Rem Koolhaas, recently awarded the 2003 Praemium Imperiale for architecture, is prolific to the point of relentlessness. Looking at the stream of bold, innovative and aggressively hip buildings Koolhaas' Rotterdam-based office has produced, one well-known Japanese architect was prompted to liken him to a baseball pitching machine. Intended as a compliment, the analogy reflects the intensity and perfect control that are characteristic of Koolhaas' work.
Based on a clear-sighted and ruthlessly unsentimental assessment of the current state of architecture, the city and the architectural profession, Koolhaas' rapidly expanding oeuvre of buildings and urban designs sizzles with innovative ideas. His influence derives not only from his design work but also from research, writing and publishing. The thick, image-laden books he regularly produces have altered the way architects generate and present their ideas. Reflecting his analytical approach, Koolhaas' 1995 compendium of designs and essays, titled "S, M, L, XL," sorted the projects not by the conventional means of date or building type but by size. On taking up a professorship at Harvard University, Koolhaas chose not to teach design but set up a research unit to study the contemporary city. The findings of this work are being published as a series of books on shopping, current urban conditions in both China and Nigeria, and on the "global" urban design methods of the ancient Romans.
In Tokyo to receive the Praemium Imperiale award, and on his way to China to work on his most ambitious project to date, a 500,000-sq.-meter office tower in Beijing, Koolhaas spoke with The Japan Times.