On Al Manakh 2

At Columbia University, Rem Koolhaas and Todd Reisz, editor of Al Manakh 2, discuss OMA's persistent engagement with the Gulf region in the forms of architectural projects, exhibitions, research and publishing. Against a critical atmosphere condemning the Gulf's growth as simultaneously fantastical and oppressive, and the schadenfreude of the western media after the financial crisis halted Dubai's explosive growth, Koolhaas and Reisz insist upon the region's dynamism and potential as a laboratory for urbanization and modernization.