It takes time to explore this building. And it is a building that
changes with time; it changes with the time of day and the
seasons. These are characteristics shared with most buildings.
But the Maison à Bordeaux is also a building that can be
changed, quite radically. If you look closely at the various
published photographs, you will see variations; sometimes a
wall is in one place, sometimes in another; lights hang from
the ceilings in different locations; parts of the building shift.
Many parts of the house may be moved so that it can be
set up in different ways for different situations and conditions.
In addition to the two circular panels already mentioned, and
of course the platform that moves between the three floors, the
principal movable elements of the house are the glass walls,
curtains and lights of the main living level. Using tracks in
the floor and ceiling these may be arranged to provide appropriate
shelter from wind and rain, and shade from the sun.
For example: a large portion of the south wall can slide along
into the open terrace to shelter it from south-easterly breezes;
a smaller portion of solid wall can slide in the other direction,
onto a track outside the floor plate of the house, to open the
office space to the grassy plateau on the top of the hill; long
curtains can also be arranged in a variety of places to shade
different parts of the interior from the southern French sun
at different times of day.
The mutability of the house means it may be used in
different ways in different circumstances and respond to the
variations of the seasons. In some of the published plans the
terrace at the western end of the house is termed the ‘summer
dining room’ with the interior space over the kitchen labelled
as the ‘winter dining room’.