The documentary Rem Koolhaas: A Kind of Architecture (out on DVD) explores the background, ideas and methods of one of the most talked-about contemporary architects. In form, Koolhaas is something of a late modernist, but with a twist. Inspired by NYC (and behaving like a Calvinist in revolt), the Dutch architect constructs an unexpected proliferation of shape, texture and function within a strict grid pattern. Unlike many modernists, he is open to almost any avenue that leads to the solution of a particular problem. He has been influenced by many movements in visual art, including 1960s art house film and surrealism. In interviews conducted by the documentary's directors, Markus Heidingsfelder and Min Tesch, Koolhaas describes some of his projects as “rational” and others as “irrational.”
During the early '60s Koolhaas was a journalist; his working methods continue to mirror the way great newspapers operate. In his studio he acts as editor-in-chief, supervising departments working with maximum autonomy—creative teams whose members are unafraid to challenge each other’s ideas. While the American media insists on turning him into a brand, elevating him into a star, Koolhaas prefers to work in a collective setting where the sum of the ideas is greater than any individual contribution.
