Rem Before Koolhaas: Journalism by an Architect

Antonio Cantero, Rem Before Koolhaas: Journalism by an Architect, nai010 publishers, 2026

Rem Koolhaas in the 1960s, asking the questions for a Dutch weekly.

From 1963 to 1967 Koolhaas worked as a journalist for Haagse Post. He interviewed Le Corbusier, Constant and Federico Fellini, and wrote about the Provos and Amsterdam's hippies.

Antonio Cantero, an architect who teaches at TU Delft, reprints the pieces in their original Haagse Post layouts, Dutch text included, sets the first English translations beside them and adds a new interview with Koolhaas. He reads the journalism as work in its own right. The interviews often turn into essays on power, social life and cultural change at the time.

Beatriz Colomina wrote the foreword and Joost Grootens designed the book. It was launched at Nieuwe Instituut in Rotterdam in June 2026, with Koolhaas, Colomina and Mark Wigley on stage.

Before the buildings, the questions.

Paperback, 384 pages, pocket size, 60 black and white illustrations. English, with the original Dutch texts. Published with TU Delft Open Publishing. Available online and in our shop at Vester Voldgade 106, Copenhagen.