IN: Remment Lucas "Rem" Koolhaas (Dutch pronunciation: [rem ko:lha:s]; born 17 November 1944) is a Dutch architect, architectural theorist, urbanist and Professor in Practice of Architecture and Urban Design at the Graduate School of Design at Harvard University. Koolhaas studied at the Architectural Association School of Architecture in London and at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York. Koolhaas is the founding partner of OMA, and of its research-oriented counterpart AMO based in Rotterdam, the Netherlands. In 2005, he co-founded Volume Magazine together with Mark Wigley and Ole Bouman.

Koolhaas's next landmark publications were a product of his position as professor at Harvard University, in the Design school's "Project on the City"; firstly the 720-page Mutations, followed by The Harvard Design School Guide to Shopping (2002) and The Great Leap Forward (2002). All three books involved Koolhaas's students analysing what others would regard as "non-cities", sprawling conglomerates such as Lagos in Nigeria, west Africa, which the authors argue are highly functional despite a lack of infrastructure. The authors also examine the influence of shopping habits and the recent rapid growth of cities in China. Critics of the books have criticised Koolhaas for being cynical - as if Western capitalism and globalization demolish all cultural identity - highlighted in the notion expounded in the books that "In the end, there will be little else for us to do but shop". However, such cynicism can alternatively be read as a "realism" about the transformation of cultural life, where airports and even museums (due to finance problems) rely just as much on operating gift shops.  When it comes to transforming these observations into practice, Koolhaas mobilizes what he regards as the omnipotent forces of urbanism into unique design forms and connections organised along the lines of present-day society. Koolhaas continuously incorporates his observations of the contemporary city within his design activities: calling such a condition the 'culture of congestion'. Again, shopping is examined for "intellectual comfort", whilst the unregulated taste and densification of Chinese cities is analysed according to "performance", a criterion involving variables with debatable credibility: density, newness, shape, size, money etc. For example, in his design for the new CCTV headquarters in Beijing (2009), Koolhaas did not opt for the stereotypical skyscraper, often used to symbolise and landmark such government enterprises, but instead designed a series of volumes which not only tie together the numerous departments onto the nebulous site, but also introduced routes (again, the concept of cross-programming) for the general public through the site, allowing them some degree of access to the production procedure. Through his ruthlessly raw approach, Koolhaas hopes to extract the architect from the anxiety of a dead profession and resurrect a contemporary interpretation of the sublime, however fleeting it may be.  In 2003, Content, a 544-page magazine-style book designed by &&& Creative and published by Koolhaas, gives an overview of the last decade of OMA projects including his designs for the Prada shops, the Seattle Public Library, a plan to save Cambridge from Harvard by rechanneling the Charles River, Lagos' future as Earth's third-biggest city, as well as interviews with Martha Stewart and Robert Venturi and Denise Scott Brown.

Is Project on the city a book?

OUT: All three books


IN: Ace of Base was a Swedish pop group, originally consisting of Ulf "Buddha" Ekberg and three siblings: Jonas "Joker" Berggren, Malin "Linn" Berggren and Jenny Berggren. The group released four studio albums between 1992 and 2002, which sold more than 30 million copies worldwide, making it the third-most successful Swedish band of all time, after ABBA and Roxette. Happy Nation (reissued as The Sign) is one of the best-selling debut albums of all time, and was certified nine times platinum in the United States.

Ace of Base released its fourth studio album, Da Capo, on September 30, 2002, in Europe, and in Japan through Toshiba EMI with a different cover and three bonus tracks. The album had originally been planned for release in mid-2000, but was repeatedly postponed due to record company complications. The album received only a soft release in the United Kingdom and was not released in America or Australia, though a release was planned for the United States in 2003. The album is named for the musical term da capo, which translates as "back to the beginning". It was intended to be a return to the band's earliest sound.  Although the album entered the album charts in many European countries, it was not as successful as previous releases. Only Jenny and Ulf went on a promotional tour of Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Finland, Germany, Poland and Austria. Jonas didn't attend promotional activities because "it was better to be two then" because it led to "less questions" about Linn's lack of participation. Linn attended only one performance in Germany, which was her last public appearance.  The first single release from the Da Capo album was "Beautiful Morning", which peaked at No.14 in Sweden and No. 38 in Germany, where it was followed by "The Juvenile"; this was used for a Christmas campaign by German TV channel RTL. "The Juvenile" was previously written for the GoldenEye James Bond movie in 1995. However, Arista, the band's American record label at the time, shelved the idea. In Scandinavia, Edel-Mega released the album's opening track, "Unspeakable", as the second single, but its poor chart performance ended the promotion of the album prematurely.

did it release in the us?

OUT:
though a release was planned for the United States in 2003.