The Nahuel Huapi National Park, in the Lake District of Northern Patagonia, Argentina, is well known for its tourism industry all year round. After COVID-19, the area saw a significant increase in the number of tourists traveling to the area. This means that the lake located in the heart of the district, Lago Nahuel Huapi, is being used more and more to explore the environmental richness of the area by boat. Now, the capacity of mooring spaces is no longer sufficient in the region, resulting in the construction of illegal private docks along the shore. To reduce this impact on the environment the authorities granted in 2024 a concession to develop one of the last not yet commercialized marina’s in the region: the marina in Bahía López.

This report provides a consult for the concessionaire of this development. The process begins with a research phase, consisting of an area study, and the mapping of environmental and hydrodynamic constraints. Subsequently, stakeholders are categorized, as the development of a marina in a national park entails complex regulations from multiple organizations. The outcomes of the research phase are translated into specific functional requirements for the marina. These functional requirements are the basis for the next phase, the design phase. This phase begins with the formulation of a design vision statement, formulating the project response to local conditions. Based on this, three different conceptual designs with various technical solutions are developed. Through a multi-criteria analysis, the concepts are tested on their robustness in order to chose a final concept. This concept is then elaborated into a preliminary design. Presenting an overview of the marina’s facilities, including structural designs, operational needs, and capital costs. Finally, suggestions for future development
are provided, outlining the next steps to advance the marina to a next phase.

This thesis examines the extent to which the early work of Rem Koolhaas and the Office for Metropolitan Architecture (OMA) draws upon the architectural and urbanistic principles of Modernism. Building on Jeffrey Kipnis’s (1996) assertion that “Koolhaas is the Le Corbusier of our times,” the research extends beyond biographical comparison to investigate formal, theoretical, and strategic parallels. Koolhaas’s ambiguous relationship to Modernism — particularly to Le Corbusier — is positioned as both critical and referential. His provocative statement in Delirious New York (1978) that Le Corbusier “solves the Problem, but kills the Culture of Congestion” frames the central inquiry of this study.

The thesis begins by outlining Modernism’s emergence as a response to three crises brought on by industrialization: overcrowded urban conditions, the fragmentation of architectural authority, and the collapse of established aesthetic frameworks. It then contrasts Modernism’s rational, hygienic, and functionally segregated urban vision with Koolhaas’s embrace of congestion, contradiction, and density — what he terms the “Culture of Congestion.”

Three comparative case studies — De Kunsthal, Jussieu Libraries, and Villa dall’Ava — reveal how Koolhaas reinterprets canonical Modernist typologies. Rather than replicating Modernism’s emphasis on order and isolation, Koolhaas deploys its formal logic in service of ambiguity, multiplicity, and spatial narrative.

Ultimately, the thesis finds that Koolhaas’s early work, in terms of both architecture and urbanism, does not reject Modernism, but reformulates it. Through a critical yet generative appropriation of its principles, Koolhaas constructs a design language that responds to the complexities of the contemporary metropolis while maintaining a dialogue with Modernism’s legacy.