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Article from issue 8/1997 »Concrete Construction«

House in Phoenix, Arizona

documentation p. 1322 - 1325
Architect Burnette, Wendell | Structural Engineer Consulting Engineers | Scott, Paul | Turley, Caruso |

Set on the edge of the desert close to a dense residential development, the house was built over a former road. The focus of the building is a courtyard that allows light to enter the interior. The structure consists of two parallel rows of monolithic, post-tensioned masonry slabs, between which the insitu concrete roof and floors are spanned. The stilt-like monoliths, which incorporate thermal insulation and are self-finished, are 1.22 m wide along the north face and 2.44 m wide to the south to minimize the penetration of sunlight. They are divided by 15 cm wide vertical glass slits. The 8 cm partitions parallel to the long external walls consist of plywood panels suspended from a cable system. All north-south partitions are in semi-translucent glass.