The house at Floirac

In 1998, Rem Koolhaas/OMA completed a private residence in Floirac on a hill near Bordeaux. The house received an immediate international acclaim as well as high awards.

Ten years later, a Beka/Lemoine team has issued a film about the house seen and commented by the house keeper.
The new house is more of a dream than a necessity for the family living in a big old building in Bordeaux in the time. They long for a new, simpler life and start interviewing architects who could embody their ideas.
An almost fatal change happens incidentally. The husband barely survives a car accident and is now confined to a wheelchair. Years later, the dream for a new house reappears, but in a different context. The man no longer seeks simplicity: „I want a complex house, because the house will define my world...”
And they buy a hill overlooking Bordeaux.

Spaces

The architect entrusted with the project proposes three houses stacked upon each other.
The lower one is submerged into the ground and opens to a fenced yard. It accommodates the kitchen and other utilities for the inhabitants.
The upper one unites two separate spaces and a narrow courtyard. The parents and children sleep there. This level is all wrapped up in rust-colored concrete dotted by round portholes.
The middle one differs resolutely from the other two levels. The common living spaces are here. A transparent glass membrane separates the inside from the outside. Your sight reaches as far as the city of Bordeaux skyline.

Links

The complexity of the building can be experienced immediately through the links between the different zones and levels, between inside and outside, and finally between the house and the city. Inhabiting these spaces keeps your brain awake in an unostentatious, yet challenging manner.
Layering opaque and transparent spaces provides for satisfying the needs for both community and privacy. There are several ways to go across the various zones and levels. Three staircases provoke the inhabitants to select their roots.

Platform

One of the inhabitants is doomed to move in a wheelchair. He had experienced an abrupt change of his familiar world. He needed to regain control over his daily life, the immediate physical activities. So the architect provided him with a safe and efficient machine, meant for him only ....a room that would move between the floors.
The only inner wall that visibly goes through the three houses is the wall next to the platform. It provides space for the wines, the paintings and the books – all that he needs.

Photos by Philippe Ruault

Status
Commission 1994 / Completed 1998

Location
Bordeaux, France

Site
5km from Bordeaux centre on a cape-like hill. 180º view on the city and the river

Program
Main house 500m2: 5 bedrooms / 3 bathrooms
Guard and guesthouse 100m2: 2 bedrooms , 2 bathrooms

Collaborators

Structure
Arup London, Cecil Balmond

Fitted Furnishing and Mobile Platform
Maarten van Severen, Raf de Preter

Bookcase
Vincent de Rijk, Chris van Duijn

Coordination and Technical Assistance
Michel Régaud, Bordeaux

Facades
Robert-Jan van Santen

Hydraulics
Gerard Couillandeau

Interior
Inside-Outside, Petra Blaisse

Credits

Partner in charge
Rem Koolhaas

Team

Jeanne Gang, Julien Monfort, Bill Price, Jeroen Thomas, Vincent Costes, Chris Dondorp, Erik Schotte, Yo Yamagata, Oliver Schütte

Awards

1999 Le prix L'Equerre d'Argent
1998 TIME Magazine Best Design of the year

Visits

Maison à Bordeaux is a private residence and in general not accessible to public. Generously the owners open it from time to time, for information please contact Centre d’Architecture Arc en Reve
info@arcenreve.com