Low Cost Houses for Mexicali – Basket vault with pumice concrete laid over basket and burlap and chicken-wire: Photographs

01/01/1976

Construction Process

Six photos illustrate the vaults under the first steps of their construction, the weaving of the vault baskets and the fastening of burlap in different settings.

Photographer:

Howard Davis/C.E.S., Mexicali, Mexico

Source:

Digital, Print, Negative

Characteristics:

8"x10", 4"x5", 2 3/8"x3 6/8", 35mm, Color, B&W

Content of

Construction Innovation

Low Cost Houses for Mexicali: Basket vault with pumice concrete laid over burlap and chicken-wire 1976

Construction System, Vaulted Roof & Ceiling

Created by:

Christopher Alexander, Julio Martinez, Howard Davis, Donald Corner

Construction of basket and groin vaults with light weight pumice concrete laid over woven basket and applied on top of burlap and lath, both stapled into the wooden ribs of the interwoven basket.

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

Low Cost Houses for Mexicali 1975 to 1977

Mexicali, Baja California, Mexico

Low Cost Housing, Realized , Construction completed in 1977

Client:

Universidad Autonoma de Baja California, Mexicali - Mr. Jorge Nunez, Director of the School of Architecture

C.E.S. staff:

Christopher Alexander, Julio Martinez, Howard Davis, Donald Corner, students and families

Contractor:

Built by the families and local subcontractors under the management of the Center for Environmental Structure

Sponsor:

University of Baja California

Project cost:

$70,000

Project stages:

Pattern language for the project by C.E.S. Layout on the ground by clients and C.E.S. Preliminary Design drawings done after layout Direct Construction management along with on-site design decisions Budget and subcontractors under C.E.S. control Users in

A cluster of houses for large families, with a builders yard, built by the families themselves with the help of students from the Universidad Autonoma of Mexico, and a team of builders from the Center for Environmental Structure. Each house ...