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Sunday, 10 September 2006 | Levent OZLER
AMO Considers the Rise of Cities in the Persian Gulf at Venice Biennale
At the 10th International Architecture Biennale of Venice, AMO, the think tank of the Office for Metropolitan Architecture (OMA) will present an overview of urban developments in the Persian Gulf and the combined impact of these developments on the region and beyond.
Kuwait City - Kuwait; Manamah - Bahrain; Doha - Qatar; Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Ras al Khaimah - United Arab Emirates. Where twenty years ago their economy was entirely related to oil, the current/future depletion of oil reserves has urged the rapid transformation of each of these places.
Subject to a relentless modernization itself only recently, already the Persian Gulf is becoming a paradigm for development elsewhere. The same development companies that are shaping the Gulf are currently also shaping large territories beyond the Gulf: India, Pakistan, Libya, Morocco, Kazakhstan, Vietnam, China, and even the USA.
The exhibition curated by Rem Koolhaas, Reinier de Graaf, Todd Reisz and Kayoko Ota is in a room covered with a "wallpaper" of a satellite image of the Gulf coast, which attempts to show all new developments going on at the same time.
The visitor will view the region as it is today, its recent past and its immediate future.
The exhibition notes the shrinking distance between the "star-architect" and the local practitioner and the region's remarkable tolerance for outside influences and foreign lifestyles.
AMO's work is on display in the Giardini in the Italian pavilion until 19 November 2006.
The exhibition was made possible with the generous support of The Architecture Fund (International Culture Program from the Netherlands Ministries of Foreign Affairs and of Education, Culture and Science)', Van Oord NV, Rakeen Development / RAK Promotion Board, Fondazione Prada, Editoriale Domus and M.H. Alshaya.
About AMO
The counterpart to OMA's traditional architectural practice is AMO, a design and research studio based in the company's Rotterdam office which is supervised by Rem Koolhaas and Reinier de Graaf.
While OMA remains dedicated to the realization of buildings and master plans, its subsidiary AMO is a think tank that operates in areas beyond the boundaries of architecture and urbanism - including sociology, technology, media and politics.
Currently AMO is working for the Hermitage Museum (St. Petersburg) and for fashion house Prada. In addition it is engaged in studies for the European Union and various OMA projects. AMO's resume includes work for Universal Studios, Amsterdam Airport Schiphol, Harvard University, Condé Nast, Heineken, and Ikea. Recent works include the development of in-store technology for Prada, a strategy for the future of Volkswagen, a strategy for TMRW, new organic fast food chain and work for Platform 21, new design institute in Amsterdam.
At Venice in 2005, AMO explored the expansion of the world's museums and art galleries and investigated whether large extensions were necessary using the Hermitage Museum of St. Petersburg as example.
Office for Metropolitan Architecture (OMA): http://www.dexigner.com/directory/detail/6200/
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