Made by the Office for Metropolitan Architecture: An Ethnography

This book presents an ethnographic account of the design rhythms found in the Office for Metropolitan Architecture (OMA). Written as a collection of short stories it draws on the mundane trajectories of models and architects at OMA and shows how innovation permeates design practice and how everyday techniques and workaday choices set new standards for buildings and urban phenomena. These are invariably not the ‘Eureka!’ moments, but rather the routine mundanity of everyday architectural practice. This enquiry into architecture-in-the-making is based on participant observation, extensive interviews and photo-documentation of various projects, such as: the Seattle Public Library; the Whitney Museum of Modern Art, New York; China Central Television (CCTV) and La Casa da Musica, Porto.