Koolhaas nostalgic for Beijing hutongs

Rem Koolhaas has some photographs to show me. Not glossy shots of some earth-shattering new building he has created but small snaps of street life in the age-old courtyards of Beijing. Known as "hutongs", these are tight webs of hotchpotch homes and alleys gathered around wells.

"Most of them will soon be gone," says the architect, speaking in the Rotterdam headquarters of his company, Oma."The Olympics next year will find them old-fashioned and unsightly. Those who live there are being given new high-rise flats. These are well-equipped and clean, but people, I think, miss their old life down below in the courtyards." Yes, down below - with the fruit-sellers, public kitchens, urban bustle and banter, the travelling conjurors and steaming public laundries. All going to make way for the brave new Olympian world.