Much of the spatial composition of the Villa dall'Ava was influenced by its site, in a garden on a hill. It was completed in 1991 in the residential area of Saint-Cloud, overlooking Paris. The clients selected OMA to design a house with two distinct apartments—one for themselves and another for their daughter—and requested a swimming pool on the roof with a view of the Eiffel Tower.
The site is delineated by three segments along the east-west axis: the garage, set at street level and paved in asphalt, the main volume of the house, and the garden, which extends the length of the site. The garage is accessed at street level and embedded into the sloping site. The villa itself rises from the level of entry to a roof deck perched three stories above. Its visually distinct volumes are stacked and oriented to optimize views of the garden and distant city. A poured concrete wall extends the height of the villa and establishes a main axis along the length of the site.