elevator interconnects the three floors, becoming a literal translation of Corbusier’s words, where a machine is the heart of the building. In doing this, Koolhaas is directly addressing the clients prerequisite for a “complex house.”32 Amongst this seemingly unorthodox way of vertical connection, for a house, Koolhaas responded not only to the physical requirements of the client but also the psychological needs of both the client and his family, liberating the occupants to inhabit the house both in body and mind through metaphorical figures. Each ‘house’ in the Maison á Bordeaux holds its own characteristics, in a similar way to the pavilions of the Villa Dall’Ava; no part of the plan is duplicated or repeated, consequently the relatively simple volumes are made complex through their part-whole relationship. Here it becomes apparent that Koolhaas is not only referencing Mies and Le Corbusier but also himself from the previous dwellings he had designed. The ground level is carved into the hillside; its floor plan evokes the curving forms on the Villa Savoye’s rooftop within its ‘free’ informal geometry (Figure 29). The floor contains the spaces suited to the ‘service’ aspects of daily family life, typically found in the cellular parts of Mies and Corbusier’s plans. The single façade that opens out onto the courtyard employs a mixture of opaque and transparent glass, shuttering parts of the floor and further emphasising its semi-private manner. It is at this point that references to the rear elevation of the Patiovilla are seen, with similar uses of different types of glass. The door, camouflaged amongst the façade of glass is only made apparent by the position of an illuminated bollard. The house is entered not by a turn of a key, but by pushing the bollard like a joystick of a machine, a playful element evocative of the drawbridge within the Dutch House. Visually, the main living space above is entirely open to the landscape; glass curtain walling delineates the perimeter of the indoor space whilst the remaining area, facing the city of Bordeaux, is external (Figure 30). The interior space is reminiscent of the Dutch House, except here, the core is the hydraulic elevator which alternates between void and completeness depending on the position of the platform. Again, mimicking the Dutch House, curtains address the issue of privacy within this almost invisible level. Sliding screens, like those on the raised living 32
Rem Koolhaas, ‘Bordeaux House and Pool (The Sustainable House),’ El Croquis, ‘OMA Rem Koolhaas,’ Fiorucci, Madrid, 2006, pp. 70-95, p. 73.
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