Projects for Prada Part 1 - Softcover

Bertelli, Patrizio

Softcover

ISBN 10: 8887029180 ISBN 13: 9788887029185

Publisher: Fondazione Prada, 2001

Synopsis

In his inimitable style, Dutch architect Rem Koolhaas presents his designs for Prada Stores in New York, Los Angeles and San Francisco. Beginning with the proposition that "indefinite expansion represents a crisis... it spells the end of the brand as a creative enterprise," Koolhaas suggests an alternative: "expansion can also be used for a permanent redefinition of the brand...the epicenter store becomes a device that renews the brand by counteracting and destabilizing any received notion of what Prada is, does, or will become." Koolhaas proceeds to consider general ideas of brand, expansion, tourism and workspace, before launching into the specifics of his designs for the three locations. The book concludes with the plans he developed for the use of in-store technology, expanding the usual definitions of architecture and design. This volume is chock full of images: photographs, drawings, graphs, charts, all of the visual information that Koolhaas has become known for through such books as S,M,L,XL and Mutations. In Projects for Prada Part 1 his working methods for this unique design job are presented in great depth.

About this title

About the Author

Rem Koolhaas was born in Rotterdam in 1944. In 1975 he founded the Office for Metropolitan Architecture (OMA), which has become one of today's most renowned and radical architecture firms, and the winner of several international awards, including the Pritzker Architecture Prize 2000. He is the author of "Delirious New York: A Retroactive Manifesto for Mahattan" and "S,M,L,XL". As a professor of architecture and urban design at Harvard University, Koolhaas has been an instrumental director of "Project on the City", an ongoing analysis of contemporary urban landscapes, part of which was published in the recent book "Mutations".

From the Inside Flap

Indefinite expansion represents a crisis: in the typical case it spells the end of the brand as a creative enterprise and the beginning of the brand as purely financial enterprise.

Expansion can be measured on two levels: quantity and quality.

On the level of numbers, there are simply more and more Prada stores; on the level of scale, Prada is about tot launch a number of special epicenter stores.

The danger of the large number is repetition: each additional store reduces aura and contributes to a sense of familiarity. The danger of the larger scale is the Flagship syndrome: a megalomaniac accumulation of the obvious that eliminates the last elements of surprise and mystery that cling to the brand, imprisoning it in a 'definitive' identity.

But expansion can also be used for a strategy of permanent redefinition of the brand. By introducing two kinds of stores - the typical and the unique - the epicenter store becomes a device that renews the brand by counteracting and destabilizing any received notion of what Prada is, does, or will become. The epicenter store functions as a conceptual window: a medium to broadcast future directions that positively charges the larger mass of typical stores. (REM KOOLHAUS)

Edition details

• Publisher: Fondazione Prada
• Publication date: 2001
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 8887029180
• ISBN 13: 9788887029185
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 600
• Editor: Hommert Jens, Kubo Michael, Prada Miuccia