Small, medium, large, extra-large : Office for Metropolitan Architecture, Rem Koolhaas, and Bruce Mau

"S, M, L, XL presents a selection of the remarkable visionary design work produced by the Dutch firm Office for Metropolitan Architecture (O.M.A.) and its acclaimed founder, Rem Koolhaas, in its first twenty years, along with a variety of insightful, often poetic writings. The inventive collaboration between Koolhaas and designer Bruce Mau is a graphic overture that weaves together architectural projects, photos and sketches, diary excerpts, personal travelogues, fairy tales, and fables, as well as critical essays on contemporary architecture and society. The book's title is also its framework: projects and essays are arranged according to scale. While Small and Medium address issues ranging from the domestic to the public, Large focuses on what Koolhaas calls "the architecture of Bigness." Extra-Large features projects at the urban scale, along with the important essay "What Ever Happened to Urbanism?" and other studies of the contemporary city. Running throughout the book is a "dictionary" of an adventurous new Koolhaasian language -- definitions, commentaries, and quotes from hundreds of literary, cultural, artistic, and architectural sources."--PUBLISHER This Massive Book Is A Novel About Architecture. Conceived By Rem Koolhaas ... And Bruce Mau ... As A Free-fall In The Space Of The Typographic Imagination, The Book's Title ... Is Also Its Framework: Projects And Essays Are Arranged According To Scale. The Book Combines Essays, Manifestoes, Diaries, Fairy Tales, Travelogues, A Cycle Of Meditations On The Contemporary City, With Work Produced By Koolhaas's Office For Metropolitan Architecture Over The Past Twenty Years. This Accumulation Of Words And Images Illuminates The Condition Of Architecture Today, Its Splendors And Miseries, Exploring And Revealing The Corrosive Impact Of Politics, Context, The Economy, Globalization, The World--back Cover. Foreplay -- Small: Nexus World Housing, Fukuoka, Japan ; Renovation Of Hotel Furka Blick, Switzerland ; Villa D'alla, St. Cloud, Paris, France ; Video Bus Stop, Groningen, Netherlands -- Medium: Renovation Of A Panopticon Prison, Arnhem, Netherlands ; Housing Kochstrasse/friedrichstrasse, Berlin, Germany ; Extension Of The Dutch Parliament, The Hague, Netherlands ; Netherlands Dance Theater, The Hague, Netherlands, Morgan Bank, Amsterdam, Netherlands ; Biocenter, University Of Frankfurt, Germany ; Hotel And Convention Center, Agadir, Morocco ; Architecture Museum, Rotterdam, Netherlands ; Museum Park, Rotterdam, Netherlands ; Kunsthal I, Rotterdam, Netherlands ; Kunsthal Ii, Rotterdam, Netherlands ; Project For An Office City, Frankfurt Airport -- Large: Boompjes Towerslab, Rotterdam, Netherlands ; The Hague City Hall, Netherlands ; Sea Terminal, Zeebrugge, Belgium ; Très Grande Bibliothèque, Paris, France ; Zentrum Für Kunst Und Medientechnologie, Karlsruhe, Germany ; Congrexpo (lille Grand Palais), Lille, France -- Extra Large: Bijlmermeer Redevelopment, Amsterdam, Netherlands ; Point City/south City, Project For Redesigning Holland ; Parc De La Villette, Paris, France ; Exposition Universelle 1989, Paris, France ; Ville Nouvelle Melun-sénart, France ; Transportation Exchange Centers For Benelux ; Mission Grand Axe, La Défense, Paris, France ; Zac Danton Office Tower, La Défense, Paris, France ; Euralille: Centre International D'afffaires, Lille, France ; Urban Design Forum, Yokohama, Japan ; 2 Bibliothèques Jussieu, Paris, France. Edited By Jennifer Sigler ; Photography By Hans Werlemann. Includes Bibliographical References (p. 1284-1299). "Rem Koolhaas is founder of the Office for Metropolitan Architecture (O.M.A.); the firm's most important projects include the Lille Grand Palais in Lille; the Kunsthal in Rotterdam; Netherlands Dance Theatre in The Hague; Nexus Housing in Fukuoka; the Dutch House in Holland; and Villa dall'Ava in Paris, all of which are included in S, M, L, XL. Koolhaas is author of the seminal Delirious New York and professor in practice of architecture and urban design at the Harvard Graduate School of Design. Bruce Mau founded the critically acclaimed firm Bruce Mau Design in 1985. He is the author of Life Style and Massive Change."--PUBLISHER