In 1975, Rem Koolhaas and Elia Zenghelis founded the Office for Metropolitan Architecture (OMA) with Madelon Vriesendorp and Zoe Zenghelis. The new practice combined architectural design with research and speculation about cities, setting the stage for ambitious projects that linked buildings to broader urban change.
In 1982, OMA produced a major competition proposal for Parc de la Villette in Paris. The design framed the “park” as a flexible system where programs (events and buildings) could shift over time, an approach that became influential in contemporary landscape and urban design.
Completed in 1987, the Netherlands Dance Theater was one of OMA’s first major built works. The project helped establish the firm’s reputation for bold public buildings and for designing performance spaces around how people move, gather, and see.
Completed in 1992, the Kunsthal in Rotterdam brought multiple exhibition halls, ramps, and public amenities into a compact plan. Its layout prioritized movement and flexibility, making it a key example of OMA’s approach to museums as active civic spaces.
From 1989 to 1994, OMA led the masterplan for Euralille, a large redevelopment next to new high-speed rail connections. The plan treated infrastructure, shopping, offices, and public spaces as one linked system, showing how architecture could shape a whole district rather than a single building.
In 1994, OMA completed Congrexpo (also known as Lille Grand Palais) as part of the Euralille development. The long, hybrid building combined a concert hall, congress facilities, and an exhibition hall, demonstrating OMA’s interest in mixing multiple public programs into one structure.
Completed in 1998, Maison à Bordeaux is a private house organized around a large moving platform that functions like a room-sized elevator. The design responded to the client’s mobility needs while also exploring how a house can change shape and use from moment to moment.
The McCormick Tribune Campus Center opened in Chicago in 2003, rebuilding a campus “center” around existing pedestrian routes. Its most visible feature is a long steel tube that reduces train noise from the elevated tracks above, turning a problem into an organizing idea for the building.
Seattle’s new Central Library opened on May 23, 2004, designed by OMA with Seattle-based LMN. The building reorganized library functions into clearly defined zones, aiming to support both quiet study and active public use in a single civic landmark.
Completed in 2005, Casa da Música became a major new concert hall for Porto. The project explored how a performance building can connect to the city through public circulation and varied interior rooms, not just a single main hall.
OMA’s CCTV Headquarters in Beijing was completed in 2012 after a long design and construction process. Its connected “loop” form proposed an alternative to the standard skyscraper, emphasizing a continuous structure that linked different parts of a large media organization.
Completed in 2013, De Rotterdam combined offices, apartments, a hotel, and public-facing uses into three linked towers. The project reflected OMA’s continued focus on dense mixed-use development, especially in redevelopment zones shaped by infrastructure and changing economies.
OMA completed the Shenzhen Stock Exchange headquarters in 2013. The design elevated the building’s “podium” (typically a heavy base) high above the ground, creating a large shaded public space below while making the exchange’s main functions visibly prominent.
On May 9, 2015, Fondazione Prada opened its Milan venue in a former industrial distillery transformed by OMA. The campus combined renovated existing buildings with new structures, reflecting OMA’s interest in reuse and in creating multiple “types” of spaces for art, film, and public life.
In 2017, the OMA-designed Qatar National Library opened to the public in Doha’s Education City. The building brought large open reading areas together with visible heritage collections, presenting the library as both a civic study space and a keeper of national memory.
Lafayette Anticipations opened on March 10, 2018, in Paris, in a building rehabilitated by OMA. The project integrated new exhibition infrastructure into an existing structure, supporting changing layouts and highlighting OMA’s long-running interest in adaptable cultural spaces.
Rem Koolhaas and OMA: Major Projects (1978–2020)