Dutch master says he was ‘touched’ to be the designer

Rem Koolhaas is a founding partner of the influential architectural practice OMA. Together with partner-in-charge Ellen van Loon, he designed the new Maggie’s Centre at Gartnavel.

The firm’s most celebrated buildings include the Seattle Central Library and the Netherlands Embassy in Berlin.

But Maggie’s Gartnavel is OMA’s first permanent building to open in the UK, to be followed closely by the headquarters for NM Rothschild and Sons in London.

Koolhaas graduated from the Architectural Association in London and helped to found OMA in 1975.

The company has offices in Rotterdam, New York, Beijing and Hong Kong.

In 1995, Koolhaas’s book S,M,L,XL summarised the work of OMA in what was said to be “a novel about architecture”.

He heads the work of both OMA and AMO – the research branch of OMA – and is active in areas beyond the realm of architecture, such as media, politics, renewable energy and fashion.

The Dutch architect has won several international awards, including the Pritzker Architecture Prize in 2000 and the Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement at the 2010 Venice Biennale. He is also a professor at Harvard University.

Yesterday, visiting the new centre in Glasgow, Koolhaas said: “We were touched to be asked to design a Maggie’s Centre, and invigorated by the opportunity to work on a completely different scale, with different ambitions.

“Maggie’s Centre is so unique and urgent among the projects we are working on.”

LYNDSAY BUCKLAND