Why Ole Scheeren is an architectural wonder
Ole Scheeren balances creativity and innovation with his understanding of the concept of space in Asia
For someone who is as known for his architectural genius as he is for his good looks, Ole Scheeren is surprisingly down-to-earth. Dressed in a simple blue shirt and jeans, the man behind some of the most stunning structures in the world is remarkably subtle and soft-spoken.
The only indication of his considerable stardom is his ease in front of the camera, a result of countless photo shoots over the years and, assuredly, there will be even more to come, as the German architect's new projects - The Interlace, MahaNakhon, DUO and Angkasa Raya - are scheduled to launch over the next few years.
His latest projects, like the majority of his works, are located in Asia, and Scheeren traces his attraction to the region back to his trip to China two decades ago, when he decided to spend three-and-a-half months in the country.
"I wasn't interested in the tourist version of China. I disappeared into the country … I wanted to make sure I was not safe," he remembers. His friend had warned him that he should prepare himself for the trip, and Scheeren dutifully started brushing up on his Lao Tzu, but it wasn't until the architect set foot on Chinese soil that he realised that wasn't quite what his friend meant.
"[The experience] catapulted me into a totally different reality of the world; in an almost brutal way, it extracted me from the context of my upbringing … from thinking that this is how personal space works," he explains. "You struggle with the dilemma of discovering that your perception of the world may not be true. It was one of the most liberating experiences of my life."
Three years after his trip, Scheeren joined architectural firm OMA and, as the years went on, he became increasingly interested in Asia.
After a series of events that included a short stint in Thailand and winning a design competition for China's CCTV headquarters in 2002, the architect finally moved to Beijing in 2004 and started work on executing the monumental CCTV design, a project that Scheeren was at once excited and apprehensive about. "[I felt] an acute responsibility for what we had proposed, to carry it through and to make it happen in the way in which it was intended," he says. Scheeren was particularly sensitive to the practice of simply importing designs created with a Western culture and audience in mind, with the assumption they would find a home in a completely different context. "I had a very fundamental disbelief in this. I felt that I wanted to come and do things from here rather than from the West," he explains.
How, he wondered, does one integrate ideas into a local reality, to understand a culture enough so that the design would be innovative yet relevant? This is precisely the balancing act that fascinates Scheeren and runs as a common thread through his architectural designs. "It's an interesting road you take, when you come in as a part-outsider, when you think from the outside. The issue here is how much you can think from the inside to make it connectable to the local people," he says.
