Koolhaas Houselife (2013) - full transcript

Shoes

Welcome everyone

to the visit to the house in Bordeaux

organised on the occasion
of the European Heritage days.

My name is Philippe Jacques.

I am an architect

and co-founder of Arc-En-Reve,
an architecture centre in Bordeaux.

I am in charge of educational activities.

This visit is special in many ways.

On the one hand, we'll have
to somewhat adapt to the weather.

It's true that, in general, I like to start with
an external approach of the building



because it helps to get a better feeling
of the space that's going to be visited.

As a recent piece of work, this house
observes an uncommon aspect,

the house, built in 1998,
by Rem Koolhaas, a Dutch architect

has been listed in the additional
inventory of historic monuments.

This house has been unanimously
acclaimed by international critics.

It was a major realization

in terms of architectural production
at the end of the twentieth century,

that's why there is such demand
to visit this exceptional site.

On the other hand,

and that's imposed on us by the weather,

I will ask you to take your shoes off
when you enter the house

in order to avoid leaving the house
in a bad state.

Curtain

Stairs



I can take these stairs
but not the spiral ones.

Like this. The basket.

And this is my cane.

This is my cane.

So you have to look out,
because it's narrow here.

So, it's like this that I...

...that I take my stuff

Sugar! It got down before me...

And now, you've got to hoover.

It's narrow, but it's enough
for the hoover and for me.

That's it. I am going now.
Goodbye, see you tomorrow.

Back and forth

I've got two TV in my house,
here, I've got only one.

We eat together here, you see.

We put the TV on and sit
down together, like this.

It's a bit messy, but my husband...
the mess, not his problem!

We sit like this, and we watch the news.

And from here, can we see... ?

And from here,
you can see if someone is coming.

But because I am short

I have to do like this!

Here's the kitchen.

Messy as well, but...

The kitchen. You see.

Then, the bedroom.

It's a bit dark for...
But can't change that, can you?

This is my bag

it goes back and forth.

This is my bag

I take it with me, you see.

I wonder whether the bathroom is messy.
But who cares...

You see, we come home
and take off our clothes.

Let me put the light.
Hang on a second!

If it is a mess, that's ok, fine?

Here. The bathroom...

and all that's in it... you see.

That's all.

You go back to the other side
and that's over.

The kitchen.

I'll just leave this where it was,
he'll take care of it.

It's quicker.

Let me switch everything off now.

Me, you know, I won't complain.

You would like it to be different?

Well, you know, nobody comes here.

I come here for my work.
That's all I come here for.

And my kids come over there.

But you spend a lot of time here,
don't you?

Yes! I go to my house only at the week-end.

You spend more time here...

More here than at home...

But, for me, it's easy, you know.
It's close.

I don't work far. I don't need the car,
only at the week-end.

But Vincent, my husband,
travels two times.

We are done now, that's it.

Joystick

What an idiot.

I am pulling it when I should
be pressing on the button.

What can we say about the joystick?

You close it, when you go out.

First, it closes

and then, it opens.

There's no key.

There's no key for the house?

No, there's only the alarm.

When the alarm is on,
this doesn't work anymore.

But during daytime, you can go out

and you close it when you are inside.

There's a button here

and you close it.

This is not a key.

Madame calls it a joystick.

It combines two functions,

it's a lighted bollard

that lights the place,

and when you touch it

it opens the door in front.

It's the lighted bollard that has broken.

That's why you were called?

Exactly.
I am here to "treat" the bollard

I push it,
and the door closes.

It's working!

It also works when you pull it!

As soon as you touch...

It's not in the right place!

Again!

It's strange that it...

No, it's stuck!

What's wrong with this?

They broke it?

Don't know

it's broken!

You see?

Something is broken, I felt it.

The electrician is coming.

You see, they've put
the plywood back and...

Watch it! You've...
You see?

- You've stopped it.
- It's me who've stopped it?

Yes, of course.
As soon as you touch something...

Well.

What happened?

Not my fault!

It got stuck!

It went higher than it should have.

Windows

Slopes

You know how to walk up a slope
without tiring yourself?

To climb a slope,
and not force yourself...

All types of slopes!

You do like this.

You go this way, you see.

And then that way,
you cut across!

So, you are not tired.

Or less tired!
You got it?

Someone who sees me, would think:
"She is drunk!"

Hose

Let me go and turn it on.

Fine, let's turn it on.

It's 5.50 pm.

You see, this is not real earth,
it has been brought up here.

It is very sandy,
and it does not keep the humidity.

So we have to water here because
it's scorching too much on the wall.

And the door here reflects sunlight

and that's why the grass has burnt here.

It's not very hot here,
but the door is hot, very hot.

Here, you will find Art!
Not...

Not like before

It's enough for today.

This does not clean anything...
it's useless!

So, to have the shoes cleaned
a little bit, I do like this.

You see... Like this.

I'll stop now and I'll come back...

To pick this up.

This is Monsieur's bedroom...

When he came home

his desk, that table... was here.

In the evening, the guests were on one side,
and he was on the opposite.

His bed was here.

With his platform...

The physio would wait for him,
there was a... for the physio.

The nurse.
Everybody would wait for him.

Then, he would have dinner

with the rest of the family.
There were always some friends, all the time.

The house was only made for him.
You see. Only for him.

Because of his disability.

Everybody is sad.

I don't hear Madame laughing like before.

She used to laugh in the evening

with her friends. You see.

But now...

She does it sometimes,
but not like before.

Stones

Are these stones?

Why?

Well, whenever, they go to
the beach, they bring some...

They would have been going
to the beach very often then!

No! Trust me!
Whenever I go up...

Some of them might have been
brought up at that time

but they still keep bringing
small stones like this, you see?

I am sure they've found them on
the beach and they brought them back.

But... not all of them?

I hope! Because I can't imagine
the amount of work it meant!

I hope not all of them are from the beach...

Not the right way

I keep them this way.

But that's not the way they should be.

Because, Madame, keeps it
in the middle of the way

if I don't keep it this way.

What do you mean?

She keeps it this way.
Here, you see...

Don't ask me why!

I asked her:
"so, I have to keep them like this?"

Yes, she said!
So I leave them like this...

It shouldn't touch...

...the books. It should touch nothing,
otherwise, you get stuck!

And I know what I am talking about!

You get stuck, if it touches anything at all.

Have you ever got stuck?

Yes, yes, yes!
But I didn't know how...

So, Monsieur David was there,
he came from here

and he took some books away...

So you got out through the library?

No! He came to help me out because
I didn't know how...

You didn't know how to use the...

So he helped me out.

And, since then, well... no way!

This is the shower.

It's the shower of the bathroom?

It's the shower, there's no...

It's just a shower!

It's always been like this here?

They don't want to close it up there.

So, because they don't want to close

it always rains and it got damaged.

How was it before?

They hammered so as to fix it,
they are going to do it, but...

Don't know.
The water goes everywhere...

If it was closed, it would...

All this has flown.
They took the whole lot down.

The whole terrace,
it has been done again.

They've renovated it!

It's the space between the two rooms.

You see? The children's room
and the room of the...

and Madame's room

and Monsieur's room.

There's a space, an open space.

There's always...

You see, it's raining. And when it
starts raining, it tips it down.

But they need to be careful.
Look! Here...

You see, there is...

...there is iron.
Can you see the iron here?

Once it's rusted,
it will get even more damaged.

The water comes in like this, you see?

And the rust starts developing.

So, here, you see.

I'm not tall, so it's good that
I've got the broomstick!

I do it as if it was for myself.

So that it looks a bit different.

That's all.

What's your favourite place in the house?

You know, I like it all.

But I don't use any of it,
I am just here to do the cleaning.

Footbridge

Leaks

"Llueve! Llueve!"

This one is done!

It's the other glass that they
haven't finished doing.

They could at least
have this bit finished!

Actually, the water might be
coming from upstairs

because they are also
taking that glass off.

And the one in Madame's bedroom too.

The one, in the shower, you know?

They are taking that one off as well.

It's leaking because
the works are not over? Isn't it?

Exactly!
Everything is half-way done!

The house or the glass?

No, the glass!

The house is fine!

The house isn't half-way done, is it?

No, the house is fully done!

Oh! My god!

Well, I am going now,
because it's leaking a lot.

The water is here!

It's coming from here. It's not?

Don't know, then.

What happened here Guadalupe?

Here, you see,
they are changing the windows.

They've changed this one, you see?

It was open like this.

That one is down there.

Why were they changed?

Why?

It's like that because it's moving.

They've also changed it here.
It was all...

The house is moving.
Don't know, it's...

But here... they broke it.

It shattered the glass, you mean?

Yes. Well, that's what they say...

But, I've nothing to do with that!

Hole

The glass you had put before!
The glass, here, the glass.

Let me wash the "fregona" a bit

Again, it's leaking ?

It's flooded downstairs!

You can show this
to the specialists, there!

The house of...

But, this is because
they haven't finished yet.

It's me who invented this thing.

It's never ending!

Do it properly!

Of course...

I am used to doing this, you know!

Why don't we fill this hole?

If it was filled, it wouldn't leak!

These are holes that were made when
they put down planks for the boxes.

But now, there's a hole...

And the electric cabling is in there!

But that's dangerous, isn't it?

It's very dangerous! But we don't know
whether there is any current...

We don't know that,
the electricians didn't tell us.

But I don't think there is because
if there was, it would have already fused!

I'll put this so that
it will dribble in the bucket

otherwise it will flood.

Because this is not over.

They are doing works on the terrace
and until that ends...

Well... it will be like this.

I've been here for six years,
and it's the same old tune!

It's ever ending...

It's worse than the El Escorial, in Spain!

You mean, the works in the house?

Exactly! It's never ending...
never... never...

It ends on one side, and it
starts on the other! And, that's it.

But for the moment, it does not
cost nothing, but well...

Doing this, you mean?

Yes. The house is insured.
The house is less than 10 years old.

Now, it's already 10 years old...

Now. From now on,
they will have to pay!

Positive investigations

It appears here, goes in there,
in this casing, and this casing goes into...

And when it leaks here, can you see
a streaming on this pipe?

No streaming at all!

So there is a crack here then?

No, no, it's on top...

It comes from here!

It leaks here, like this, exactly.

OK. It's at the tank level then,
and the casing itself goes into the...

So I was saying that
the casing has a flange

an elbow that is coming out
under the ventilation.

Straight under the ventilation?

So this is water coming from somewhere else,
and goes along this passage...

Through a crack...

Shall I dig it some more?

The watering is stopped up there?

Can we stop it?

We'd better bring the hose here to water
the bottom of the facade.

What about another sampling over there?

There are no damages over there.

There are!
It has blistered all the way long.

Here, yes, it has blistered.

Yes. What's that?

Over here.

We can go there later on maybe.

I'd like it to be done here because we noticed
that there wasn't enough sealing.

Can we see what the result is here?
See whether it affects humidity in some way.

I have the impression that
the colour might change.

I cannot see it change.
But this is solid so...

It is changing...

Wow, it's leaking!
Something is leaking!

Would there be a container?

Stop!

A live drama!

Two leaks!

It is all in there?

It's getting wet...

It's getting wet here as well!

This is what we call
positive investigations!

Well, this is definitely positive...

A cataract!

Automata

It's going to fall

There's nothing to hide.
Only pipes.

These are water-pipes.

You see?

There, the big pipe,
the pipes go in the beam.

Does it mean that everything goes
in the huge black beam downstairs?

This is the beam?

It's hollow inside.

All the pipes go there. The pipes
from everywhere... go down there to...

It's hollow?

Yes, it's hollow.
All the pipes go there.

You saw it? Madame's bedroom?

What you saw upstairs goes down here.
All of it, everything.

Me, you see, I can't explain it.
No one explained it to me.

I can't tell you,
the door, that's me who...

What wasn't explained to you?

Well, the house! I don't know,
the house, you see, it's hanging...

Ah! No! There are no walls,
I don't know how it holds.

It's really, I don't know.
I should ask the architect!

And even if the architect
explains it to me...

I do not belong to that world
and... you know.

I might explain it the other way round

and then, disaster!

I don't know how it holds!

It's held by three points
and the house is hanging.

When you are downstairs on the terrace

you look up...
Where does that hold?

There is only glass!

Downstairs, it's all open!

You look up, and that's it!

I find it strange, but I don't
know nothing about it...

Where does it hold, I don't know!

So, all I can say is that it's hanging.

When you are here, tell me,
where does it hold?

You see, it's empty here!

Here, you've got a wall,
but this wall holds nothing...

And here, it's the same, you see.

Nothing here!

I hope it's not going to fall down,
because this house is hanging!

Yes! The views are superb.

I hope the house is not going
to fall down, because it's hanging!

Hearing us?

For views over Bordeaux,
there's only this huge porthole?

Yes.

You can see the river
and the whole of Bordeaux.

It's better now.

It's beautiful. It's nice!

That's enough, right?
Is that enough?

The views over Bordeaux are only...
You don't see nothing here, only trees.

The trees are in between.
You see? The trees here.

But during winter, you can see,
when the leaves have fallen off.

Here, you can see a little bit.

And then, you don't see anymore.
You see, it's because of the trees.

What's this?

Well, actually,
Madame puts this sometimes...

This, one, I don't know who this is,
it's a man, but...

You put this over the head?
Yes. It's a...

I have seen her a couple of times with it...

It might have been done for her.

You see, like the house,
it's unique!

You've never spoken to the architect
of this house?

No. Not at all. What do you want me to...
I am not the boss here!

If someone needs to say something,
it's the boss who should.

But when they made the house,
everything was already thought through!

It wasn't done willy-nilly!

But I had a good laugh with him once...

I told him, I'm settling
two parcels of land in Spain...

I had two parcels from my mother.

So, I was joking with him about it.
I told him...

I want a plan for my new house in Spain!

So, he was giving me clothes
to wash and iron,

and thanking me saying
"Thank you Guadalupe".

But, I told: "Don't just thank me!
I want the plan for my house!"

So he was laughing. You see...

For the parcel?

No, there are two parcels!

I told him that I was going
to Spain on purpose,

and he was telling me "Thank you!
Thank you Guadalupe!"

"Thank you is not enough", I told him!
"I want the plan..."

We had a good laugh!

Oh! He's got...

What has he got?

He seems to be nice, but...

He's got big ears like this!
Huge antennas, he's got!

Amazing!

He knows everything!
He hears everything!

Really?
He might be hearing us now then?

Well... it's normal,
when you have a big company

with a lot of people, you know...

Oh! This is not the one!

It's the small one.

All grey

You see, the kitchen...

Is all concrete!

I would have had granite instead,
it's better...

Well, we have to pull the things out!

So that... You see?

This is always in the middle.

You walk and hop!

If you need something,
you have to pull everything to...

As for drawers, you would
just do like this, no?

Well, it's not the same thing.

You wouldn't have done it
this way, would you?

Well, you see, I haven't got
the money anyway,

but I wouldn't have done it like this.
Not at all!

This, yes, I would like to have one

but there's no way I would have it!

You see, here you just have
to come, and it's easier...

It's not in the middle of... whereas,
here, it's always on the way.

And the tomatoes?
What are we doing with them?

As for my taste...

I don't know what I'd do
if I had the money!

Don't know, really.

If I could afford it, no, really, no!
It's too grey...

It's all grey!

I respect other people's taste,

but, not for me...

If I can afford it one day,
I would do something,

but not in grey, no way!

Well, I'd have my grave in grey!
That's all...

For my burial!

Pond

I think this pond is for everybody.

Not just for one person.
Look at the length...

This could be for 10 people,
even 20. Oh! yes, my god!

This is for... Exercising.

To swim lengths.

There's no chlorine,
there's nothing, it's natural!

There's nothing, nothing!

I don't know how it works,
but it overflows, you see...

They do like this and it overflows,
and it comes back this way.

There's a motor there, I think.

It overflows...

Porthole

Dusk

Translation: Devika Wijesuriya