Adapting to The Needs of A Wheelchair User: Maison à Bordeaux

"Contrary to what you would expect," he told the architect, "I do not want a simple house. I want a complex house, because the house will define my world..."

Brief
Lemoine house is located in Floirac on a hill 5 km from Bordeaux, France. This house, designed for a couple and their three children, reflects the physical needs of a wheelchair user and at the same time, it was a home for the whole family: a solution that combines two parallel lives.

Concept
While some architects attempted to avoid the problem through a strict, horizontal arrangement of rooms, the architect Koolhaas conceived the project as three houses on top of one another. A very large lift, open on all sides, travels between the three levels. Like a vertically mobile "room", it moves alongside a three-story wall of shelves that hold books, files, artworks, and wine within the client's easy access.

Interior
The Lemoine home essentially consists of three houses piled on top of one another. One has been excavated on the hill (basement); the second is open to the outside and enclosed with glass and curtains; a third encapsulates the private sleeping quarters and bathrooms with a concrete wall, punctuated with small portholes.

outside

inside

The concepts of public and private, inside and outside are softened, and the paradoxical motif of the threshold as labyrinth emerges. This idea of resting a heavy component upon an seemingly open space is also seen in Brazilian architect - Lina Bo Bardi's own house and her design of the The São Paulo Museum of Art. Perhaps it was trending, lol.

Model of The Glass House

Model of Maison à Bordeaux

More about the architecture



Reference
http://oma.eu/projects/maison-a-bordeaux
http://www.moma.org/collection/artists/6956
http://www.living-architectures.com/Koolhaas_houselife.php
https://vimeo.com/21876246
http://www.nybooks.com/daily/2010/02/18/house-life-in-a-koolhaas/
https://en.wikiarquitectura.com/index.php/House_in_Bordeaux
http://architecture.about.com/od/housestyleworkshop/tp/Maison-agrave-Bordeaux-Rem-Koolhaas-in-High-Tech-Gear.htm
http://storiesofhouses.blogspot.sg/2005/06/maison-bordeaux-by-rem-koolhaas.html
http://www.e-architect.co.uk/bordeaux/maison-a-bordeaux
https://www.behance.net/gallery/The-Bordeux-House-Precedent-Study/3480175
http://www.domusweb.it/en/architecture/2013/03/25/maison-a-bordeaux-a-textile-revisitation.html
https://www.flickr.com/photos/arqhisakashi/3991935200?ytcheck=1
https://www.flickr.com/photos/arqhisakashi/23872535026/in/photostream/