NEW YORK — The opening of a clothing store is rarely a major architectural event. But the new Prada boutique in SoHo, designed by Dutch architect Rem Koolhaas, is no normal store.
The project pairs one of the world's most talented architects with a fashion powerhouse known for making bold creative leaps. Koolhaas' reputation as a radical urban thinker dates to the 1978 publication of his first book, "Delirious New York." In recent years, he has landed a string of impressive commissions, including a concert hall in Porto, Portugal, scheduled for completion in 2003, and a major redesign for the Los Angeles County Museum of Art's Wilshire Boulevard campus. Prada, meanwhile, has invested $40 million in the New York store, making it one of the most expensive commercial projects, per square foot, in the city's history. With such resources at his disposal, Koolhaas was expected to shake up the fashion establishment, to reinvent shopping for the 21st century. But despite a wealth of technological gadgetry, the project lacks both the conceptual clarity we have come to expect from Koolhaas' firm, the Office for Metropolitan Architecture, and the elegance associated with Prada. Worse, the store opens at a time when New York--still suffering from the aftermath of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks--is recoiling from gestures of conspicuous consumption. The result comes off as more self-indulgent than savvy, a relic from a time when over-the-top opulence was still the norm.
