OMA breaks the 'monotonously exceptional' mould in Dubai

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Astragal was lucky enough to enjoy an afternoon with Reinier de Graaf from Rem Koolhaas' firm Office of Metropolitan Architecture (OMA) at the RIBA Futures Fair last week.

The dapper Dutchman was taking the audience through his practice's portfolio of work in Dubai.

De Graaf described the Emirate state as 'a collection of mutually competing theme parks' where there exists a 'monotony of the exceptional'.

So it's a good job OMA decided to design something low-key for its Waterfront City scheme to contrast this. No one will really notice a Death Star amid the theme parks anyway…