Reports: Light and Shade
After his stormy departure from Berlin in 1992, Rem Koolhaas has returned to the city as the architect of the new embassy building for the Netherlands. Although it received much praise in advance, the outcome is not convincing. Koolhaas has designed an aluminium-and-glass box like so many other structures along the River Spree. Perhaps the most striking feature is the narrow element – rather like a stage set – with which the embassy distances itself from the neighbouring buildings. Two steps below street level is the darkly shaded consular section. The assistants who work there are not to be envied, and visa applicants will hardly be beguiled by the architecture. Turning the corner, one enters a small asphalted courtyard. Again, it is not easy to see this aluminium canyon as the fine urban space described by certain media representatives.
