Construction Innovation

Upham House: The living room fireplace cladded with hand-glazed tiles

1992

Work of Art for Project, Hand-glazed Tilework

Hand-painted and hand-glazed green tiles with red asterisks used for cladding the fireplace front.

Created by:

Christopher Alexander

Content of

Project

House for Chris Upham and Stephanie Upham 1989 to 1994

37 Poppy Lane, Berkeley, CA, U.S.A.

Residential, Realized , Construction completed in 1994

Client:

Mr. & Mrs. Christopher and Stephanie Upham

C.E.S. staff:

Christopher Alexander, Randall Schmidt, Carl Lindberg, Gary Black, James Maguire

Contractor:

Center for Environmetal Structure

Project cost:

$439,000

Project stages:

Layout on the site by clients and C.E.S. Use of full scale mock-ups Design Development and Building Permit drawings done after layout Direct construction management and on-site design decisions

Two-story family house, with 2,400 square feet floor area, designed with the participation of the clients. The construction of a massive 15 high foot high retaining wall and sewer reconstruction caused by unusual hill condition added $96,000 to the house ...

Contents

Photographs

The Upham House: Hand-painted, hand-glazed tiles on the fireplace - Photographs 01/01/1994

Interior View

Photographer:

Mark Darley/Esto, Berkeley, CA, U.S.A.

Source:

Digital

Characteristics:

Color

Image of the living room Rumford type fireplace cladded with the tiles.

References

Scientific Research

Ornament and Function as Products of Unfolding

Areas of focus:

Design and Building Process

Guiding idea:

Structure Preserving Transformations

Ornament arises as part of the design process, when a person is making and seeks to embellish this "something" while making it. It arises as a result of the latent centers in the uncompleted thing requiring still more centers, requiring ...

Books

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

Authors:

Christopher Alexander

Publisher:

The Center for Environmental Structure Publishing, Berkeley, CA, U.S.A.

No of pages:

697 pp

“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, ...

Book Chapters

Chapter 18. Ornament as Part of all Unfolding, 6 / Hand-Glazed Tilework

Publication,

Book title:

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

Pages:

598-601