Living Vivre Leben

Rem Koolhaas' spaces for living, including his apartments and houses, are collected for the first time in book format. The Dutch architect Rem Koolhaas and his well-known Office for Metropolitan Architecture (OMA) have rightfully gained global acclaim and respect with their complex buildings (e.g. the Dutch Dance Theater in Den Haag or the Rotterdam Art Museum), and with large-scale urban plans such as Melun-SŽnart, Euralille, and Seoul. Less known but equally fascinating are Koolhaas' domestic projects. This new book highlights this important aspect of his work: with texts, plans and photographs, it presents the Patiovilla in Rotterdam, the Villa Dall'Ava in Paris, the Dutch House in Holten, the Maison à Bordeaux, and the Nexus Housing in Fukuoka/Japan. Their common theme is an intense search for freedom. As with all of Koolhaas' work, a clever play with openings, transparencies and transparent and opaque surfaces makes these living spaces permeable to the variations of light, weather, and function.