rem koolhaas awarded golden lion at venice biennale

‘cctv headquarters’ by OMA in beijing, china (2002) image © OMA

the golden lion for lifetime achievement for the 12th international architecture exhibition has been awarded to the dutch architect, rem koolhaas. the decision was taken by the board of the biennale di venezia, chaired by paolo baratta, upon the proposal of the director of the 12th exhibition, kazuyo sejima.

‘rem koolhaas has expanded the possibilities of architecture. he has focused on the exchanges between people in space. he creates buildings that bring people together and in this way forms ambitious goals for architecture. his influence on the world has come well beyond architecture. people from very diverse fields feel a great freedom from his work.’ – kazuyo sejima

over his career, rem koolhaas – together with elia and zoe zenghelis and madelon vriesendorp – founded oma (office for metropolitan architecture). the most important works by koolhaas and oma include the netherlands dance theatre at the hague, the nexus housing at fukuoka in japan, the kunsthal in rotterdam, the grand palais of euralille and lille, the villa dall’ava, the très grande bibliothèque and the seattle public library. together with koolhaas’s reflections on contemporary society, these buildings appear in his book ‘s,m,l,xl’, written as though it were a ‘novel about architecture’. in 1978, he wrote delirious new york: a retroactive manifesto for manhattan, which has become a classic of contemporary architectural theory. in 2000, he won the pritzker prize.

‘kunsthal’ in rotterdam, netherlands (1992) image © OMA

‘nexus world housing’ in fukuoka, japan (1991) image © hiroyuki kawano and OMA

‘seoul national university museum of art’ in seoul, south korea (2005) image © philippe ruault and OMA

‘leeum museum’ in seoul, south korea (2004) image © christian richters and OMA

‘musee national des beaux-arts du quebec’ in quebec city, canada (design development, 2010) image © luxigon and OMA

rem koolhaas image courtesy of biennale di venezia