manifesto of re-reading maison a bordeaux - josé manuel rodríguez cañizares

Manifesto of Re-ReadingMaison a Bordeaux

José Manuel Rodríguez Cañizares

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Re-Reading Stories oh houses

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Maison a Bordeaux

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Table of contents

0. The original story of the house..........................................................................................................4

1.This is relevant to my interests. The reading of the stories.............................................................10

2. Concepts through time: transformation from the 20th to the 21st century.................................16

3. The drawing of an action..................................................................................................................20

4. The technical drawing. Section of a detail......................................................................................24

5. The most interesting conversations................................................................................................28

6. Bibliography......................................................................................................................................35

7. Summary............................................................................................................................................37

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Maison a Bordeaux

0. The original story of the house.

A wealthy married couple with three children lived in a very old and beautiful house inBordeaux in France. For many years this family was thinking about building a new home, planninghow 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 awheelchair. The old beautiful house and the medieval city of Bordeaux had now become a prisonfor him. The family started to think about their new house again but this time in a very differentway.

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Circulation in the new house.

The married couple bought a hill with a panoramic view over the city and approached theDutch architect Rem Koolhaas in 1994. The husband explained to him: "Contrary to what youmight expect, I do not want a simple house. I want a complicated house because it will determinemy world."

Instead of designing a house on one floor which would ease the movements of thewheelchair, the architect surprised them with an idea of a house on three levels, one on top ofeach other. The ground floor, half-carved into the hill, accommodates the kitchen and televisionroom, and leads to a courtyard. The bedrooms of the family are on the top floor, built as a darkconcrete box. In the middle of these two levels is the living room made of glass where onecontemplates the valley of the river Garonne and Bordeaux's clear outline.

The wheelchair has access to these levels by an elevator platform that is the size of a room,and is actually a well-equipped office. Because of its vertical movements, the platform becomespart of the kitchen when it is on the ground floor; links with the aluminium floor on the middlelevel and creates a relaxed working space in the master bedroom on the top floor. In the sameway that the wheelchair can be interpreted as an extension of the body, the elevator platform,created by the architect, is an indispensable part of the handicapped client.

This offers him more possibilities of mobility than to any other member of the family- onlyhe has access to spaces like the wine cellar or the bookshelves made of polycarbonate which spanfrom the ground floor to the top of the house, and thus respond to the movement of theplatform.

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Maison a Bordeaux

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Experiencing the house.

Koolhaas designed a complex house in itself and surpassed the conventional, in every detail.For example, the top floor rests on three legs. One of these legs, a cylinder that includes thecircular staircase of the house, is located off-centre. Although this displacement brings aninstability to the house, it gains equilibrium by placing a steel beam over the house which pulls acable in tension. The first question that the visitor asks is: what happens if the cord is cut?Koolhaas has created a structure which, equal to the life of the client, depends on a cable.

This arrangement provides the middle level with an uninterrupted view over thesurrounding landscape, and an effect that is intensified with the highly polished finish of thestainless steel cylinder which incorporates the stairs, and makes it disappear into the landscape.The middle level is a balcony where the top floor floats above. It is a glazed space which allowsthe wheelchair to confuse the nature outside with the interior of the house. In contrast, the samelandscape receives another treatment from the top floor.The view appears restricted and predetermined, framed by circular windows placed according towhether one stands, sits or lays down.

Inside the house the family experiences Koolhaas's interpretations of life's instability anddualities. In regards to the husband, he has experienced this instability and is now part of his ownself. In the same way that the umbilical cord belongs both to the mother and the baby, and gives itnutrition; the elevator platform connects the husband to the house and offers him a liberation.

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Maison a Bordeaux

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Maison a Bordeaux

1.This is relevant to my interests.The reading of the stories.

Ben van Berkel, Möius House

The history of this House impressives because of the fact that a few customers undertake anarchitect a house "that created a new architectural language". Asking for an order of thatmagnitude is a challenge, but it is an interesting proposal by the customer.

The difficult final resulted in a house where the usual spatial and functional relationsdisappear, giving solution to an unusual residential program that responds to the new ways of life.

The sensation experienced by the inhabitants of the House is to have the privilege to bewalking around the field, while they are at their job place and at home, all at the same time.

The loop built in concrete through which the architect trace movements develops a singularlogic, based on this infinite form of Möius. This makes the inhabitants life to flow, isolated ortogether, depending on your needs throughout the day, since reserves the space required for alldaily activities.

This is an example which teaches us an important lesson: sometimes, the best proposalsmake them customers. Resulting in a multipurpose place, in which converge and develop allaspects of life. Here Ben van Berkel really got the challenge.

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Toyo Ito: U House

It is an abstractwork conceived for thecalm. It was conceived asa response to an eventsuch as death, wasinhabited to combat thedesolation.

The yard is the placefor the memory, amention about the absentdaughter. That is therepresentation abouttimeless: where the timecan be trapped, frozen,cancelled. Its appearanceis always bleak.

However, thehabitable perimeterincludes the presence ofthe temporal and thecontemporary. This cleanand hard interiorproduces theintensification of thefamily relationships.

When the daughtersgrew up they were raisedto sell it, because theconscience of the Houseform in each one of them.

Therefore, it nothad another destinationbetter for thisarchitecture than thedemolition. I think that itwas destroyed once itplayed the role had beenentrusted. It was a funeralhome, which had a victimdestination.

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Maison a Bordeaux

However, thehabitable perimeterincludes the presence ofthe temporal and thecontemporary. This cleanand hard interiorproduces theintensification of thefamily relationships.

When the daughtersgrew up they were raisedto sell it, because theconscience of the Houseform in each one of them.

Therefore, it nothad another destinationbetter for thisarchitecture than thedemolition. I think that itwas destroyed once itplayed the role had beenentrusted. It was a funeralhome, which had a victimdestination.

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Rem Koolhaas: Maison a Bordeaux

Access to freedom is the main idea of this design. The customer is free in his own livingspace, the possibility of easefully movement in his world which is his own house. The designdescribes the characteristics and needs of the owner and represents a true refuge for him.

Among the most interesting architectural elements of this house clearly, the platform is themost essential for this customer. The architect was successful in not allowing it to represent thedisability as a simple lift or a metal ramp would have.

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Maison a Bordeaux

Another remarkable element is the way in which the structure has been design, creatingthrough similarities between the building and the life of the owner. In fact, as the balance of thehouse is guaranteed through a metallic wire, the same happens for the owner. What happens ifthe cable is cut? The answer is that the house will fall. As the client life.

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Maison a Bordeaux

2. Concepts through time:transformation from the20th to the 21st century.

Accesibility

When looking at the cultural notions that created 'Maison a Bordeaux', it is clear that it washeavily influenced by the need to change the way in which disability was perceived. It wasdesigned to allow the user to feel as free and as equal as an able bodied person.

It is very important to understand the cultural fact that over the last two decades, the viewof accessibility has evolved greatly to accommodate the needs of the handicapped. This is partlydue to how society views the disabled as well as laws and regulations that have been put in placeto provide equality and so increase the level of accessibility.

The term is often used to focus on people with disabilities or special needs and this fact isprecisely the case. The disability is therefore a branch of accessibility and we have to understandthe evolution of that last over the years.

Universal design in Europe

An important tool to achieve this purpose is Universal Design. This plays a key part inplanning a house to cater for the disabled. Universal design means designing to meet the needs ofpeople with a variety of abilities and different conditions, such as the blind, wheelchair bound, etc.

Universal desgn is included in the fundamental basis of a European philosophy foraccessibility: The fundamental basis of a European philosophy for accessibility is the recognition,acceptance and fostering - at all levels in society - of the rights of all human beings, includingpeople with activity limitations; in an ensured context of high human health, safety, comfort andenvironmental protection. Accessibility is an essential attribute of a "person-centred", sustainablebuilt environment.

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Does we accept a handicapped man as identical to us?

The contemporary view of accessibility is a comfortable integration between those who arephysically handicapped and society. Over the last two decades, it has gone from creating placesfor disabled, valid for a single user, to create inclusive settings, for all users regardless of theirstatus. Architecture should provide an environment in which they are not reminded of theirdisability and others in society do not take notice as well.

The universal house should allow all abled and disabled persons the same freedoms andsense of equal access. This can be done through the use of architectural technology, theapplication of the building code requirements, and the optimization of space. Successfularchitectural design should subtly cater to all participants of the spaces, without an obvious dividein facilities.

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Maybe the idea of an "special house" would not like to another handicapped person. Probablythis house were always remindinghim that he is disabled. Maybe the way to equality is nota"different" house for a "different" person...

Maison a Bordeaux

Accesibility to knowledge

The accessibility is a concept that covers everything that goes around. For example, thanksto the Internet we have the possibility to access to millions of information from around the world,the ability to communicate with people from anywhere in the world, then is the degree to which aproduct, device, service, or the environment is available to as many people as possible. Can beviewed as the "ability to access" and benefit from some system or some means.

UNESCO supports actions designed to empower people so that they can access andcontribute to information and knowledge flows. Works to create an enabling environment, whichis conducive to and facilitates universal access to information and knowledge, including settingstandards, raising awareness and monitoring progress to achieve universal access to informationand knowledge. Also helps developing effective "infostructures", including developinginformation standards and management tools, strengthening libraries and archives a key actors inknowledge societies, and fostering access at the community level.

Now in Bordeaux we should apply that concept to make the home more accessible in itsentirety, eliminating not only physical barriers but also proyect barriers, which are provided spacesfor the disabled and spaces for the rest family. We have to understand the house as a fullyaccessible space now in the 21st century.

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Maison a Bordeaux

3. The drawing of an action.

Continuing with the evolution of the notion of accessibility, nowadays the notion ofhandicap has evolved. From being mainly a physical problem up to the 20th century, it has becomein how to access of knowledge.

The activity of reading.

Reading is the ability of literates humans to extract textual information: is the key of theknowledge in the information society. The massive accumulation of data that has been the digitalsociety will be nothing without the men who roam, integrate and assimilate. And this will not bepossible without advanced reading skills. Human development builds on the above. The struggleto understand and use new digital technologies requires many new things, but presupposes theformer. And the most important of them is reading. Reading is a highly developed skill: in fact isthe sum of several psychological skills that are acquired and exercised early. As with humanfaculties we use always (language, visual perception), it is difficult to give a full account of itscomplexity.

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The Babel Library

Behind the practice of reading there is something else, difficult to measure.

Inside us, in the way that we organize our conceptual and sensitive worlds, also in the waythat we integrate, into coherent sets, the pieces of the universe around us.

Outside us, in the way we learn to prioritize, modular and evaluate what we have treasuredinside, to pass it to others: intellectual ownership arises. About this, Borges wrote The BabelLibrary in wich the lifes is interpretatd as a big library.

“The universe (which others call the Library) is composed of an indefinite and perhaps infinitenumber of hexagonal galleries, with vast air shafts between, surrounded by very low railings. Fromany of the hexagons one can see, interminably, the upper and lower floors.”

The magic key of knowledge is reading. Currently we are overwhelmed by the magnitudeand virtues of the new technological wonders, and we should relearn the potential and wonder ofwhat we consider trivial, just because we have it already, and because it´s with us for a very longtime.

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It is an interpretation of of the Library of Babel by Borges. Should not be treated as a buildingor as an architectural solution , only as an interpretation of the world and reading.

Maison a Bordeaux

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It could be very interesting to deal with the access to information for everybody in the family,not only for the deceased disabled man. At that time, it´s neccesary to modernize the house. The oldplatform is not enough nowadays.


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Maison a Bordeaux

4. The technical drawing.Section of a detail.

Definitely accessibility to knowledge is our most important cultural fact. Now we have thecultural fact that generated the architecture of the house, and we have to find a way to update it.In that sense, the kind of customer is just one more item because we have clear cultural concepts.

Thereafter, we are jumping ahead to a technical detail assignment. We have a general ideaof what interventions we want in the house and so we must run with those ideas. Now, to solidifyone final design, we are goint to some a technical detail in the parts of the house where ourintervention will be.

Although built twenty years ago, " Maison a Bordeaux", is still relevant and technologicallymodern. The house is an extremely complex, dynamic and advanced design, not only in its time,but today’s standards too. But the purpose of the house has changed slightly, as the originaldesign was for a man who has now passed, and the ideas that were present then are not allneeded now.

Now the family’s needs have changed and to modernize his home. There are severalelements that are no longer appropriate for the life of the family, which had come from RemKoolhaas’ original project idea. There are some places for the disabled, valid for a single user, butnow the users have no use for such things.

Therefore, alterations are needed for today's client. These are reflections on some of theways this home can be modified to meet the needs and comfort of the new client and thetwenty-first century while remaining true to it’s original design.

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The platform and the hole

Koolhaas’ approach to the design was primarily to integrate the disabled fathers needs intoa family house. The key feature of the house that catered for this need was the elevator.

To modernize the house and make all aspects of it accessible to the whole family, there isnecessary one main modification: the elevator. It´s not enough to hold into the idea of movingvertically on a platform in the house. The function has to be expanded as there i no longer a needfor this, as there once was.

Therefore is proposed fully remove the elevator and leave an open void throughout thehouse. Now On each level there is a large gap which created a discontinuity on each of the floors.This space can now be utilised in a different way to suit the adaptation of the new users. That thisis a very representative place in our house, but now the library has not to be the same thing thatwas in a past time.

Now this space can be a very different thing, with a function as a space to contemplate, aspace to observe, a space to absorb. Planting a garden in the empty core of the house could be awarm metaphor to symbolize bringing a new life to the house.

To make use of this space and to add a beautiful and sculptural, yet practical element, a newstaircase is constructed replacing the current, giving all members of the family access to eachlevel, as the father once could. The staircase has to be designed to maximize visual permeabilitythroughout the second level.

Similarly, on the first level, access to the wine cellar, which is located behind the platform,has to be adapted because it is only accessible from the platform and therefore a new solution isneeded to access this area.

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The library

The library of books has to be accessible to all, because any member of the family couldutilise the resource. It was intended that the house be ‘the world’ in which the original client lived,but now that world has to be extended to utilise the exterior of the house, to allow the family tobenefit from it's freedoms and it’s views into nature. For this reason, we could move the library toa different position.

Now we can use others spaces of the house for reading, maybe more suitables for thisactivity. We have places with a connetion between inside-outside, for the reading zone.

One way in which this could be done is to use the already existing first floor views, butcreate exterior space leading off the old library area. To extend his world to the exterior andfurther integrate the house into the landscape. This conception is completely compatible with ourculturar fact of accesibility to the knowdelegement.


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Maison a Bordeaux

5. The most interestingconversations

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The most interestingtalks was given in themoments that changedstage, when uncertaintyappears.

1) The first interestingconversation was given atthe time that we make thefirst photomontages toknow what were the culturalevents that led to the house.

This is the first time inwich accesibility appears as amain concept. Then ourconversation aboutaccessibility was transformedinto a photomotage image.


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2) The secondary important conversation was about the kind of customer. The culturalconcept of accesiblility was clear, but not the customer of the house. Then the group understoodthat the introduction of a new client is a secondary point.

Jose (7th October)

Hello everybody. We have been investigating and deciding what is our most important culturalconcept: ACCESIBILITY. The history of accessibility has evolved greatly over the last 15 years. It hasgone from creating places for disabled, valid for a single user, to create inclusive settings, for all usersregardless of their status.

In Bordeaux we should apply that concept to make the home more accessible in its entirety,eliminating not only physical barriers but also proyect barriers, which are provided spaces for thedisabled and spaces for the rest family. We have to understand the house as a fully accessible spacenow in the 21st century.

Now the kind of customer is just one more item because we have clear cultural concepts.

So, we need to invent an unreal story about a blind customer?

It´s better to continue working with the wheelchair man?

Javier (7th October)

Definitely the introduction of a new client is a secondary point. The important fact is to dealwith the evolution of the Cultural Fact.

In your case, you are arguing that nowadays the notion of handicap has evolved. From beingmainly physical up to the 20th century, it has become luck of accessibility of knowledge.

It could be very interesting to deal with the access to information for EVERYBODY in the family,not only the owner. In that sense, the story could be more about how the widow feels the need ofmodernize her house. The old platform of the husband is not enough nowadays. You need more thanto go up and down along his books, being able to see the exterior through little peepholes...

You can see that there are many possible stories. Please, choose the one you prefer but don'tforget the Cultural fact. The idea of working with a blind person could be too much work. You wouldhave to start from scratch a research on blinds. The aim of this exercise is much faster: it is to analysean existing cultural fact that generated the architecture of the house, and to update it.

Therefore, I would encourage you to continue working with the evolution of the notion ofaccessibility and its transformation form being mainly a physical problem to how ACCESS and SELECTthe knowledge.

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3) Then the third important conversation was about the drawing of the activity. The activity todraw was clear, but not the way to do it. Then the group understood that the drawing of theactivity had to be a precise and descriptive drawing.

Neus (11th October)

It's midnight (spain) and I'm having a look to our blog - re-reading stories of houses - to theproposals we're supposed to upload after "seeing the light", but suddendly, I realized that I don'tknow how, where and when we've missed the assignment's point again.

As we understood (according with our "I saw the light" e-mails), what we're meant to do -afterre-write our texts based on cultural facts- was drawing an activity (action) strongly relationed withour story and cultural facts. It could be a drawing that represents movements, temperatures, noises...whatever you think could be significant to represent the activity the drawing is based on. So thosedrawings will afterwards lead us to define/design the new shape/skin/dress of Maison Bourdeaux(next week step), in a natural way, I mean, if we develope a intimate knowledge about thoseactivities and their development the new shape/skin/dress will emerge as THE answer.

Watching our drawings it could be said:

1.- some of them aren't representing any activity - or not recognizable.

2.- keeps appearing the wheelchair...need to catch up with the story

3.- some of them aren't measurable

4.- some of them directly intervene in the house (no relationated with activity)

5.- we're 9 members and there are 6 drawings

Therefore we may think again about our drawings and re-build them to try to do our best, sothe next step would be easy and natural.

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International teamwork

The true potential of teamwork lies mainly in their ability to interact, to communicateinformation and for the construction of knowledge. However, there are limitations anddisadvantages to this method.

Positive things

-Engage in a network project: Students engage actively and appropriately to make the projectwork, yet they are located in remote locations, so that they are internally motivated. Studentstake pride in achieving something that has value outside the classroom.

-Diversity of ideas: sharing ideas with each other, express their own opinions and negotiatesolutions.

-Comparison of strategies and concepts which allows focusing the right solution from differentperspectives.

-Students develop skills and competencies such as collaboration, planificaciónción of projects,communication, decision making and time management for troubleshooting.

Negative things

-Difficulty to select the best solutions: it is necessary to combine the ideas and informationobtained from research, valuing each idea from several different criteria.

-Make it difficult to integrate and match the different schedules, to plan work and tocommunicate among participating members.

-It takes time and patience to remain open to different ideas and opinions.-The differences between cultures can generate unintended misunderstandings.

Maison a Bordeaux

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4) Finally the last important conversation was about the in tervention in the house with atechnical draving. The group was obsessed with providing the space for reading in the oldplatform space. Then it was understood that the reading activities could go elsewhere.

Jose ( 19th October)

Hello, I will try to explain you what I understood about the crit of today, with Paco Mejías.He told that, in our desings, maybe we are ballasted by the empty space of the platfom. He knowsthat this is a very representative place in our house, but now the library has not to be the same thingthat was in a past time. Now it can be a very different thing. Maybe read only in this space of thehouse is a too metaphorical conception, and it´s little defensible desing only for this gap.

Now we can use others spaces of the house for reading, maybe more suitables for this activity.We have a lot of places to read in our house (places with a connetion between inside-outside, forexample), also the library. I think that he is right, and this conception is not incompatible with ourculturar fact of accesibility to the knowdelegement.


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6. Bibliography.

Readings

ARNARDÓTTIR, Halldóa ; SÁNCHEZ MERINA, Javier. "STORIES OF HOUSES"http://storiesofhouses.blogspot.com.es/

BORGES, Jorge Luí (1981). "LA BIBLIOTECA DE BABEL", story from «El jardí de los senderos que se bifurcan». AlianzaEditorial.

PARRA BAÑÓN, JoséJoaquí (2009). “ARQUITECTURAS TERMINALES: TEORÍA Y PRÁCTICA DE LA DESTRUCCIÓN" .Unversity of Sevilla Publications.

Photos

[Untitled Photo of Maison a Bordeaux] Obtained on 25/10/2012 from:http://www.obsidienn.fr

[Untitled Photo of Maison a Bordeaux] Obtained on 22/10/2012 from:http://dab310-2010-maisonabordeaux.blogspot.com.es/

[Untitled Photo of Maison a Bordeaux] Obtained on 26/10/2012 from:http://bibliotecadearquitecto.blogspot.com.es/2011_08_01_archive.html

[Untitled Photo of Möius House] Obtained on 24/10/2012 from:http://www.unstudio.com/projects/mobius-house

[Untitled Photo of Möius House] Obtained on 20/10/2012 from:http://architecturehabitat.blogspot.com.es/2010/08/moebius-house-studied-by-amanda-jayne.html

[Untitled Photo of U House] Obtained on 21/10/2012 from:http://thesefields.blogspot.com.es/2011/06/u-house-toyo-ito-1976.html

[Untitled Photo of U House] Obtained on 25/10/2012 from:http://risddrawintar.wordpress.com/page/6/

[Untitled Photo of U House] Obtained on 24/10/2012 from:http://www.elfanzine.tv/?p=28192

[Untitled Photo of U House] Obtained on 26/10/2012 from:http://thousandthfloor.tumblr.com/post/28638849047/onsomething-onsomething-toyo-ito-u-house

[Untitled Photo of Maison a Bordeaux] Obtained on 26/10/2012 from:http://estelalopezrocha.blogspot.com.es/

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7. Summary.

The rapid evolution of cultural facts that gave rise to these architectures (in our case theaccessibility) has caused these works obsolete quickly, while advancing society. The architects ofthe works studied would not have given the same solution to their works whether cultural factsthat were brought current, since at the time were very different.

It has made a great effort to discover what were those facts, and have been interpreted in aconsensual group, considering the most important aspects in collaborative work by a team. Thismetodology is complicated and requires perseverance, dedication and best efforts of all involved,but develop innovative learning models achieve that enhance self-learning capabilities of studentsis justifiable given all the advantages raised above.

We now have a powerful tool for understanding and building architecture, which is definedby stages (read the original story, discover the cultural facts, define the activities to dress thearchitecture, and make a technical intervention) and is useful in all knowledge areas. Similarlygives us many opportunities to achieve our goals and develop ourselves in any situation, wich weshould not miss in our activity as architects.

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manifesto of re-reading maison a bordeaux - josé manuel rodríguez cañizares

Documents

new house

complicated house

simple house

old beautiful house

beautiful house inbordeaux

aluminium floor

ground floor links

verbrereading stories