With his inimitable style and unique view of architecture and design in the international urban milieu, Dutch architect Rem Koolhaas presents his theories and designs for Prada Stores in New York, Los Angeles, and San Francisco in this new book, "Projects for Prada Part 1." Beginning with the idea that "Indefinite expansion represents a crisis...it spells the end of the brand as a creative enterprise," Koolhaas suggests as an alternative to this dreary result that "...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." From this introduction, Koolhaas proceeds to consider general ideas of brand, expansion, tourism, and workspace, before launching into the specifics of his plans and designs for the three locations, each of which are presented in distinct sections. The book concludes with the plans he developed for the use of technology in the stores; expanding the usual definitions of architecture and design to include information technology. 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 and thought processes for this unique design job are presented with remarkable depth.
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Dutch architect Rem Koolhaas's firm, OMA, and Italian fashion house Prada have a lot in common: They both existed for years before they became the pets of the American moneyed elite in the mid to late 1990s. They both eschew conventional notions of what's elegant or pleasing to the eye--Koolhaas's designs often look like post-industrial origami, and Prada's like uniforms for a really chic neo-Fascist army. Most of all, they're both poised for a transition from designerati darlings to global household words.
For all of these reasons, one supposes it's fitting that Miuccia Prada sought out Koolhaas and associates to design three new "epicenter" stores for the company--in New York, Los Angeles, and San Francisco--and to create Prada's Web site. They've documented that collaboration in this hefty, molto stile paperback that illustrates how they've rethought the shopping experience in ways both high-flown (in NYC, a shoe section that converts to a theater for performances and other "non-shopping events"; an electronic customer-identification/service system that either promises or threatens to track shoppers and their "needs" more closely than the FBI's) and cleverly common-sensical (dressing rooms with simultaneous, digitally-produced front, back and side-views, phones for requesting another size, and walls you can shift from translucent--so you can model for your friends--to frosted, for privacy).
Design-wise, the stores say "Koolhaas" as we know him so far--the facade of the San Francisco one, for example, is all perforated-looking metallic grids, and elsewhere there are shiny, swooping ceilings and walls, plus glass elevators that hover among glass floors like huge floating rooms. But most of what we see in this book is funky, moody photography of the sites' models, thickly populated by white figurines with the same unsmiling hauteur of Prada's sexy real-life runway models (not enough of which are featured here, by the way). The book's minimal text, though boldly designed, strikes a strange note somewhere between the usual half-cryptic semio-speak of Koolhaas's other books, and the oppressive language of corporate self-promotion ("Our ambition is to capture attention and then, once we have it, to hand it back to the customer."). But then, isn't that as it should be? With both Koolhaas and Prada, you often suspect that their recent stranglehold over American fashionistas and theory-queens alike is of great amusement to them. Between these pages, the joke once again might be on us, but who can't take a little joke when it's as stylishly presented as it is here?--Timothy Murphy
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)
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
31 of 33 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Planet Prada ?,
By Wayne Sterling (New York) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Projects for Prada Part 1 (Paperback)
Do you love Prada? Do you hate Prada? Does the sight of those mint green walls and that little metallic triangle bring you a rush of assurance? Or does it intimidate the hell out of you?One thing you'll conclude by the time you wallow through "Projects For Prada Pt 1" brought to you by Oma/Amo's Rem Koolhaas and the Fondazione Prada Edizioni, is that Prada IT is certainly not resting on their laurels. Speaking of laurels, if you have always suspected the Prada company as being somewhat imperial (in the very Roman sense of the expression) then "P for P 1" is going to do very little to dispel your paranoia. In fact it'll probably amplify it. Big time. A mere six pages in and you're hit full frontal with the boldfaced word "Expansion" before being treated to a hilarious series of conceptual maps that poses the idea of Prada vs Population, Prada vs GDP, Prada vs National Debt before concluding with the totalitarian proposition of "Prada World".(What you wouldn't give to see the look on Patrizio Bertelli's face when he saw that in the proofs .) From that ambitious point, as they say in the streets, It's on. The section titled "Tourism" treats you to what is in essence an exploded view of the brand's flagship store in Milan, the Prada workspace (showroom, buyer's space, prototypes. ) You then segue into an elegant distillation of Koolhaas's idea of where the Prada brand could legitimately evolve, from what the brand's idea of luxury is (or is that " will be"), to the indispensable visual elements that all the stores should carry. After all the preamble you finally get to the nitty gritty of what Koolhaas plans for each Prada store slated to be opened in New York, Los Angeles and San Francisco. And that means the already infamous shoe theater in NY, the underground shop windows of LA and most architectually daunting of all, the eight story Prada tower in SF complete with a mind boggling swiss-cheese facade. And Rem's not done with you yet.. The perverse video outakes of the behind the scene meetings , a terribly abstract series on the proposed materials for the shops his flowcharts on where Koolhaas intends to take the Prada web-site and terrifying details like RFID tags for the purposes of inventory control,point of sales efficency and theft control (Damn!) . The idea of a high-tech Prada loyalty card is brand perfect , as are the futuristic dressing rooms , kiosks and in-store display panels. Of course Koolhass wouldn't be Koolhaas without the naughty and unlikely gestures (Prada vomit?), the out-there propositions for ad campaigns or that sustained idee fixe of the "Prada army" . But that facetiousness is totally within the Koolhaas program. After all this is the man who gleefully designed the ...Hermitage Guggenheim AND Guggenheim Las Vegas museums. Whether meant ironically or in scary earnest the book does lay bare the brutality and the complexity of both Koolhaas' and Prada's ambition. Somebody who knows these things once told us that Prada Sport does not seek to compete with other designer lines, but rather, has its sights set on Nike . And reading P for P Pt 1 has completely persuaded this reader that sentiments such as these are characteristic of Prada culture. The Prada store as the Disney-world for millionaire semioticians the world over, intellectual perversity as the ultimate luxury proposition, Rem Koolhaas for sale to the culture -at large. These questions and more will riddle you as you go deeper into....PRADAWORLD But whatever side issue that will swarm in the wake of this book, one things for sure. It sure is rife with some killer one-liners.(E.G "Luxury is Rough." Amen to that!) Every designer should have it by the bedside just to help them get that competitive spirit cracking . The world's most famous architect as the driest stand up comedian ever. Who would have thought.
3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
What can Prada be?,
By
Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?)
This review is from: Projects for Prada Part 1 (Paperback)
The other review here is quite good and explains the book quite nicely, so I will try not to be redundant. But I really found this book brilliant from a retail sales standpoint. I once had a professor of music history ask the question, "what can music be?", and this book asks the similar question of "what can shopping be?" Much credit has to be given to Prada for their investment of time and money into projects that really stretch the boundaries of the luxury shopping experience (and thanks to Rem Koolhaas and OMA/AMO for their incredible designs). And to prove that all these concepts are not merely theorized ideas neatly bound in a book, you simply need walk into the Prada SoHo 'Epicenter' store to see what it's all about.
0 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
Poor Craftsmanship,
By
This review is from: Projects for Prada Part 1 (Paperback)
The content and design of this thick book is great. Unfortunately the quality of the manufacture of this book in no way reflects the merchandise produced by PRADA. Prior to removing the book from the shrink-wrapped plastic it was obvious that a stain from the glue had soaked thru the cover. After reading the volume for about 30 minutes the cover completely seperated from pages. Utterly disappointing.
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