Rem Koolhaas: Unveiling The Prada Foundation

After more than 15 years--during which it exhibited work by such artists as Louise Bourgeois, Dan Flavin, Carsten Höller, Barry McGee, Tom Friedman, Francesco Vezzoli, Tom Sachs and Nathalie Djurberg and hosted numerous lectures, panels and film festivals of unusual sophistication--Milan's Prada Foundation is widening its exhibition spaces and broadening its cultural perspective with a new compound designed by the renowned Dutch architecture firm, the Office of Metropolitan Architecture (OMA), led, of course, by its Pritzker-Prize-winning founder, Rem Koolhaas. The new art center and permanent exhibition space will be situated in a location that includes early twentieth-century buildings that originally belonged to one of Milan's first spirits manufacturing companies. Preserved in their original condition, the seven preexisting buildings include warehouses, laboratories, brewing silos and workers' residences--surrounded by a large courtyard. OMA/Koolhaas' project adds an exhibition building, an auditorium and a tower to the existing structures, which will house works from the permanent collection. This accessible volume documents the Foundation's past events and future developments, highlighting the ways that contemporary architecture can coexist with a regenerated historic site.