Discussion: Material Research at OMA
Rem Koolhaas and his office are considered pioneers in the innovative use of materials. Early projects demonstrate how the architects began to reinterpret industrial, mass produced items by placing them within a new, architectural context and combining them with classic construction materials. One example is the Kunsthal in Rotterdam, completed in 1992. In this exhibition building plastic panels made of polycarbonate, for instance, were juxtaposed to classic, high quality materials such as exposed concrete and wood, similar to a collage. In the meantime these aesthetic experiments, considered radical back then, have become part of the commonly accepted and applied architectural vocabulary. To this day the office, situated in Rotterdam, New York, Beijing and Hong Kong, is still considered an incubator for experimental architectural and material concepts.
