C.E.S. Office – Martinez House: Small all-gunnite shed built as an experimental building – Photographs of mock-up

01/01/1981

Construction Experiment & Mock-up

Nine photographs of the experimental shed under construction, for testing the construction techniques and details not used in the tile workshop, as for example the wooden plank ‘Russian type’ roof.

Photographer:

Christopher Alexander/C.E.S., Martinez, CA, U.S.A.

Source:

Print, Negative

Characteristics:

8"x10", 4"x5", 35mm, Color, B&W

Content of

Construction Innovation

C.E.S. Office - Martinez House: Wooden plank roof construction details 1981

Building Detail, Roof & Eave

Created by:

Christopher Alexander, Gary Black, Jonathan Feffermann, Leonidas Pakas

The "Russian" type plank roof consists of two layers of long boards running from ridge to eave, with two grooves milled in each board; before being built on the house, its construction method and detailing was tried on the small ...

Contents

Photographs

SEE ALL Photographs

References

Scientific Research

Innovative Construction Systems, Techniques and Materials

Areas of focus:

Design and Building Process

Guiding idea:

Construction Innovation

One of the main topics of research, included in every building project, was to identify, early on in the design process, the material and techniques of construction. This would re-establish building as an art, and allow rapid shaping and adaptation, ...

Projects

C.E.S. Office - Martinez House 1977 to 1984

4207 Arthur Road, 94553, Martinez, CA, U.S.A.

Residential, Realized , Construction completed in 1984

Client:

Center for Environmetal Structure - C.E.S. Directors

C.E.S. staff:

Christopher Alexander, Jonathan Fefferman, Harissos Tsiringas, Gary Black, David Dacus, Olasheni Agbabiaka

Contractor:

Center for Environmetal Structure

Project cost:

$120,000

Project stages:

Layout on the site by C.E.S. Design Development and Building Permit drawings done after layout Direct construction management and on-site design decisions Users involved in the construction Innovative construction methods

The second building completed on the Martinez site, was a 2,000 square feet house. A gunite all-concrete building as well, it was the first sizable and fully functional project in which C.E.S. used gunite, while applying all permit and specification ...