ANALYSIS OF BORDEAUX HOUSE Burak ARIFOGLU
The MAISON BORDEAUX house REM KOOLHAAS Bordeaux, France 1994 Commissioned 1998 Completed 5 km from Bordeaux center.Cape-like hill 100m,above sea level.180 ° view of the city and the river.400m access road,natural environment. 500 m² (5 bedrooms,3bathrooms)(main house),100 m²(2bedrooms,2bathrooms)(guard/ guesthouse) The Maison BORDEAUX İS 500 m² Structural system include concrete and steel Major materials is concrete,steel,aluminium,glass
Architecs:OMA: Rem Koolhaas with Maarten van Severen,team members:Julien Monfort,Jeanne Gang,Bill Price,Jeroen Thomas,with Yo Yamagata,Chris Dondorp,Erik Schotte,Vincent Costos Engineers:Ove Arup&Partners:Cecil Balmond,Robert Pugh Fitted furnishing and mobile platform:Maarten van Severen,Raf de Preter Condination and technical assistance:Michel Regaud, Bordeaux Facade consultant: Robert-Jan Santen Hydraulics consultant: Gerard Couillandeau Interior consultant: Petra Blaise
The direct relation between the building and the topography. When the land reaches it’s highest point, the building graves the land and finds itself a space for it’s flat nature, building it’s borders against the earth beneath it. Based on this act of graving, the building finds itself a world for two more floors.
Moving up from ground floor to second, the building takes us from this cave-like place to a gallery space, from a quality coming from graving to a quality that comes from leaving all sides open to the sun, the forest and the city of Bordeaux. This second floor is constructed of glass on top of the land, becoming one with the land. Because of the material used and building’s relation with the land, the land and the building exist together, becoming one as a living space, as if the inside and outside is not so different. Pictures from OMA’s website
While second floor becomes one with the land, it almost gets out of the whole structure, impowering the infamous issue of ‘floating’. Another cause of this issue is the usage of materials. Koolhas places a box of concrete on top of the glass construction, almost creating an illusion for human eye. We get the sense that this console is floating, then we suddenly realize the beam and the minimal structure there is. This beam of course is there for construction causes, providing a balance for the console to place itself.
Observing the relation of the building and the land it is on, we know the building sits on a cape-like hill overlooking the city of Bordeaux and the river of Garonne. Because of the height, the building gets the sunrays directly. The facade is facing the north with an angle of 30 (or so) degrees, meaning all three floors captures lots of sunlight. Thinking on the subject of light, we could easily say that second floor gets lots of it while the third floor may be a bit confusing. Because the
Bordeaux house perspectives
The architect designed the house for a wheelchaired person and his family, meaning a wheelchair can circulate the house freely. Also referred as ‘the heart of the house’, there is a hydrolic platform which is vital for the vertical circulation with two other stairs.
Through this platform, the father of the family can wander through the house almost easier than any other person. It shifts all the floors as we know them, changing the house constantly, while being an office space and a library for the person using it. Vertical circulation is a major aspect of the design, meaning these people would like the live fast and freely, for their jobs and/or for their routines.
窶連 HOUSE IS A MAC
CHINE FOR A LIVING’