Sala House Addition

1986 to 1988

700 Hillside, 94706, Albany, CA, U.S.A.

Residential, Realized , Construction completed in Jan-1988

Two-storey 700 square feet addition to the exisitng house, connected with it at the west facing wall. The extension includes a living room, a bedroom and a bathroom with hot tub. Wood post and beam interior with pine paneling and hand-painted surfaces, and hand-made ceramic leopards in the living room floor. Exterior multicolored concrete wall. Terraces and gardens and a workshop face the south side of the building.

Client:

Mr. & Mrs. Andre and Anna Sala

C.E.S. staff:

Christopher Alexander, Steven Duff, Kleoniki Tsotropoulou

Contractor:

Center for Environmetal Structure

Project cost:

$80,000

Project stages:

Layout on the site by clients and C.E.S. Design Development and Building Permit drawings done after layout Use of full scale mock-ups Direct Construction management along with on-site design decisions Budget and subcontractors under C.E.S. control

Contents

Construction Innovations

Reports

Records

Photographs

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References

Scientific Research

Ornament and Function as Products of Unfolding

Areas of focus:

Design and Building Process

Guiding idea:

Structure Preserving Transformations

Ornament arises as part of the design process, when a person is making and seeks to embellish this "something" while making it. It arises as a result of the latent centers in the uncompleted thing requiring still more centers, requiring ...

Projects

Sala House 1981 to 1983

700 Hillside, 94706, Albany, CA, U.S.A.

Residential, Realized , Construction completed in Jun-1983

Client:

Mr. & Mrs. Andre and Anna Sala

C.E.S. staff:

Christopher Alexander, Gary Black, Bob Smith, David Turtle, Seth Wachtel, Andre Sala

Contractor:

Center for Environmetal Structure

Project cost:

$180.000

Design and construction process:

1) Personal vision: C.E.S. worked with the Sala family to gain an understanding of their needs and to derive from them a deep and personal vision of their house. 2) Layout on the site: several sessions on the site, laying out the exterior edges of the house volume along with outside courtyards, completed by C.E.S. staff working with the Salas. The interior rooms of the ground floor were also laid out on the site. 3) Preparation of drawings: At the end of the layout process it was possible for C.E.S. to prepare a set of drawings for the building permit from the City of Albany. 4) Construction commences and design continues; C.E.S. was the general contractor, and so the design process which had been begun in the first phase was carried through the construction phase, with many crucial on-site design decisions being made weekly, even daily, while the house was under construction. 5) Finishing touches: Hand-painted woodwork, color, details, furnishings, were done by C.E.S. staff and construction crews.

Project stages:

Pattern language for the project by clients and C.E.S. Layout on the site by clients and C.E.S. Design Development and Building Permit drawings done after layout Use of full scale mock-ups Direct Construction management along with on-site design decis

Three-story tower, 20 feet by 20 feet in plan on each floor, on a wooded, sloping site. The interior structure of the house is wood post and beam with pine panelling and hand-painted surfaces, and the exterior is a red ...

Articles

Correspondence

Ideas written in groups, in pursuit of a thorough discussion to gaining a clearer sense of each and how they could apply to work. Topics of discussion: 1) Apprentice/Study - Type of Work; 2) Levels of Awareness; 3) Levels of Craftsmanship; and 4) Job Coordinator. The additon to the Sala house is referencecd in the letter. 01/01/1986

C.E.S. Office, General Correspondence, Request for Meeting

Sender:

John Rahrner, Berkeley, CA, U.S.A.

Recipient:

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

Medium:

Letter

Models & Mock-ups

Photographs

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