JACOB BLOOM

Initial studies of Case Study House 20B by Buff Straub and Hensman yielded a focus on the aspects of the construction—the prefabricated plywood vaults & stressed skin panels, lightness of material, and the slipping & misalignment between elements as a means to hide the distinction between interior and exterior spaces.  

 

The plywood vaults led to an investigation in lamination as a construction method with an emphasis on the directionality and vector-based elements of each layer.  Through structural analysis of the vaults, it became clear that the optimal paths for the vectors to follow were not the alternating orthogonal layers of the plywood, but rather a weaving of lines that would better be made of flexible strands than a plane of parallel grain.  This suggests a construction method such as fiber-resin composite fabrication and lattice of linework instead of a monolithic plane.

A system was devised that divides each edge of the vault into equally spaced points.  By connecting the points with lines of carbon fiber, a fabric begins to emerge that varies in density.  By altering the number of points on each edge, many different forms can be created, from arches to windows & skylights to complete infills.  Utilizing the 4’, 8’, and 16’ modules dimensions from the original case study, multiple sizes of prefabricated panels are possible that can then be assembled into infinite possible forms.

 

The original case study used the misalignment of elements—roof plane, floor finishes, structure, walls, program, and envelope—to confuse the boundary between interior and exterior space.  By converting the vaults from planes to a thickened array of linework, it further confounds this threshold.  Through the weaving of the implied surface through itself, what is at first an interior surface then becomes the exterior and vice versa.  Further, the variable openness of the linework literally removes the separation between interior and exterior by letting both spaces flow through the volume within the thickened surface.

 

The thinning of materials was a trend common to multiple examples of Southern California modernist houses.  This can be seen through the use of the stressed skin panels as well as thinner framing and the increased use of glass, which reduces material thickness to a single plane.  

By using carbon fiber, the vaults are both literally and phenomenally light.  In addition to weighing extremely little, carbon fiber brings lightness a step further than the glass panels of mid-century modernist houses by reducing the plane to a network of lines, each with virtually no thickness, yet still defining a surface and a thickness of enclosure.