An encounter with Rem Koolhaas
As part of the Creek Art Festival, Bastakiya, Dubai.
Was just not enlightening enough to say the least. Forget enlightening, he was actually what one would call the theoritical diplomat. Too much of a theorist, trying hard to mould the city into a book and trying too little to know what comprises a city. I think its just obvious, you cant live in a city if you want to control it. Point blank statistical, bland bare and yet not transparent to even his own honesty. Dubai is a sensation. A much talked about, Koolhaas-unexplored area. A matter of discussion with no contribution from the OMA-related faculties. I havent read his own publication of the region (Al Manakh), but from what he spoke of the city I expect no content in it either. What could have been an inspiring account of a delirious city turned out to be a personal outburst at not the economics or trends or architecture, but instead at the creators ( just facilitators in case of Dubai), the Architects. Every question was served back with finesse, incomprehensibly vague, metaphorised, adjective-ised, and ignore-ised.
Some time back i had my own doubts of where and when the madness of this place would cease to be. Today I realised it has to be somewhere between our being, because as much as Koolhaas hates 'branding', its only that aspect of him that brings him here, makes him stand and helps him deny it all.
A Glimpse of the questions:
- 'I have finished a project with a certain client and he now wants the phase-II of the project, which is the branding. Have you ever experienced clients who understand 'terms' (brands) more than architecture? and do you feel yourself also being understood more as a brand than...'
RK (in a nutshell) : I basically hate the term branding....
- 'We hear you have a proposal for the Dubai Waterfront project. As an architect i happened to see it in a magazine but only in bits and pieces. Are such projects only an understanding between the client (Nakheel in this case) and the architect (RK)? Why is there such a lack of information being flown out to a 'realm' that can make a difference, change things, or is aware?'
RK : What is your bitterness about? You represent the cynical society that is coming up who want to complain about everything and are still curious...
- ' I read your book (Al Manakh), and it is extremely statistical, cut and dry. Have you ever been to the beaches of dubai, the mall, had dinner at the Madinat or walked at the Marina?'
RK : I dont like to discuss my personal life....
Was just not enlightening enough to say the least. Forget enlightening, he was actually what one would call the theoritical diplomat. Too much of a theorist, trying hard to mould the city into a book and trying too little to know what comprises a city. I think its just obvious, you cant live in a city if you want to control it. Point blank statistical, bland bare and yet not transparent to even his own honesty. Dubai is a sensation. A much talked about, Koolhaas-unexplored area. A matter of discussion with no contribution from the OMA-related faculties. I havent read his own publication of the region (Al Manakh), but from what he spoke of the city I expect no content in it either. What could have been an inspiring account of a delirious city turned out to be a personal outburst at not the economics or trends or architecture, but instead at the creators ( just facilitators in case of Dubai), the Architects. Every question was served back with finesse, incomprehensibly vague, metaphorised, adjective-ised, and ignore-ised.
Some time back i had my own doubts of where and when the madness of this place would cease to be. Today I realised it has to be somewhere between our being, because as much as Koolhaas hates 'branding', its only that aspect of him that brings him here, makes him stand and helps him deny it all.
A Glimpse of the questions:
- 'I have finished a project with a certain client and he now wants the phase-II of the project, which is the branding. Have you ever experienced clients who understand 'terms' (brands) more than architecture? and do you feel yourself also being understood more as a brand than...'
RK (in a nutshell) : I basically hate the term branding....
- 'We hear you have a proposal for the Dubai Waterfront project. As an architect i happened to see it in a magazine but only in bits and pieces. Are such projects only an understanding between the client (Nakheel in this case) and the architect (RK)? Why is there such a lack of information being flown out to a 'realm' that can make a difference, change things, or is aware?'
RK : What is your bitterness about? You represent the cynical society that is coming up who want to complain about everything and are still curious...
- ' I read your book (Al Manakh), and it is extremely statistical, cut and dry. Have you ever been to the beaches of dubai, the mall, had dinner at the Madinat or walked at the Marina?'
RK : I dont like to discuss my personal life....
posted by blink blank link at 10:36 AM
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