Coach kiosk within Macy’s flagship Herald Square store in New York.

This week Dutch firm OMA has also revealed a collection of furniture for US furniture brand Knoll. See more architecture and design by OMA.

Other notable shop designs on Dezeen include Peter Marino’s Louis Vuitton Maison on London’s Bond Street and Schemata’s flagship for Japanese fashion brand Takeo Kikuchi. See more shops on Dezeen.

Photography is by Iwan Baan.

Here’s some more information from OMA:

Coach Flagship, Omotesando

Founded in 1941, Coach began as a leather goods retailer, displaying their products in a single row of library-like, wooden shelving that categorized their handbags and wallets. The brand’s repertoire has since expanded to include a full range of lifestyle merchandise including outerwear, footwear, jewelry, watches and sunwear, which are now sold in a variety of retail environments from specialty boutique to department store.

Inspired by the clarity of Coach’s original, systematic filing retail strategy, OMA designed a modular display unit that is flexible enough to accommodate the specific needs of each product and retail environment. The spatial possibilities of this highly functional system reinforce Coach’s mission to represent ‘logic and magic.’ For the first iteration at a kiosk within Macy’s department store at Herald Square, acrylic display units were assembled into a floor-to-ceiling high, “V” shaped wall. Products appear to float amidst maintained views to the accessories floor beyond.

Coach’s ninth Japan flagship is a two-story, corner site on Omotesando, a prominent retail corridor in Tokyo. In comparison to the increasingly decorative elevations that characterize Omotesando, OMA’s design integrates display into the façade, seamlessly communicating the brand’s presence from the inside out.

The display units are stacked in a herringbone pattern of vertical and horizontal orientation to facilitate a range of curation scenarios. Dimensioned to accommodate Coach’s standard merchandising elements (ex. mannequins, busts, bags), the unit measures 1800 mm x 520 mm. Frosted glass that provides shelving within the store is further articulated to the façade as louvers.

Viewed from the exterior, the double-height storefront presents an uninterrupted survey of Coach’s full collection in a single view, with a dedicated frame for each product. Viewed from the interior, the display unit’s translucency creates an active backdrop for merchandise, filtering Omotesando’s streetscape into the shopping experience.

Above: display concept

In addition to the façade, OMA designed a floating tower of illuminated units that encase the store’s central stair, seamlessly connecting the women’s first floor and men’s second level. Consolidating the display on the facade and circulation creates a condition in which the shopper is continuously surrounded by product, while simultaneously liberating floorspace. In the evenings, the circulation tower illuminates the façade as a dynamic, 24-hour window display from within.

Above: cross section

Status: Commission January 2012; Completion April 2013
Client: Coach, Inc.
Location: Tokyo, Japan
Site: Ground and second floor of new construction on Omotesando, Tokyo, Japan Program: 444.75 m2 / 4787.25 sf
Façade: 210 glass units Circulation Tower: 105 acrylic units
Partner-in-Charge: Shohei Shigematsu
Project Architect: Rami Abou Khalil
Team: Yolanda do Campo, Benedict Clouette with Jackie Woon Bae, Cass Nakashima, Phillip Poon, David Theisz
Local Architect and Engineer: Obayashi Corporation Façade Consultancy: Michael Ludvik
Interior Architecture: Nomura, Co., Ltd.

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by OMA appeared first on Dezeen.

News: twelve international firms including OMA, Herzog & de Meuron, BIG and SANAA have been shortlisted to design a new headquarters and visitor centre for the Nobel Prize in Stockholm, Sweden.

Situated on a small peninsula called Blasieholmen (above), the building will become the new home of the Nobel Foundation, which has been based in Stockholm since it was set up in the name of philanthropist and inventor Alfred Nobel in 1900.

Also shortlisted are British architect David Chipperfield, 3XN from Denmark, Snøhetta from Norway and Johan Celsing Arkitektkontor from Switzerland.

Public spaces for exhibitions, conferences and events are also included in the proposed programme, as well as a library, cafe, restaurant and shop.

“We are confident that we will secure the necessary financing to begin the architectural competition and carry out the project during the current calendar year,” said Lars Heikensten, executive director of the Nobel Foundation.

The remainder of the shortlist comprises Swiss architects Marcel Meili and Markus Peter, French firm Lacaton & Vassal Architectes, Swedish studio Wingårdhs and Danish architects Lundgaard & Tranberg.

See all architecture in Sweden »

Photograph is by Jeppe Wikström.

Here’s the announcement from the Nobel Foundation:

During the winter there has been a selection process to choose the architects who will be invited to participate in the planned architectural competition to design a Nobel Center at Blasieholmen in Stockholm. In total, over 140 architects have been considered by a specially appointed evaluation committee. Of these, 12 have been selected to be invited to the architectural competition.

We are now happy to be able to announce the names of the 12 architects selected:

» Kim Herforth Nielsen – 3XN, Denmark

» Bjarke Ingels – BIG, Denmark

»David Chipperfield – David Chipperfield Architects, England/Germany

» Jaques Herzog, Pierre de Meuron and Ascan Mergenthaler – Herzog & de Meuron, Switzerland

» Johan Celsing – Johan Celsing Arkitektkontor, Sweden

» Anne Lacaton and Jean-Philippe Vassal – Lacaton & Vassal Architectes, France

» Lene Tranberg – Lundgaard & Tranberg Arkitekter, Denmark

» Marcel Meili and Markus Peter – Marcel Meili, Markus Peter Architekten, Switzerland

» Rem Koolhaas and Ellen van Loon – OMA, Netherlands

» Kazuyo Sejima and Ryue Nishizawa – SANAA, Japan

» Kjetil Thorsen – Snøhetta, Norway

» Gert Wingårdh – Wingårdhs arkitekter, Sweden

Within the two-stage competition, the architects’ task will be to design the building that will become the new home of the Nobel Prize in Stockholm. The building will house the Nobel Foundation, together with associated activities that the foundation initiates within research, educational efforts, museum operations and digital media. The building will contain public rooms for exhibitions, scientific conferences, meetings and events, as well as a library, restaurant, café and shop. The ambition is that the Nobel Center will become one of Stockholm’s main attractions.

Important criteria in selecting the architects included design and artistic abilities and experience working in intricate urban environments where historical context and the natural environment must be considered with sensitivity. Practical considerations included the architects’ ability to develop the project in close cooperation with the client over the course of a lengthy planning process and their experience managing construction projects cost-effectively. The names of members of the jury will be published in conjunction with the start of the competition.

“The competition will begin once the majority of the project’s financing has been secured. Encouraging discussions are currently on-going with several donors, and we are confident that we will secure the necessary financing to begin the architectural competition and carry out the project during the current calendar year,” says Lars Heikensten, Executive Director of the Nobel Foundation.

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Nobel Prize centre appeared first on Dezeen.

A sliding plywood wall divides this OMA-designed art gallery inside a historic building in Hong Kong (+ slideshow).

The Lehmann Maupin Gallery is located in the Pedder Building, which was built in 1923 and is one of the oldest commercial buildings in Hong Kong.

OMA divided the gallery into two exhibition spaces, the first of which is arranged around a pre-existing column and overhead beams.

The column and beams were left in their original state to contrast with the clean white walls of the room.

A sliding wall allows the second, smaller space to be separated or combined with the main space as required.

Plywood and polished concrete were chosen to echo the OMA-designed Lehmann Maupin gallery in New York’s Chelsea neighbourhood.

A long and narrow office is tucked behind the main space to take advantage of natural light from the building’s large windows.

The gallery opens this month with a solo exhibition by Korean artist Lee Bul, which runs until 11 May 2013.

The architecture of OMA’s Kunsthal gallery in Rotterdam was criticised last year following the theft of seven paintings – see all galleries on Dezeen.

OMA was recently chosen to masterplan an “airport city” in Doha, Qatar, while the firm’s principal Rem Koolhaas will curate the Venice Architecture Biennale in 2014 – see all architecture by OMA.

Photographs are by Philippe Ruault.

Here’s some more information from OMA:

The Pedder Building, site of the Lehmann Maupin Gallery in Hong Kong, is one of the few surviving pre-war structures in the center of the financial district. OMA’s design of the gallery reveals rather than conceals the patina that distinguishes the historic building from its more glossy neighbours.

The gallery is divided into two exhibition spaces. The newly constructed white walls of the main space are constructed around a central column and overhead beams – objects of time left in their found state. The second space can be joined with the main space or separated with a sliding wall, facilitating smaller exhibits and use as a private viewing room.

Integrated ambient tubes and spot lights contrast with the raw quality of the exhibition spaces with polished concrete floors. The materials of the gallery emphasises neutrality. Plywood, polished concrete floor, and white surfaces serve as the backdrop for artworks.

The entrance of the gallery is a corner door that obscures the boundary between the interior and exterior while allowing the ingress of large art works. When both of the doors are open, the end of an otherwise narrow and compressed building corridor completely disappears and opens up the Lehmann Maupin Gallery to Hong Kong.

Status: Completion 2013
Client: Lehmann Maupin Gallery
Location: 407 Pedder Building, 12 Pedder Street, Central, Hong Kong
Programme: 1,130 sq. ft of exhibition space and offices
Partners-in-charge: David Gianotten and Rem Koolhaas
Project Architect: Miranda Lee

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Hong Kong by OMA appeared first on Dezeen.

OMA has revealed designs for a department store in Kuwait City that draws inspiration from the galleries of a traditional Arab market.

The Exhibition Hall project, led by OMA partners Rem Koolhaas and Iyad Alsaka, proposes a three-storey shopping centre inside the existing 360° Mall and will include a public events space as well as shops.

Retail galleries will be laid out in long passages like a historic souk and will be divided using partitions with circular cut-outs.

Each floor will be naturally lit and the entire store will feature a translucent facade.

Construction is set to begin in 2014, with completion scheduled for later the same year.

Foster + Partners worked on a similar concept for The Souk shopping centre in Abu Dhabi, which combines high-end boutiques with independent local food and craft markets.

OMA also previously developed a masterplan for a new mixed-use quarter in Kuwait City. Other projects in the Middle East were outlined by Iyad Alsaka in an interview we filmed at the studio’s exhibition at the Barbican in London. See more recent projects by OMA, including plans for a new skyscraper in Shenzhen.

See more architecture in Kuwait »

Here’s the full statement from OMA:

The Exhibition Hall, a new retail concept in Kuwait, by OMA

OMA is designing a new department store concept in Kuwait City. The Exhibition Hall, in the popular 360° Mall, will showcase the creativity of the region alongside international fashion brands through a flexible curated retail space, featuring cultural programs, exhibitions and installations. The project is led by OMA partners Iyad Alsaka and Rem Koolhaas, in partnership with Tamdeen Real Estate Co.

Above: floor plans – click above for larger image

The Exhibition Hall, as both department store and public event space, aims to re-establish the historic Kuwaiti connection between culture and commerce to form a contemporary public forum for the city. Comprising 9,400m2 over three floors, the Exhibition Hall will be suffused with natural light during the day, and present a glowing aspect to the street at night through a new translucent façade.

A series of galleries – reminiscent of the long passages of the Souk – will introduce a space which brands can develop as they wish. Multifunctional partition walls with circular cut outs will accommodate transversal access and offer exciting shifting views. Within this polymorphous environment customers will discover curated galleries devoted to cultural events.

Above: concept section

The Exhibition Hall continues OMA longstanding interest in inventing new possibilities for retail spaces, which includes the Prada Epicentres in New York and Los Angeles, department store boutique designs for Viktor & Rolf and Coach, and an exhibition on the history of Galeries Lafayette in Paris.

The project is developed with Kuwait’s 360° Mall management, Majed Al-Sabah and Giacomo Santucci, and overseen by OMA project architect Alessandro De Santis. Construction is scheduled for the beginning of 2014 and will be completed within the same year.

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by OMA appeared first on Dezeen.