Rem Koolhaas’ Concrete Butterfly

We had to build a model of a villa, we got to choose from a small list of important villas like villa tugendhat and the glass house. We chose Rem Koolhaas’ villa dall’ ava because it is not like anything we had ever seen before. It is situated in the old and conservative neighborhood of Saint Cloude, near Paris, where every house is made out of brick and follows the same style. This house however is clad in copper and aluminium, with a pool on the roof, that seems te be supported by a sea of glass. It has been described as a concrete butterfly and it closely relates to the story of the pool that Rem Koolhaas wrote in Delirious New York.

My part in building the model was firstly to do a lot of research into the plans, but also the story and what drove Rem to design such a weird building. Then there was a lot of material research to figure out the best way to make all the different materials that are so important to this villa. After this I was responsible for CNC routing the wooden site model that the building is standing on. I also designed and 3D printed the molds I used to preform  the facade materials and the polycarbonate kitchen wall. Lastly a large part of the final assembly and making sure all the parts (like the pool) actually fit and the whole would come together somewhat precisely.

Collaboration with Noemie Girardet, Tessa Dullemans and Jamilex Sambo

Other parts of the House of the Future project series: Happiness Cubed and FallingTable.