I have mentioned that the design of the Maison à Bordeaux
is influenced by Le Corbusier’s idea of a ground floor open to
its surroundings. In analysing the Farnsworth House I also
wondered if Mies van der Rohe would have liked to make his
floor and roof planes float without visible means of support.
In the Maison à Bordeaux Rem Koolhaas has almost done
this. If he is emulating Le Corbusier’s open floor, he has done
so without the structural support of pilotis.
There is a film about the Maison à Bordeaux – Koolhaas
houselife (Bêka and Lemoîne, 2008) – which follows the housekeeper
in her daily chores. One section of the film – ‘it’s going
to fall’ – is devoted to her puzzlement at how the concrete
box of the uppermost floor is supported. Koolhaas, in collaboration
with his engineer Cecil Balmond, uses architectural
sleight-of-hand to make it appear as if the concrete box has
no structural support. It seems only to be held down – prevented
from floating away like a balloon – by a rod attached
to a large steel I-beam across its roof and anchored into the
ground of the courtyard.
The way this is done is best illustrated in a drawing (9).
The concrete box is actually supported in three places: by
the cylinder of the spiral staircase; and by an L-shaped piece
of structure that is propped by a steel stanchion rising from
the kitchen area below. The stair cylinder supports the large
I-beam across the roof, from which the concrete box appears