Ole Scheeren is an international architect who has gained global recognition through his designs for innovative high-rise buildings, residential communities and cultural institutions. With offices in Hong Kong, Beijing, Berlin and London, his work ranges from well-known buildings - including The Interlace in Singapore, and the CCTV headquarters and the Guardian Art Center in Beijing - to artistic installations, such as the outdoor cinema series.
For Scheeren, architecture is an organism interwoven with life. He conceives prototypes that redefine onceseparate domains such as living and working, public and private, and culture and commerce, by designing spaces that are centred on people's needs and experiences.
A large-scale solo exhibition of the German-born architect, showing at the ZKM Center for Art and Media in Karlsruhe, explores how architecture becomes a stage for people's lives and narratives.
'ole scheeren: spaces of life, 10 December 2022 - 4 June 2023, ZKM Center for Art and Media, Karlsruhe, Germany, zkm.de
Architecture is both a functional response to our needs and an emotionally charged experience that is an essential part of our lives.
When form follows function, architecture is limited to utilitarian problem-solving. It offers no more than is asked of it.
When form follows finance, preconceptions about the market rule out all but the status quo. But what if form follows fiction? Architecture could become the sum of the experiences, emotions and memories that it creates.
To understand fiction as offering a useful design tool for architecture is to be neither indulgent, nor whimsical. It is to think of architecture as the product of the stories, both real and imagined, and of the people who inhabit it. Such narratives can offer speculative prototypes for how places in which we live, work and share can be organised and experienced.
This story is from the January 2023 edition of Wallpaper.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber ? Sign In
This story is from the January 2023 edition of Wallpaper.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Sign In
DESIGN DIRECTORY - BATHROOMS
The hottest trends, from retrofuturistic scene-setting and sunset moods to sculptural curves and shadowy corners
DESIGN DIRECTORY - KITCHENS
We bring you the chicest, sleekest islands on which to slice and dice this season
GREEN GOLD
A beautifully designed new book, Born in Oasi Zegna, explores the rich material ancestry and environmental philosophy of the illustrious Italian fashion house
DESIGN DIRECTORY - DINING CHAIRS
A smörgåsbord of scrumptious seating
DESIGN DIRECTORY - BEDS
Such stuff as dreams are made on
DESIGN DIRECTORY - LIGHTING
Star performers with a bright future
DESIGN DIRECTORY - TABLES
Serving up the perfect balance of form and function
DESIGN DIRECTORY - OUTDOORS
Alfresco apparatus that puts others in the shade
DESIGN DIRECTORY - SEATING
Striking new ways to recline and shine
CURVE APPEAL
Get into the groove with the latest kitchen from Danish design brand Vipp