Villa Dall'Ava

This past week, I was able to see one of the most inspirational buildings for me on this trip; Koolhaas's Villa Dall'Ava. I did a house study project on this home during my first year. I knew this house like the back of my hand, from the plans to the window details to the door swings. The house is located just on the outskirts of Paris in a very nice, wealthy neighborhood. We took a tram to the neighborhood and as soon as we got off, the tree lined streets were quiet and peaceful. We walked our way up the hill as we walked past one nice fence to the next. Suddenly, the fence changed. It went from a beautiul wrought iron fence to a piece of concrete with paint chipping off. I knew I had reached it.

The house stood out like a sore thumb. Placed between all of the french bourgeoisie homes of the early 1900s stood a building made of corrugated steel, orange construction fence , and angled columns holding up a cantiliever, all placed behind the concrete degrated fence. It looked like nothing more than a construction site situated on this pleasant quiet street. But it was exactly what I was expecting- to the "T". Koolhaas's design of this building is a complete joke. The angled columns are a way to tilt his hat off to Corbusier's Villa Savoye. He takes Corbusier's pilote idea and exaggerates it to the extent where it appears the Villa Savoye has been thrown in a tornado and spit out on the other side. On the roof is a swimming pool with a view all the way to the Eiffel Tower. He wraps an orange construction fence around the pool in an ellipse to symbolize the roof of the Villa Savoye, and to stick his tongue out at France's most dedicated symbol, as if this building his more important.

My friend, being the crazy one she is, decided to sneak underneath the exterior fence with my camera and capture as many pictures as she could. Luckily- no one was home, but if there was anyone, they would have for sure seen her through ribbon windows covering the home. We were able to see the kitchen cabinets, made of regular grade plywood- again another joke Koolhaas throws in there. The house is separated at the top by two cantelievered boxes, one is the master bedroom, the other the child's room, each with their own private stair in the center of the home so you cannot directly walk from one bedroom to the next. I love how the bedrooms are wrapped in corrugated steel- one silver, one copper. It seems as though Koolhaas wanted to take the material completely opposite to those covering the neighboring houses, and this was the best solution. It is just so unusual that you would find a house made of corrugate steel, yet alone a bedroom. But it works. I think the entire building works. It is exactly what I had always pictures, but it finally came to life. This is one of those buildings that will always be with me, in one of those weird, creepy ways, but it will always be a part of me and a part of my designs.