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OMA is a leading international partnership practicing contemporary architecture, urbanism, and cultural analysis. The office is led by five partners – Rem Koolhaas, Ellen van Loon, Reinier de Graaf, Shohei Shigematsu and Managing Partner, Victor van der Chijs – and employs a staff of around 220 of 35 nationalities. Architects, researchers, designers, model makers, industrial designers and graphic designers work in close collaboration, and expert consultants are intimately involved from the beginning of the design process. OMA's recently completed projects include the Wyly Theatre in Dallas (with REX, 2010), Prada Transformer, a rotating multi-use pavilion in Seoul (2009), the Zeche Zollverein Historical Museum and masterplan in Essen (2006), the Seoul National University Museum of Art (2005), the much acclaimed Casa da Música in Porto (2005), the Prada Epicenter in Los Angeles (2004), the Seattle Central Library (2004), the Leeum Samsung Museum of Art in Seoul (2004), the Netherlands Embassy in Berlin (2003), the IIT Campus Center in Chicago (2003), and the Prada Epicenter in New York (2001). The work of Rem Koolhaas and OMA has won several international awards including the Pritzker Architecture Prize in 2000, the Praemium Imperiale (Japan) in 2003, the RIBA Gold Medal (UK) in 2004, the Mies van der Rohe – European Union Prize for Contemporary Architecture (2005) and the Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement at the 2010 Venice Biennale. To accommodate a range of projects throughout the world, OMA maintains offices in Rotterdam, New York, Beijing, and now also Hong Kong, OMA's newest office. AMO The counterpart to OMA's architectural practice is AMO, a design and research studio based in the company's Rotterdam office. While OMA remains dedicated to the realization of buildings and masterplans, AMO operates in areas beyond the traditional boundaries of architecture, including media, politics, sociology, renewable energy, technology, fashion, curating, publishing, and graphic design. AMO often works in parallel with OMA's clients to fertilize architecture with intelligence gleaned from this array of disciplines. This is the case with Prada: AMO's research into identity, in-store technology, and new possibilities of content-production in fashion helped generate OMA's architectural designs for new Prada epicenter stores in New York and Los Angeles. In 2004, AMO was commissioned by the European Union to study its visual communication, and designed a coloured "barcode" flag – combining the flags of all member states – that was used during the Austrian presidency of the EU. AMO also produced a major exhibition for the EU that travelled from Brussels to Vienna, Munich and Rotterdam. AMO has consulted with Universal Studios, Amsterdam's Schiphol airport, Heineken, Ikea, Condé Nast and Harvard University, produced exhibitions at the Venice Biennale (on the Hermitage museum in St. Petersburg) and Venice Architecture Biennale (on the development of the Gulf), and guest-edited issues of the magazines Wired and Domus. Recent projects include the ongoing curatorial masterplan for the Hermitage, curating the exhibition 'Dubai Next' at the Vitra Design Museum in Weil am Rhein, and editing Al Manakh, a guide to the rapid transformation of the Gulf region. CURRENT PROJECTS Full List of OMA Projects Rotterdam Netherlands: ABN Amro Coolsingel mixed-use, Rotterdam De Rotterdam Stadskantoor, Rotterdam KJ Plein, The Hague Europe: Cordoba Congress Centre, Cordoba Commonwealth Institute, London Maggie's Centre, Glasgow Rothschild Bank HQ, London Middle East: Waterfront City, Dubai, UAE New York Musée national des beaux-arts du Québec Paul Milstein Hall Cornell University, USA Beijing CCTV: China Central Television Headquarters, Beijing TVCC: Television Cultural Center, Beijing Crystal Island, Shenzhen Scotts Tower, Singapore The Interlace, Singapore MahaNakhon, Bangkok Hong Kong West Kowloon Cultural District Shenzhen Stock Exchange Taipei Performing Arts Centre Gallery Edouard Malingue Chu Hai College FIRM HISTORY OMA was founded in 1975 by Rem Koolhaas, Elia and Zoe Zenghelis and Madelon Vriesendorp as a collaborative office practicing architecture and urbanism. The office gained renown through a series of groundbreaking entries in major competitions: Parc de la Villette, Paris (1982), ZKM, Karlsruhe (1989), Tres Grande Bibliotheque and Two Libraries for Jussieu University, Paris (1993). During these formative years OMA also realized ambitious projects, ranging from private residences to large scale urban plans: Villa dall'Ava, Paris (1991), Nexus Housing, Fukuoka, Japan (1991), the Kunsthal, Rotterdam (1992) and the Maison à Bordeaux (1998). In 1994 OMA completed Euralille, a 70-hectare business and civic center in northern France comprising the European hub for high-speed trains. |