Construction Innovation

Upham House: Wooden stair with complex shape

1991

Building Detail, Stair Shaping

Stair built in fir and pine board, cut and fitted in situ to complete and fit the complex shape.

Created by:

Christopher Alexander, Randall Schmidt

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: Wooden stair with complex shape - Photographs 01/01/1994

Interior View

Photographer:

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

Source:

Digital

Characteristics:

Color

Image of the ineterior stair, built and fitted in situ in fir and pine board.

References

Scientific Research

Strong Centers in all Levels of Scale

Areas of focus:

Design and Building Process

Guiding idea:

Structure Preserving Transformations

A building can only amount to something as a living thing when the various physical elements which appear in it are profound centers. The dominant feature of the process that is working correctly is that new centers are formed, and ...

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 14. Construction Elements as Living Centers, 6/ Unfolding Building Details from the Fundamental Process

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:

456-476