House for Mr. and Mrs. Stuart Card

1979 to 1981

Portola Valley, CA, U.S.A.

Residential, Designed , Not built

Two-story house, with outbuildings, terraceses and gardens.

Client:

Mr. & Mrs. Stuart Card

C.E.S. staff:

Christopher Alexander, Gary Black, Howard Davis

Project stages:

Preliminary Design

Contents

Construction Innovations

C.E.S. Office - Martinez House: Wooden plank roof construction details 1981

Building Detail, Roof & Eave

Created by:

Christopher Alexander, Gary Black, Jonathan Feffermann, Leonidas Pakas

The "Russian" type plank roof consists of two layers of long boards running from ridge to eave, with two grooves milled in each board; before being built on the house, its construction method and detailing was tried on the small ...

Photographs

Card House: Photographs of drawings 01/01/1979

Drawing

Photographer:

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

Source:

PMT

Characteristics:

8 1/2"x11", B&W

Site plan drawing including the house layout and three house volume sections relating to the site slopes.
Card House: Photographs of drawings 01/01/1979

Drawing

Photographer:

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

Source:

PMT

Characteristics:

8 1/2"x11", B&W

Two drawings of the house, its 1st Floor Plan and 2nd Floor Plan.
Card House: Photographs of drawings 01/01/1979

Drawing

Photographer:

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

Source:

PMT

Characteristics:

8 1/2"x11", B&W

Two drawing with cross and longitudinal sections; the first one depicts four building cross sections and the second one the building’s partial longitudinal sections, as well as a detail section of the diagram of the hot air ducts. There is ...
Card House: Photographs of drawings 01/01/1979

Drawing

Photographer:

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

Source:

PMT

Characteristics:

8 1/2"x11", B&W

West and east elevations drawing with and a table describing the building finishes proposed.
Card House: Photographs of drawings 01/01/1979

Drawing

Photographer:

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

Source:

PMT

Characteristics:

8 1/2"x11", B&W

Two electrical installations plans with the electrical grid layout and a table with the electrical symbol keys.
Card House: Photographs of drawings 01/01/1979

Drawing

Photographer:

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

Source:

PMT

Characteristics:

8 1/2"x11", B&W

Foundation plan and details drawing, including the house foundation layout and various construction details and specifications addressing the site slope demands.
Card House: Photographs of drawings 01/01/1979

Drawing

Photographer:

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

Source:

PMT

Characteristics:

8 1/2"x11", B&W

Structural drawings including the column and beam grid layout plans of the four levels of the building, namely the Ground floor, the Second floor, the Attic floor and the Roof truss level. Each one of them includes also the relevant ...
Card House: Photographs of drawings 01/01/1979

Drawing

Photographer:

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

Source:

PMT

Characteristics:

8 1/2"x11", B&W

Two drawing with structural details, one depicting typical structural details of concrete elements and their connections and the second one two typical window detail sections.
Card House: Photographs of drawings 01/01/1979

Drawing

Photographer:

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

Source:

PMT

Characteristics:

8 1/2"x11", B&W

Preliminary Site Plan.
Card House: Photographs of drawings 01/01/1979

Drawing

Photographer:

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

Source:

PMT

Characteristics:

8 1/2"x11", B&W

Preliminary Design First Floor Plan and Second Floor Plan.
Card House: Photographs of drawings 01/01/1979

Drawing

Photographer:

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

Source:

PMT

Characteristics:

8 1/2"x11", B&W

Preliminary North and West Elevation.
House for Mr. and Mrs. Stuart Card: Photographs of layout process on the land 01/01/1980

Layout Process on Site

Photographer:

Gernot Mittersteiner/C.E.S., Portola Valley, CA, U.S.A.

Source:

Digital

Characteristics:

Color

Christopher Alexander on the site of the Card House, laying out the living room on the ground and testing the size and location of the fireplace in relationship to the sitting area.

SEE ALL Photographs

References

Records

House for Mr. and Mrs. Stuart Card: Wooden Plank Roof with its Details 01/01/1981

Construction Innovation, Construction Works, Construction Process

Authors:

Christopher Alexander, Gary Black, others, Center for Environmental Structure, Berkeley, CA, U.S.A.

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 ...
Center for Environmental Structure - Organization of Construction Manual 01/01/1981

C.E.S. Office, C.E.S. Projects Overview, Construction Manual

Authors:

Christopher Alexander, Howard Davis, Center for Environmental Structure, Berkeley, CA, U.S.A.

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 ...