Prada Transformer pavilion, Seoul

by The Office for Metropolitan Architecture (OMA)

A pioneering temporary structure that will be picked up by cranes and rotated to accommodate a variety of cultural events.

The 20-metre high Prada Transformer is located adjacent to the 16th Century Gyeonghui Palace in the centre of Seoul. The pavilion consists of four basic geometric shapes – a circle, a cross, a hexagon, a rectangle – leaning together and wrapped in a translucent membrane. Each shape is a potential floor plan designed to be ideal for the cultural programming unfolding over the next three months: a fashion exhibition, a film festival, an art exhibition, and finally a Prada fashion show. Walls will become floors and floors will become walls as the pavilion is flipped over by three cranes after each event to accommodate the next.

Rem Koolhaas explained the idea behind the Prada Transformer: "Rather than having one average condition, we conceived a pavilion that, by simply rotating it, acquires a different character and accommodates different needs." Koolhaas added: "The project is exciting to us because it is the first hybrid between Prada fashion and the Prada Foundation."

The opening event in the pavilion is an exhibition of skirts designed by Miuccia Prada. Titled Waist Down, the exhibition was designed by OMA's think-tank, curatorial, and publishing unit AMO. On 26 June 2009, the pavilion will be flipped to accommodate a film festival co-curated by Alejandro González Iñárritu, the Oscar-winning director of Babel (2006), and the critic Elvis Mitchell. Another flip will take place on 30 July, transforming the pavilion into a gallery for an exhibition by Swedish artist Nathalie Djurberg, curated by Germano Celant, the artistic director of the Prada Foundation in Milan. The closing event of the pavilion is a Prada fashion show for 500 guests.

OMA/AMO has a long history of collaboration with Prada in multiple disciplines. In 2001 OMA designed the Prada Epicenter Store in New York, followed by the Epicenter in Los Angeles in 2004. AMO has been designing fashion shows for Prada and MiuMiu since 2003 and has been working on prada.com since 2006. Currently OMA is designing new exhibition spaces for the Prada Foundation in Milan.