ARCH–GES–OMA
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OMA
Material Intelligence
Surface acting as spatial structure
ARCH–GES–OMA
This is some text inside of a div block.
Surface acting as spatial structure
OMA
ARCH–GES–OMA
Surface acting as spatial structure
Index Code:
ARCH–GES–OMA
Orgin:
Field Notes:
Program driving volume • Diagrams made literal • Space organized through shifts
Defining Moment:
The Seattle Public Library crystallized OMA’s approach — stacked programs, shifting volumes, and diagrams turned directly into spatial form.

OMA

( 
1970s–present
 )
oh-em-ay

OMA’s work forms a world driven by program — space shaped through diagram, shift, and sectional event.

Light moves through stacked and displaced volumes.

Planes respond directly to use.

Interiors follow systems rather than rooms.

Edges record changes of function.

Volume evolves through movement and occupation.

‍

Structure becomes an active diagram.

Structural Focus

Boundary as Event

Edges, margins, thresholds, or limits carry meaning. Structure concentrates where form nearly disappears.

In OMA’s work, this approach appears where program tests institutional structure.

Position

Boundary as Event

Edges, margins, thresholds, or limits carry meaning. Structure concentrates where form nearly disappears.

In OMA’s work, this approach appears where program tests institutional structure.
Constructed Surfaces
Surfaces are built through layering, joining, and controlled fabrication.
Systems of Clarity
Order and coherence arise through disciplined systems and constraints.
Structure
Structure holds the work through rules, joins, and controlled relationships between parts.
Space
Space is structured through openings, intervals, and boundary conditions.
Gesture
Gesture functions as structure through disciplined, repeatable action.
Architecture
Form organizes space through structure, proportion, and material decision.
Deconstructivism
Fragmentation exposes instability within architectural and formal systems.
Postmodernism
Historical reference and plurality disrupt modernist unity.
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Structual Relations
The following practices are connected through shared structural decisions in form, material, and spatial logic.

By Structural Focus

ⓘ
How are these related?
Quiet Modernism relates practices through how form is organized rather than how it appears. Connections emerge through shared structural conditions — such as repetition, constraint, spatial organization, material behavior, or duration — even when outcomes differ.

A single grouping may reflect multiple overlapping structural concerns.
Lacaton & Vassal
Surface acting as spatial structure.
Saburo Murakami
Performance as structure

In Dialogue

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