Ole Scheeren (born 6 January 1971) is a German architect, urbanist and principal of Büro Ole Scheeren Group with offices in

Beijing } Beijing ( ; ; ), alternatively romanized as Peking ( ), is the capital of the People's Republic of China. It is the center of power and development of the country. Beijing is the world's most populous national capital city, with over 21 ...

Hong Kong Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China (abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delta i ...

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and List of cities in Germany by population, largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's List of cities in the European Union by population within ci ...

and

Bangkok Bangkok, officially known in Thai as Krung Thep Maha Nakhon and colloquially as Krung Thep, is the capital and most populous city of Thailand. The city occupies in the Chao Phraya River delta in central Thailand and has an estimated populati ...

and a visiting professor at the

University of Hong Kong The University of Hong Kong (HKU) (Chinese: 香港大學) is a public research university in Hong Kong. Founded in 1887 as the Hong Kong College of Medicine for Chinese, it is the oldest tertiary institution in Hong Kong. HKU was also the f ...

since January 2010.

Biography

Early life and career

Ole Scheeren is the son of the German architect Dieter Scheeren, who was a professor of architecture and civil engineering at the

RheinMain University of Applied Sciences The RheinMain University of Applied Sciences (German: ''Hochschule RheinMain''), formerly University of Applied Sciences Wiesbaden (German: ''Fachhochschule Wiesbaden''), is a university located in Wiesbaden, Germany, founded in 1971. It is pa ...

Wiesbaden Wiesbaden () is a city in central western Germany and the capital of the state of Hesse. , it had 290,955 inhabitants, plus approximately 21,000 United States citizens (mostly associated with the United States Army). The Wiesbaden urban area ...

Hesse Hesse (, , ) or Hessia (, ; german: Hessen ), officially the State of Hessen (german: links=no, Land Hessen), is a state in Germany. Its capital city is Wiesbaden, and the largest urban area is Frankfurt. Two other major historic cities are Dar ...

. Already at the age of 14 he was working at his father's office designing furniture and finished his first architectural project at the age of 21. As a twenty-year-old he traveled with his rucksack through rural China and lived there with the locals spending three months before his studies began. Ole Scheeren studied at the Institute of Technology (KIT) in

Karlsruhe Karlsruhe ( , , ; South Franconian: ''Kallsruh'') is the third-largest city of the German state (''Land'') of Baden-Württemberg after its capital of Stuttgart and Mannheim, and the 22nd-largest city in the nation, with 308,436 inhabitants. ...

, at the École Polytechnique Fédérale (EPFL) in

Lausanne , neighboring_municipalities= Bottens, Bretigny-sur-Morrens, Chavannes-près-Renens, Cheseaux-sur-Lausanne, Crissier, Cugy, Écublens, Épalinges, Évian-les-Bains (FR-74), Froideville, Jouxtens-Mézery, Le Mont-sur-Lausanne, Lugrin (FR ...

and made a thesis at the Architectural Association School of Architecture in

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

receiving the RIBA Silver Medal in 2000 for his work called "MexT Project" which analysed social, territorial and economical phenomena in relation with space and architecture. After working in Germany, New York and London, Ole Scheeren began his work at the Office for Metropolitan Architecture (OMA) in

Rotterdam Rotterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Rotte'') is the second largest city and municipality in the Netherlands. It is in the province of South Holland, part of the North Sea mouth of the Rhine–Meuse–Scheldt delta, via the ''"Ne ...

in 1995. In 2002 he became Partner and Director of the offices in

and

and responsible for the entire Asia business for more than 10 years. As Partner-in-charge of OMA's largest project to date, he successfully led the realization of the China Central Television Station (CCTV) and the Television Cultural Centre (TVCC) in

. His other projects include MahaNakhon, a 314-meter mixed-use tower in the city of

owned until 2017 by Pace Development; The Scotts Tower, featuring high-end apartments in

Singapore Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, bor ...

; The Interlace, a 1000-unit residential complex in

; a project for Shenzhen's new city centre; as well as the Taipei Performing Arts Center. He also directed OMA's work for Prada and completed the Prada Epicenters in New York (2001) and

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, largest city in the U.S. state, state of California and the List of United States cities by population, sec ...

(2004). He also led numerous other projects including the Beijing Books Building, the

Los Angeles County Museum of Art The Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) is an art museum located on Wilshire Boulevard in the Miracle Mile vicinity of Los Angeles. LACMA is on Museum Row, adjacent to the La Brea Tar Pits (George C. Page Museum). LACMA was founded in 19 ...

, the Leeum Cultural Center in

Seoul Seoul (; ; ), officially known as the Seoul Special City, is the capital and largest metropolis of South Korea.Before 1972, Seoul was the ''de jure'' capital of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea) as stated iArticle 103 of ...

, and a masterplan for

Penang Island Penang Island ( ms, Pulau Pinang; zh, 檳榔嶼; ta, பினாங்கு தீவு) is part of the state of Penang, on the west coast of Peninsular Malaysia. It was named Prince of Wales Island when it was occupied by the British Ea ...

Malaysia Malaysia ( ; ) is a country in Southeast Asia. The federation, federal constitutional monarchy consists of States and federal territories of Malaysia, thirteen states and three federal territories, separated by the South China Sea into two r ...

. In March 2010, Ole Scheeren left OMA and started his own architecture firm named Büro Ole Scheeren Group. As principal of Büro Ole Scheeren Group, Scheeren has recently completed a series of projects in Asia, including Guardian Art Center, the new exhibition space and headquarters for China's oldest art auction house constructed in close proximity to the

Forbidden City The Forbidden City () is a palace complex in Dongcheng District, Beijing, China, at the center of the Imperial City of Beijing. It is surrounded by numerous opulent imperial gardens and temples including the Zhongshan Park, the sacrifi ...

; DUO, a contemporary twin-tower mixed-use development comprising residences, offices, Andaz Singapore hotel and retail gallery in

; and MahaNakhon, at 314-meters use to be Thailand's tallest tower and housing the Ritz-Carlton Residences;. Ole Scheeren currently has several projects under development around the world, including two in North America; Fifteen Fifteen will be a high-rise tower adjacent to

Vancouver Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the ...

's Crown Life Plaza as well as Barclay Village, a pair of residential towers also to be located in downtown Vancouver. Scheeren is also developing Riverpark Tower, the

adaptive reuse Adaptive reuse refers to the process of reusing an existing building for a purpose other than which it was originally built or designed for. It is also known as recycling and conversion. Adaptive reuse is an effective strategy for optimizing the o ...

of an existing office tower into a residential high-rise in

Frankfurt, Germany Frankfurt, officially Frankfurt am Main (; Hessian: , " Frank ford on the Main"), is the most populous city in the German state of Hesse. Its 791,000 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located on its ...

and Empire City in Ho Chi Minh City, a large-scale, three tower complex that tops out at 333 meters. Scheeren has contributed to various arts and culture projects and exhibitions throughout his career, including the

International Highrise Award The International Highrise Award (german: Internationaler Hochhaus Preis) is an international award in architectural design. The award is bestowed to "a structure that combines exemplary sustainability, external shape and internal spatial quality, n ...

, Milan Triennale, China Design Now in London,

Cities on the Move ''Cities on the Move'' was a major traveling exhibition curated by Hou Hanru and Hans Ulrich Obrist . The exhibition toured to various locations from 1997 to 1999, presenting the cultural impact of East Asia's rapid urban development in the late t ...

and

, Media City Seoul and the Rotterdam Film Festival. In 2006 he designed two exhibitions for the MoMA in New York and

featuring the

CCTV Headquarters The CCTV Headquarters serves as the headquarters for China Central Television (CCTV) formerly located at the old China Central Television Building some to the west. Feted by architecture critics as perhaps "the greatest work of architectu ...

project. He regularly lectures at various international institutions and conferences and serves on juries for awards and competitions. In September 2015 Scheeren held a speech at TED in

with the title "Why great architecture should tell a story?"

Personal life

Ole Scheeren has been living in

since 2004 and was dating with a Hong Kong actress Maggie Cheung from 2007 to 2011.

Awards

* 2015: World Building of the Year 2015 – The Interlace, Singapore * 2015: Best Mixed-Use Development 2015 – MahaNakhon, Bangkok – Asia Pacific Property Awards * 2014: Global Urban Habitat Award – The Interlace, Singapore – The Inaugural CTBUH Urban Habitat Award * 2013: Best Tall Building Worldwide –

, Beijing – 12th Annual CTBUH Awards * 2012: Best Futura Project – DUO, Singapore – MIPIM Asia Awards * 2010: Green Mark Gold Plus – The Interlace, Singapore – Building and Construction Authority * 2010: Best Architecture – The Interlace, Singapore – Asia Pacific Property Awards * 2008: Architecture's Ten Best –

, Beijing – The New Yorker * 2008: Best Building Site –

, Beijing – Wallpaper* Magazine * 2008: Best New Global Design –

, Beijing – International Architecture Awards * 2008: International Highrise Award, Frankfurt (finalist) – TVCC, Beijing * 2007: The World's Most Ambitious Projects –

, Beijing – The Times * 2000: RIBA Silver Medal (Royal Institute of British Architects) * 1997: Studienstiftung des Deutschen Volkes * 1990: Scheffel Medal (Student's Award in Baden-Württemberg)

Filmography

* ''"Deutsche Architekten in China“'', Germany, 2016, Director: Rainer Traube, Production: DW-TV (Deutsche Welle), Launch: 31 September 2016 by DW-TV (Deutsche Welle). * ''"Megacitys – Bauen für Millionen“'', Germany, 2013, 44 Min., Moderator:

Ranga Yogeshwar Ranganathan Gregoire Yogeshwar (born 18 May 1959) is a Luxembourgish physicist and science journalist based in Germany. He started gaining attention at the end of the 1980s in the Geographical distribution of German speakers, German-speaking are ...

, Production: WDR, Set: Quarks und Co, Launch: 25 June 2013 by WDR
Table of contents
from WDR
online-Video
from WDR. * ''"Biennale Venezia 2012“'', Germany, 2012, Director:

Werner Herzog Werner Herzog (; born 5 September 1942) is a German film director, screenwriter, author, actor, and opera director, regarded as a pioneer of New German Cinema. His films often feature ambitious protagonists with impossible dreams, people with u ...

, Production: DW-TV (Deutsche Welle). * ''"Faszination Wolkenkratzer - CCTV in Peking“'', Germany, 2009, 30 min., Director: Horst Brandenburg, Production:

ARTE Arte (; (), sometimes stylized in lowercase or uppercase in its logo) is a European public service channel dedicated to culture. It is made up of three separate companies: the Strasbourg-based European Economic Interest Grouping ARTE, plu ...

Television, Launch: 5 July 2009 by

Television.

References

External links

*
Ole Scheeren
at TED {{DEFAULTSORT:Scheeren, Ole 1971 births 21st-century German architects Architects from Karlsruhe Living people German urban planners Karlsruhe Institute of Technology alumni École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne alumni German expatriates in China