Koolhaas Steps Out Front

Rem Koolhaas’ new Seattle Library could confirm his reputation as the most influential architect in the world. “While Frank Gehry remains the most famous architect in the world, for more than a decade Koolhaas, who is 59, has been the most influential. A few architects have a sharper theoretical edge than Koolhaas, and a few create more exciting spaces. But nobody—not even Gehry—produces buildings that are simultaneously so intellectually ambitious and so shamelessly populist.”