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Etna Street Cottage
1974Experimental building project, two-story 400 sq. ft. cottage, with a hollow wooden structure filled with concrete and featherweight concrete vaults. Completed in ten weeks, without a building permit at the back of the C.E.S. office on Etna Street, and was operated as part of it.
Contents
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Etna Street Cottage: Basket vault with layers of ultra-lightweight concrete laid over burlap
1974
Construction of an ultra-lightweight concrete vault, built over box columns and beams filled with concrete. Two different methods were used; lightweight concrete over woven basket, lath and burlap for solid vaulted roofs, and burlap impregnated with fiberglass resin, over woven ...
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Etna Street Cottage: Hollow wooden structure filled with lightweigth concrete
1974
Flexible and low-cost construction techniques consisted of a hollow wooden structure of columns and beams, filled with lightweigth concrete, and a simple foundation made of concrete blocks, with rebars embeddedand ready to receive slab mesh.
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Etna Street Cottage: Ornament in door frame
1974
S's cut with jig-saw after being drawn on one-inch planks; then filled with plaster.
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Etna street Cottage: Photographs of the building
01/01/1974
Two images depicting the front view of the cottage.
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Etna street Cottage: Photographs of the building
01/01/1974
Two images depicting the second floor barrel vault’s front and back views.
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Etna street Cottage: Photographs of the layout process
01/01/1974
Two images depicting the initial step of staking out the position of the cottage on the lot.
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References
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Geometry and Fifteen Fundamental Properties
Christopher Alexander recognized the importance of the geometry of centers and for years he was looking for the common structural features among buildings, paintings, streets, carpets, doors, windows, etc. which have "life" and "wholeness". He identified fifteen structural features which ...
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The Layout Process of Buildings on the Land - Visualization at Full Scale on Site
Each act of building needs to have a positive effect on its surroundings; to complete them, preserve their structure, make them better, by creating strong centers in them and next to them. Each new building is more alive when it ...
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Designing with Patterns and Generic Rules for Making Centers
Pattern languages consist of a multitude of patterns which reflect and define a way of life, people's inner feelings and aspirations, they relate to culture, to climate and to the actual place, and they are rooted in observation. During the pattern ...
SEE ALL Scientific Research
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A Pattern Language
1977
“A Pattern Language” is the second volume of “The Center for Environmental Structure Series” on architecture published by Oxford University Press. You can use this book to design a house for yourself with your family; you can use it to ...
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The Timeless Way of Building
1979
“The Timeless Way of Building” is the opening work in “The Center for Environmental Structure Series” on architecture published by Oxford University Press. Here Alexander introduces the ideas behind the succeeding books. The book lays the foundation of the series. It ...
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The Nature of Order - An Essay on the Art of Building and the Nature of the Universe.
Book Three - A Vision of a Living World
2005
“A Vision of a Living World”, the third volume of “The Nature of Order” series, presents, for the first time, a full spectrum of Alexander’s and CES built and unbuilt works. The book describes hundreds of buildings, plans, neighborhoods, drawings, ...
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Etna Street Cottage: Basket vault with layers of ultra-lightweight concrete laid over burlap - Photographs
01/01/1974
Three images depicting exterior close-up views of the light weight concrete vaults, before being completed.
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Etna Street Cottage: Ornament in door frame - Photographs
01/01/1974
Three images of the entrance door frame with ornament, depicting the frame under construction and finished.
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Etna Street Cottage: Basket vault with layers of ultra-lightweight concrete laid over burlap - Photographs
01/01/1974
Three interior views of the lightweight concrete vaults, two of the second floor barrel vault at construction stage, and one of the first floor domical roof and the arched alcove under the stair.
SEE ALL Photographs
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Arch 209, Spring 1974 - On construction: Student paper on the Etna Street building project
01/01/1973
10-page student paper reflecting on the process of building the Etna Street Cottage following a construction pattern language. An attempt to formulate the aspects of the followed process which were successful and those that failed the objectives of the experiment.
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Towards a Theory of Units
01/01/1975
267-page thesis submitted in partial satisfaction of the requirements for the degree of Master of Architecture. The subject of this study deals with the concept of organicness in relation to architecture, and with, which would be the acts that could ...