The Latest Koolhaas: Antidotes to Extravagance

OMA/G-Star Rawptionm from The Guardian

A good one-line architecture joke, followed up by an even better follow-up: OMA Partner Reinier de Graaf, on the firm's new headquarters for the Dutch jean and denim-wear manufacturer G-Star Raw in Amsterdam, quoted by Oliver Wainwright in The Guardian:

"Our initial idea was to clad the frame in bits of Somali shipwrecks, as the equivalent of stone-washed jeans. But we were told that the stone-washed look was going out of fashion."

De Graaf explains that the work, together with recent projects such as the Shenzhen Stock Exchange and the mega-multi-use towers in Rotterdam, form part of a major shift in the firm towards more generic designs, "an antidote to the formal extravagance of the 90s.”

Wainwright continues:
"[Graaf]  recounts the legend of a memo, sent by Koolhaas to the entire office from a far-flung hotel, which set the new agenda: 'Use 90 degrees only. Good luck, Rem.' " 

Oliver Wainwright
Rem Koolhaas's G-Star Raw HQ is like 'two brands having unprotected sex
The Guardian
March 25, 2014