Model and Scale

Tony Toubia

5 min readMay 15, 2018

Office for Metropolitan Architecture - OMA

3168944 - Tony Toubia

Slabs and columns and spatial loops

Their view and idea of the city

Office for Metropolitan Architecture (OMA) is an international firm, with a partnership of nine , that is based in Dutch. This firm focuses on architecture, as well as urbanism, and cultural analysis. OMA’s view on the city is concerned with intelligent forms of creating new possibilities for content and daily use through their buildings and plans. The design of a finished building being constructed by only a series of columns and slabs that are intertwined with each other (as shown in the figure above) is a key idea composed by the OMA. Their model iterations are formed by discovering and experimenting through a variation and contrast of different levels in between the buildings.

OMA contributes to a sizeable number of areas, that are beyond just architecture. The firm of how they see the city has influences/impact on, architecture itself, however as well as the media, politics, renewable energy, technology, publishing and fashion. AMO, a studio that works with research and design, often works with OMA’s customers in order to apply architectural thinking to domains above with its interdisciplinary ability such as with their distinct use of shapes and loops. OMA’s objective is to provide a distinct concept and a practical made architecture, sometimes with visionary ambitions made for the customer. With their range of projects, the firm aims to go above the average or simple solution and has the ability to redefine typologies, in other words through its creativity, it is able to trespass basic concepts and theories of architecture. This is done through a strategic approach involving research and collaboration.

How and why did they model the way they did

OMA utilises different and creative approaches to make designs. Models have a significant role in the OMA design process; produced in large quantities, they function collectively to form new ideas and restrictions. Due to the model’s striking and apparent shape, a significant impact is made. This quote depicts that the designing process which they design in makes thongs easier for them to come to a complete final design quicker. “A model is an entity to makes experiments easy”. “Rem Koolhaas — designing the design process”, 2012, viewed on 10 April 2018. <http://notura.com/2012/02/rem-koolhaas-designing-the-design-process/>

The longer OMA pushes decisions forward, the greater the possibility of a new idea emerging. Therefore, the firm’s models reflects a collection of more refined and intelligent ideas of how the world could be. Thinking big is one of the most crucial ways OMA model their architectural models and the way they design them is stated in Rem Koolhaas and Bruce Mau,1995, S,M,L,XL, Jennifer Sigler, O.M.A. “I like thinking big. I always have. To me its very simple: if you're going to be thinking anyway, you might as well think big.” This quote is displayed through the architects themselves designing in very simplistic but huge ways to portray the true meaning of their own architecture. Bauhaus states to Koolhaas that architecture can be seen in both ways of alarming and liberating through the quote which is founded from Rem Koolhaas and Bruce Mau,1995, S,M,L,XL, Jennifer Sigler, O.M.A. “People can inhabit anything. And they can be miserable in anything and ecstatic in anything. More and more I think that architecture has nothing to do with it. Of course, that’s both liberating and alarming.”

Slabs and columns and spatial loops (OMA), is a model (shown above) that has floors connected to each other to link an access way, in order to enter different levels instead of the standard buildings which have levels being stacked on each other symmetrically laid out. In more detail, OMA reconstructs the floor plans to connect to one another, which form a single fluent trajectory that has a continuation from the ground to the roof. Through the utilisation of columns to support the structure of the building and separate the functional areas. Through the OMA’s practice of constructing a large amount of precise and detailed models, it was able to create one of which was completely unique practical and complex in design.

Similarity between the both buildings

The building I have chosen is the UTS tower building which represents the technique of OMA which is slabs and columns and spatial loops in a very similar way whereas i have used the columns which go on the outside of the model and the slabs which go across the inside of the model as well as the squared wood inside of the building demonstrating the interior design of the the building itself. I have used balsa wood for a specific reason which is because OMA used balsa wood for most or if not all of the models that they have designed. The use of self material whereas it is all hand designed and hand built without using any machinery. I have completed my designed UTS tower building in the structure that OMA do it because they have influenced me in specific ways to make my building like theirs. The model of my building portrays how it was built to separate different levels for different functions effectively as well as this being seen through the objects being placed on each level.

Development of Progress Models

Throughout the process towards my final model i went through a lot of ideas such as the models shown below which gave me the design for the final project of the UTS tower building.