Palo Alto Residence - Pour In Place
       
     
The architect floated the lightweight redwood-clad upper story over the massive rammed earth walls that form the anchor. Image © Joe Fletcher
       
     
The mix design used 30% of the site soil, a heavy yellow clay which was cut with cracked gravel and coarse sand to control shrinkage. A mix design like this one, high in clay and rammed in short lifts, will develop a dense, smooth surface. Different
       
     
For the interiors, the architect chose wood paneling that mimic the color and the layering of the rammed earth walls. Image © Joe Fletcher
       
     
The window panels in the rammed earth walls were built as in-fills, using an embedded steel lintel to span the openings and provide support for the heavy earth headers. Image © Joe Fletcher
       
     
Hidden steel lintels support the 16 inch thick walls spanning the door and window openings. Image © Joe Fletcher
       
     
This final image of the Palo Alto house, taken late in the afternoon, clearly shows the “floating” second floor, visually free from it’s rammed earth anchor. Image © Joe Fletcher
       
     
Palo Alto Residence - Pour In Place
       
     
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Palo Alto Residence - Pour In Place

Modern edge creeps into old town Palo Alto, California, designed by Cass Calder Smith and built by Kirk Welton Construction.

Image © Joe Fletcher

The architect floated the lightweight redwood-clad upper story over the massive rammed earth walls that form the anchor. Image © Joe Fletcher
       
     
+

The architect floated the lightweight redwood-clad upper story over the massive rammed earth walls that form the anchor.

Image © Joe Fletcher

The mix design used 30% of the site soil, a heavy yellow clay which was cut with cracked gravel and coarse sand to control shrinkage. A mix design like this one, high in clay and rammed in short lifts, will develop a dense, smooth surface. Different
       
     
+

The mix design used 30% of the site soil, a heavy yellow clay which was cut with cracked gravel and coarse sand to control shrinkage. A mix design like this one, high in clay and rammed in short lifts, will develop a dense, smooth surface. Differentiation between lifts is very subtle.

Image © Joe Fletcher

For the interiors, the architect chose wood paneling that mimic the color and the layering of the rammed earth walls. Image © Joe Fletcher
       
     
+

For the interiors, the architect chose wood paneling that mimic the color and the layering of the rammed earth walls.

Image © Joe Fletcher

The window panels in the rammed earth walls were built as in-fills, using an embedded steel lintel to span the openings and provide support for the heavy earth headers. Image © Joe Fletcher
       
     
+

The window panels in the rammed earth walls were built as in-fills, using an embedded steel lintel to span the openings and provide support for the heavy earth headers.

Image © Joe Fletcher

Hidden steel lintels support the 16 inch thick walls spanning the door and window openings. Image © Joe Fletcher
       
     
+

Hidden steel lintels support the 16 inch thick walls spanning the door and window openings.

Image © Joe Fletcher

This final image of the Palo Alto house, taken late in the afternoon, clearly shows the “floating” second floor, visually free from it’s rammed earth anchor. Image © Joe Fletcher
       
     
+

This final image of the Palo Alto house, taken late in the afternoon, clearly shows the “floating” second floor, visually free from it’s rammed earth anchor.

Image © Joe Fletcher