Rem Koolhaas (OMA)

The Arc

Rem Koolhaas built his reputation as much through writing as through building. His firm OMA, founded in 1975, became a hothouse for ideas about how cities work, and Koolhaas himself won the Pritzker Prize in 2000. In Miami, OMA's signature work is the Faena Forum, a drum-and-cube cultural venue completed in 2016 as the centerpiece of the Faena District in Mid-Beach. It sits across from the Faena Hotel and was designed to give the district a stage for performance, art, and spectacle.

The Forum arrived at the height of the Art Basel period, when Miami Beach was repositioning itself as a serious culture destination rather than only a party strip. OMA's involvement, like that of other global architects, signaled that ambition in built form.

Why They Matter

Koolhaas matters to Miami as a marker of intent. The Faena Forum was not a condo with a famous name attached; it was a purpose-built cultural building from a firm associated with rethinking how public space works. That choice fit a city trying to prove its Art Basel-era cultural credentials were more than seasonal. Miami has always imported the talent it needs, and in the 2010s that increasingly meant European architects asked to give the place gravity. The Forum is OMA's contribution to that argument.

Neighborhoods: Mid-Beach / Miami Beach Eras: The Wynwood & Art Basel Era