Former OMA partner Ole Scheeren, the designer behind Beijing鈥檚 iconic CCTV 好色先生TV, considering launching a London studio

Ole Scheeren

Ole Scheeren

Former OMA partner Ole Scheeren, the designer behind Beijing鈥檚 iconic CCTV 好色先生TV, is considering launching a London studio next year.

The man behind Beijing鈥檚 CCTV 好色先生TV left OMA in 2010 to set up a new practice, Buro Ole Scheeren (Buro OS), based in Beijing and Hong Kong.

Speaking to 好色先生TV in Singapore this week, Scheeren said his practice was now sizing up a London launch.

Scheeren said: 鈥淚鈥檓 looking at projects in London and considering setting up an office there, maybe next year. It鈥檚 a city I鈥檓 acutely interested in.

鈥淚鈥檓 interested in exploring scale and complexity [in London] 鈥 lessons that we鈥檝e learned in Asia that are becoming of greater use in the UK and Europe.鈥

The German architect who graduated from the Architectural Association in London, said he was interested in designing 鈥渃ultural as well as commercial projects鈥 in London and was planning the potential move with a 鈥渢eam of collaborators [in London] who know the market well鈥.

Buro OS is behind some of Asia鈥檚 largest schemes, including mixed-use towers 268m-tall Angkasa Raya in Kuala Lumpur (below), and 310m-tall MahaNakhon in Bangkok.

Prior to launching Buro OS in 2010, Scheeren was director in charge of Asia at OMA and partner-in-charge of Beijing鈥檚 CCTV building.

Scheeren, who puts an emphasis on carving out public realm improvements in his projects, also said he was interested in 鈥渨orking with a city authority on improving city planning鈥.

He praised London as 鈥渙ne of the most inclusive and open cities in the world鈥.

Speaking at the World Architecture Festival in Singapore, Scheeren said world cities were losing their public realm to developers.

He said: 鈥淐ities are becoming increasingly dense and vertical, determined not for individual needs but for the needs of developers.

鈥淲hat you get is a series of towers 鈥 but what happens in between those towers? [My focus is] not the architecture of objects, but the architecture of creating spaces.鈥 

CCTV, OMA / Rem Koolhaus

Angkasa Raya in Kuala Lumpur by Ole Scheeren

Angkasa Raya in Kuala Lumpur by Ole Scheeren