The House of Doctor Koolhaas: Gumshoe #1

by Francoise Fromonot, Thomas Weaver (editor)

Written by distinguished French architectural critic and historian Françoise Fromonot, The House of Doctor Koolhaas is about the Villa dall’Ava, a private residence in Saint-Cloud, a suburb of Paris. Fromonot brilliantly unpicks, explains, and interprets this very first building completed by Rem Koolhaas, who is universally regarded as the world’s most celebrated architect, and his Rotterdam-based firm Office for Metropolitan Architecture. The house is resolutely part of a modern architectural canon, but until now has not been the focus of a dedicated book or analysis.

Genres: Architecture

224 pages, Paperback

Published September 3, 2025

Reviews

[Nils · Rating 5 out of 5]

This feels like "special interest" in a way I did not know I needed in my life. Glad that this will be a series.

I would kind of describe this special interest demographic (me) as "people who enjoy reading aesthetic theory but also devoured all of Uketsu". It's furthermore nice to read a book that does not take its premise (treating a work of architecture as a mystery to be solved) too seriously - while simultaneously delivering a whole bouquet of intellectually informed discourse (ranging from disputes around mannerism and modernism in 20th century architecture to musings about the role of goddamn giraffes in the history of european art). I may have a very peculiar definition of fun, but fun is what I had.

[ej · Rating 4 out of 5]

great

[Lesia · Rating 5 out of 5]

The narrative elegantly bridges the worlds of art and architecture