THE Dutch architect Rem Koolhaas may seem an unlikely choice for the overhaul of the European Union's image. Mr. Koolhaas, of course, is best known for his recent design of Prada's SoHo fashion emporium and for manifestoes like ''S, M, L, XL'' (Monacelli, 1995). So when it came to creating a new flag for the European Union, some asked, How would an architect handle the tricky task of reinventing a brand?

Critics and columnists throughout Europe are still asking that, now that Mr. Koolhaas has unveiled his creation, a bar code flag that will, or will not -- the debate continues -- replace the circle of 12 gold stars against regal blue that was adopted in 1986 as a symbol of the emerging union. At the invitation of Romano Prodi, the president of the European Commission, and Guy Verhofstadt, the prime minister of Belgium, Mr. Koolhaas designed the flag after brainstorming with leading European intellectuals. His proposal arrays abstractions of the flags of the 15 member nations into a pattern of vertical stripes of varying widths and colors, with room for more as nations join.

In an interview sandwiched between critiquing his students at Harvard and meeting with the director of the Whitney Museum, Maxwell L. Anderson, about its future development, Mr. Koolhaas spoke about his proposal.

Q. How did you come up with the bar code flag?

A. Lining up all the individual flags, starting with Ireland in the west and ending with Greece in the east, we simply started synthesizing them into this larger entity. It means that each nation has its own abstraction of its flag as a component of the bar code flag. As the community is extended, the flag will just become richer.

Q. How did you get the idea?

A. After the Treaty of Nice [signed in 2001], it was decided that Brussels would become the capital of Europe. That presented the European Community with a challenge, namely how do we want to represent ourselves in Brussels? After the first brainstorming meeting, I prepared a little booklet that became part of the report of our work that Prodi, Verhofstadt and myself presented in a press conference about a month ago.

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Q. What were the key questions addressed in that report?

A. Basically two things: How should Europe represent itself physically in Brussels? And how can we find a new articulation of the idea of Europe that takes into account all of the polemics that Europe is now facing, namely that in many countries the idea of a homogeneous Europe is not very popular.

Q. Can diversity and richness be translated into a brand the way McDonald's or even Prada have been?

A. Basically I think the discussion about what brands are is held on an incredibly primitive level. Particularly the American perception of what a brand is, namely something that is reduced to its essence and can never be changed. I think that is a very limited form of branding.

What we have been trying to do with Prada, for instance, is instead of trying to reduce it to its essence, we try to stretch it, so that more becomes possible instead of less. And that's exactly the same idea that we're trying to introduce for Europe. It extends the repertoire of possibilities instead of shrinking it.

Q. Isn't there a certain cynicism about turning Europe into a consumer franchise with its own bar code?

A. I think that as a flag this doesn't make any connection to consumerism, and that it's robust enough to have different interpretations.

Q. So you're not turning Europe into a shopping brand.

A. No. There is nothing cynical about it. We're talking about representation, and that is much more than branding. It's how an idea comes across and all the levels at which an idea has to communicate. For instance, it's a totally different conversation when you talk about Europe in the context of world leaders than when you talk about Europe in terms of youth culture, or even when you talk about a European soccer culture, which is a vast super-functioning community with an incredible amount of exchange.

Q. Then was the grass-roots backlash against a single Europe to be expected?

A. Yes, exactly. What it shows is that this is a lively issue and there are many people who are truly engaged. It's also refreshing that the presidency of Europe is willing to engage with the fact that there are many Europes, instead of remotely hoping that somehow this idea will pass.

Q. One of your earlier flag proposals played with the idea of keeping the blue background of the existing flag, but making the 12 stars more animated and asymmetrical -- almost cartoonlike. Are you suggesting the union flag could be more humorous?

A. Yes, exactly. You don't always have to be dead serious about the whole idea of Europe. Because particularly with young people I think that it's important to develop an iconography that is less earnest and more youthful and playful.

Q. Do you think the bar code flag will be adopted?

A. We are waiting to see what the next step will be. But it looks increasingly likely there will be a next step.

Q. And what could you expect?

A. I can't say. I mean, it's a kind of tricky negotiation. But I am optimistic that some of these approaches will have a follow-up. For us that's deeply exciting.

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