Practice within OMA
Ellen van Loon is a Dutch architect who joined the Office for Metropolitan Architecture in 1998 and became a partner in 2002. Her work belongs to the collaborative setting of the Rotterdam-based practice.
A range of commissions
Her project contributions include the Dutch embassy in Berlin, Casa da Música in Porto, New Court in London and BLOX in Copenhagen. These commissions span diplomacy, performance, work and architectural culture, giving the practice several different institutional contexts.
Where to begin
Compare two projects with different programmes and trace how visitors, staff and everyday operations are accommodated. That comparison tests a design through its particular requirements rather than assuming one formal approach explains every building. Studying van Loon also offers a reason to look beyond a firm’s best-known name and identify who led and contributed to an individual commission.