Monday 1 October 2012

House in Bordeaux









House in Bordeaux

Story

A wealthy married couple with three children lived in a very old and beautiful house in Bordeaux in France. For many years this family was thinking about building a new home, planning how it could be and wondering who the architect would be. Suddenly, the husband had a car accident and almost lost his life. Now he needs a wheelchair. The old beautiful house and the medieval city of Bordeaux had now become a prison for him. The family started to think about their new house again but this time in a very different way.

It is a house where the technology meets the architecture to create a universe at the same time simple and complex.The house in Bordeaux has been designed for a family of parents and three children, but with a purpose.The client, Jean Francois Lemoine, was paralyzed as a result of an automobile accident and wanted a home that could meet their own needs and at the same time it was a home for the whole family: a solution that combines two parallel lives. The building should not be a house for a disabled person, quite a diverse and amazing universe, a creative scenario in which developed most of his days.

The house appears as three separate entities that fluctuate between opaque and transparent.  The lower level sits as a heavy mass that is carved into the hill.  The interior is cavernous and labyrinthian, in a sense, where all of the intimate activities of the family take place.  The middle volume is the most transparent as well as the most occupied space in the house.  It is the space for the living area that is situated partially indoors and outside offering extensive views over Bordeaux and allowing for a multitude of activities with its open plan.  The top volume is similar to the lower level in that it is opaque and conceals the bedrooms of the children and the couple. Unlike the lower level, the volume is penetrated with port hole windows that create views for the residents from their beds.

Reference

http://www.nybooks.com/blogs/nyrblog/2010/feb/18/house-life-in-a-koolhaas/

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