Go BackC.E.S. Office – Martinez House
1977 to 1984The 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 requirements. Floors, walls, columns and ceilings were all monolithic concrete, over rigid insulation. Wooden roof, plastered wall surfaces and floors made of multicolored marble dust and chips, are its complementary characteristics. Initially built as a house, it was then used for housing the offices of the Center for Environmental Structure from 1984 until 1995.
Contents
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C.E.S. Office - Martinez House: Outdoor walls and seat with balustrade in arches
1979
The seat with its balustrade, built next to the tile workshop in Martinez, were built solely with sprayed concrete. Styrofoam or polysterene cut-outs to shape were used and placed against a backing of sheetrock, providing an ultra-low-cost formwork. Then concrete ...
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C.E.S. Office - Martinez House: Construction experiment of octagonal freestanding concrete columns, with low-cost formwork, shot in gunite
1979
Construction technique for concrete columns, with base, capital and an elegant flare where the shaft meets the base, shot in gunite into a low-cost open form. The corners of the column shaft, with a flare where it meets the base, ...
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C.E.S. Office - Martinez House: Gunite all-concrete building
1980
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 ...
SEE ALL Construction Innovations
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Martinez House: Memo requesting the signing and returning of attached Corporate "Understanding" forms of Kaiser Cement Corporation.
05/05/1980
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Martinez House: Report on project and brochure describing The Center for Environmental Structure, were sent; proposing a presentation of the building to Kaiser Cement Corporation and a discussion about its further development
05/05/1980
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Martinez House: Notification of the approval to support the "All Gunite House Prototype" with a grant of sacks of Portland cement, by the Kaiser Cement Corporation management team
09/09/1980
SEE ALL Correspondence
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C.E.S. Office - Martinez House: Preliminary Energy Analysis
20/05/1980
13-page revision of the 29-Apr-1980 report, which summarizes the preliminary thermal analysis of the Center for Environmental Structure’s prototype concrete house, for determining the extent to which the concrete house thermal performance exceeded that of a standard frame house with ...
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C.E.S. Office - Martinez House: Construction Operations Manual
16/05/1980
278-page document describing a sequence of building operations which were followed on the first two of the experimental structures built on the Martinez site, using the gunite techniques developed by the Center for Environmental Structure. These construction operations were named ...
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C.E.S. Office - Martinez House: All Gunnite Concrete House - meeting with Kaiser Cement Corporation
06/06/1980
Kaiser Cement Corporation inter-office memorandum following the 4-Jun-1980 meeting in Martinez, wherein it presents the C.E.S. project of building prototype homes with gunnite cement, requests and recommends support by the Corporation.
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C.E.S. Office - Martinez House: All Gunnite Concrete House - meeting with Kaiser Cement Corporation
18/08/1980
Kaiser Cement Corporation inter-office memorandum following the 15-Aug-1980 meeting in Martinez, wherein observations are made after a presentation of the prototype gunnite house; recommendation to continue the support of this project with materials and financial assistance.
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C.E.S. Office - Martinez House: All Gunnite Concrete House - Products Promotion
01/01/1980
Newsletter describing the Martinez building’s construction system and all its efficiencies, and recommends to the ACA’s Products Promotion Committee to accept the Center for Environmental Structure’s request for subsidy.
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C.E.S. Office - Martinez House: Photographs of sketches
01/01/1977
The first sketch of Martinez, a pencil sketch of the side elevation of the house, drawn by Christopher Alexander.
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C.E.S. Office - Martinez House: Photographs of building details
2 2) Alternative sketches of the wall cross section
01/01/1979
Photograph of a simple and massive low wall marking the perimeter of the building site, accompanied by three outline section sketches made by Christopher Alexander.
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C.E.S. Office - Martinez House: Photographs of foundation construction works
7 7) Early stage excavations
01/01/1979
Eight images of the foundation excavations works, and the formation of the different levels of the building.
SEE ALL Photographs
References
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Design and Construction is one Integrated Making Process
The design process of a project and its construction process are united into one continuous and intertwined making process, unfolding in a step-by-step sequence. Design ends together with the completion of the construction process. "Making" is a conception of the ...
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Users Involved in the Construction of their Project
The benefits of the involvement of the users in the actual construction of their houses under the guidance and management of the architect-builder or the contractor, besides the obvious economical, are manifested in the personal qualities and feeling of these ...
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Color and Inner Light: The Eleven Color Properties
Christopher Alexander postulated that centers and the field of centers they create are the building blocks from which wholeness is made. However, he further argued that geometry alone is not sufficient, and that color is the way wholeness comes to ...
SEE ALL Scientific Research
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Tile Glazing Workshop
1978 to
1981
The first building completed on the Martinez site, was an experimental gunite all-concrete building, with 200 square feet of floor area, concrete vaulted ceiling and concrete pitched roof. It was used as the tile glazing workshop, equipped with a kiln ...
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Heavy Timber Carpentry Workshop
1985 to
1986
The third building completed on the Martinez site was a heavy timber carpentry workshop, 800 square feet of floor area, with 12"x12" columns and 8"x14" beams, specially engineered trusses and wood paneling. .
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C.E.S. Office - Martinez House: Terrazzo floor with squares, diamonds and crosses; paper mock-up #1
01/01/1984
Full-scale paper mock-up with gouache paint, depicting the first alternative for the terrazzo floor of the main room — a geometric pattern composed by squares, diamonds and crosses, in green, red and white.
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C.E.S. Office - Martinez House: Terrazzo floor with squares, diamonds and crosses; paper mock-up #2
01/01/1984
Full-scale paper mock-up with gouache paint, depicting the second alternative for the terrazzo floor of the main room — a geometric pattern composed by grey stripes with blue crosses and white squares with a blue central detail.
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C.E.S. Office - Martinez House: Terrazzo floor with squares, diamonds and crosses; paper mock-up #3
01/01/1984
Full-scale paper mock-up with gouache paint, depicting the third alternative for the terrazzo floor of the main room — a geometric pattern composed by interlaced red and yellow crosses with a small blue square detail inside the red crosses.
SEE ALL Models & Mock-ups
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Lecture on "The Nature of Order", given during Fall 1991
14/11/1991
Cassette tape of the nineteenth Fall semester lecture by Christopher Alexander on “Actual Making & Construction Details”, part of a series of lectures on “The Nature of Order”; the duration of the lecture is about one hour and twenty minutes.
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The Center for Environmental Structure: Portfolio of Projects
01/01/1989
Presentation of sixteen projects developed by The Center for Environmental Structure until 1989. 75-page portfolio with Part One “Completed Projects”, Part Two “Current Projects”, concluding with “Additional Projects”. The projects included are: 1) The Linz Cafe, 2) The Sala House, ...
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C.E.S. Office - Martinez House: Octagonal freestanding concrete columns construction, with low-cost formwork
01/01/1981
Includes “Summary of Operation” chart, detailed drawings and description of the Octagonal Freestanding Column, in three variations. Used in the C.E.S. Office Construction Manual draft.
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House for Mr. and Mrs. Stuart Card: Wooden Plank Roof with its Details
01/01/1981
12-page document outlines three important building operations for the construction of the project, namely: Column-Beam Connection, Russian Plank Roof, and Wooden Window. Each building operation includes the “Summary of Operation” chart and detailed drawings. The Russian plank roof detail was ...
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Center for Environmental Structure - Organization of Construction Manual
01/01/1981
5-page draft document listing the nine volumes of a construction manual, explaining the terms by which a construction operation could be included and describing the required information that each building operation must fill-out in special forms. Included are three additional ...
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C.E.S. Office - Martinez House: Concrete balustrade in arches & seat - Photographs
01/01/1979
Three photographs of the bench and the ornated balustrade, built next to the tile workshop.
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C.E.S. Office - Martinez House: Concrete balustrade in arches & seat - Photographs
01/01/1979
Detail of the balustrade connected to the bench, made of sprayed concrete.
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C.E.S. Office - Martinez House: Concrete balustrade in arches & seat - Photographs
01/01/1979
Three photographs of the completed structure of the bench and the ornated balustrade, using the gunnite method of construction.
SEE ALL Photographs
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An American House for the Eighties: Evolution of the All-Masonry House; includes the final report and a draft of it
01/09/1981
Professional Report on the process of building and the new construction method applied to the Martinez house and workshop. Contents: II. Acknowledgements; III. Notes of Involvement; IV. Preface; V. Introduction; VI. Precedents: a) Construction Patterns, b) Building Projects, c) Masonry ...
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The Architect's Responsibility and the Process of Building "The Martinez Experiment"
12/05/1985
The Master of Architecture thesis presents in its 312 pages the theory behind the development of the Sprayed Concrete Building System, and a detailed documentation of the system as recorded during the construction of the Martinez House, between Fall 1981 ...
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The Unified Building Process: Variables which Produce a Coherent Structure of Space
01/11/1986
378-page doctoral dissertation in nine chapters, based on the fundamental assumption that “wholeness”, as geometric quality of space, is dependent upon the process that generates it. Chapter 1: Design and Construction as a Unified Act. Chapter 2: Feeling and actuality. ...