THE TILT UP SLAB HOUSE SYNDESIS INC.VENICE CA.DESCRIPTION:The house is located on a small 32x80 urban corner lot, in Venice California. The lots narrow width demanded a rigid economy of materials and a reduction in layers of construction to a minimum. The clients wanted to maximize the internal space to host a permanent guest, a grandparent, themselves and their two teenage children. They also wished for separate studies to conduct their business. The sites urban context also demanded greater privacy and separation between the noisy alley and the houseDESIGN:Fourteen six-inch thick concrete panels were designed to line up facing each other along the longitudinal edges of the site, thus creating an elongated interior space. Eleven panels were poured off site and trucked to the site, while three panels were poured on site and connected to the structural steel. Through this construction method, it was.TIT-UP CONSTRUCTION TECHNIQUE:It is a two step process: First, slabs of concrete, which will comprise sections of wall, are cast horizontally on the building floor slab, or separate casting slab. Then, after attaining proper strength, they are lifted (tilted) with a crane and possible to erect all panel in just 10 hours set on prepared foundations to form the exterior walls.These large slabs of concrete weigh 40 tons or more and average only 6" to 8" thick (152mm-200m). There is little formwork, since to contain the concrete only perimeter forms are required. When they have attained sufficient strength, usually a week to 10 days, a mobile truck crane is brought to the job site to lift and set them on prepared foundations.The erected panels are temporarily braced, connected, and the joints between them caulked. The roof stucture is then constructed and attached to the walls to complete the building shell.

An internal ten foot courtyard separates the garage building from the rest of the house. Natural light and ventilation are allowed to penetrate the house through the almost entirely glazed front facade, the rear, and through the central double height atrium, which culminates in an operable skylight.

Double height atrium and the skylightThe courtyard disconnecting the garage with the house

For improved ventilation, windows and doors are customized storefront aluminum which, when opened, completely disappear from inside view projecting entirely to the outside. Radiant heating in the concrete floor, powered through the rooftop solar panels, allows the house to maintain ideal interior living. Different elements of the faade doors, windows opening etc.The concrete panels are individually designed to allow for windows opening and to articulate different elements of the faade

The lots corner location leaves one of the longitudinal sides exposed, revealing the structure and the connections between the panels. The minimal amount of fenestration presents a harder, urban edge towards the alley creating an effective visual and sound barrier to shield the house and its occupants from the activity on the alley

The design aims to capture the feeling of a impure structure by mixing concrete and steel. The hybrid condition creates an interesting possibility which moves forward from the modernist idea of identity of structure with space. It moves more towards the idea of building material and technology.