Photograph

C.E.S. Office – Martinez House: Experimental gunnite all-concrete building; Photographs of construction stages

01/01/1983

Construction Process

Four photographs of the same wall shot in a period of eigtheen months, depicting the sequential construction stages of building the wall with gunite; on the first photo the thermal insulation is in place, on the second the waterproofing and mesh have been fastened, on the third the concrete has been sprayed and on the fourth the wall has been painted.
The last photograph shows the whole house just after the shooting of the gunite was completed. It exhibited at the Locus Manifesto-exposition “Re-enchant the World: Architecture and the City facing society´s transitions”, in Science Cabinet 2.

Photographer:

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

Source:

Digital, Slide

Characteristics:

Color

Content of

Construction Innovation

C.E.S. Office - Martinez House: Gunite all-concrete building 1980

Construction System, Sprayed Concrete

Created by:

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

Walls, columns, beams, ceilings, all made by gunite shot on a light weight and low cost guidework of lightweight wooden frame. Gunite is a high-strength concrete made of sharp sand and concrete, carried in air under high pressure, shot dry ...

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 ...

Public Events

Locus Manifesto-exposition "Re-enchant the World: Architecture and the City facing Society´s Transitions" 21/05/2014 to 06/10/2014

The Cité de l’Architecture et du Patrimoine, Paris, France

Exhibition

C.E.S. staff:

Maggie Moore, Artemis Anninou, Lily Alexander

Organized by:

LOCUS Foundation & Cité de l'Architecture & du Patrimoine - Marie-Hélène Contal, Curator

The 40 architects already awarded the Global Award for Sustainable Architecture participated and exhibited their works. The exhibition was on international touring until 2016. Christopher Alexander’s participation included the extensive presentation of the Mexicali project in the “Saving the People’s Habitat” ...

Visual & Audio Materials

Locus Manifesto-exposition: CES presented the construction innovation on the use of gunite for building an all-concrete building, as applied in the Martinez House 30/05/2014

Public Event, Visual, Exhibition Board

Created by:

Lily Alexander, Artemis Anninou, Maggie Moore, Center for Environmental Structure, Berkeley, CA, U.S.A.

Two boards included in Science Cabinet #1 of the exhibit, illustrating three of the phases of the construction process using gunite experimentally, as well as the building as completed.

Photographs