Tuesday, September 29, 2009

For Clare


No post, going to see Rob Thomas in Charlotte. Long Day ahead, but it will all be Back To Good although I'm sure, we won't get home until 3:00AM.

Non-Celibate Monastic life in Burlington

I was just speaking with Jeff, our radiant heat guy and he asked me if I could really go without many closets. I am past the age and body type where buying clothes are any fun. That activity has sort of gone out the same window the fascination with mirrors did. So yes, I can go without alot of closets since I've worked out a basic uniform that works well for me. We had the usual discussion about Gandhi. At his death, he had a prayer bowl, loin cloth and spectacles. I didn't tell Jeff that although I'm tossing out clothes, towels, Tupperware and furniture right and left, I'm less sanguine about getting rid of my books. I've managed to cull about 5% of them, and Pat is fine with that. He just knows that part of his interior work once we've moved in, is the hallway bookshelf for starters. So, I'm ready to give up clothes but not books which sort of fits into the monastic title of this blog, because as you know, monasteries were among the first libraries.

The other monastic angle is in the windows. Clerestory window is derived from Clear Story, which was a common type of window in churches. I think it was also used in monasteries to let in light, and I'm thinking kept the Monks on task without that daydreaming common to most people stuck in a room doing busy work with large picture windows beckoning them to the world beyond.



Sunday, September 27, 2009

The soul of the house, with apologies to Will Shakespeare

If eyes are the windows into the soul, then can windows be the soul of the house? I think they are in the case of the Usonians. The entire focus of the Usonians is the thrust of the inhabitants to the world outside. Although the side that faces the street obscures the house from the common passers-by, and the entries are somewhat hidden from view, once one enters a Usonian or for that matter, most of Frank Lloyd Wright houses, the world outdoors is welcomed in through multitudes of well designed and well placed windows.

Windows are the most expensive part of any house, and this one is no exception. We have so many windows that, I think I have mentioned this before, we are using plywood as our framing material as well as 2x6s instead of 2x4s to ensure stability. We have clerestory windows, casement windows, windows that are also doors, sidelights on the door and windows that edge along the fireplace masonry. So, when our still nameless builder called to tell us that if we ordered them today, we'd get a 10% discount from Anderson, we jumped right on it.

The reason we went with Anderson is that they have a good rep, and they also have Frank Lloyd Wright art glass inserts. Later on, when the money all settles out, then we can see about purchasing the inserts for the front door etc.



This is right from the Anderson Windows website.



WE'RE GETTING A FLOOR! WE'RE GETTING A FLOOR!


This is a big deal, because with the floor also comes our heating and plumbing! The cement fellows were at the site last week, and did all the preliminary stuff so that Jeff, the heating guy, can lay the little chairs which will hold the radiant heating tubes and then the concrete can be poured.
It is raining right now here in Burlington NC, but that should end. The cooler weather is here and we should have our dyed concrete floor in place within ten days.

The photo shows the insulation UNDER the cement floor. The plastic tubing sticking out are various plumbing intake/outgo pipes.

Saturday, September 26, 2009

the yin and yang of heads

We went to the Raleigh home show looking for deals on concrete staining, walked right past the fried mac&cheese booth, and ended up buying two Kohler potties. They were show specials and they have these little yin/yang buttons on the top of the tank. The smaller button is the flusher for small jobs, the larger button for the other...
If our town had water availability issues, we could have also gotten a 50 buck rebate but luckily, we have water other municipalities only dream about. But, this was an easy "green" decision and the price was right.
Now, if we can just get the grandkids to hit the right button at the right time...

Thursday, September 24, 2009

a thousand here, a thousand there

and pretty soon we're talking about real money.
We're getting close to pouring the concrete slab floor. And now we have to make a decision, integrated red dye in the actual concrete or pour regular concrete and do an acid stain to get the Santa Fe Red floor. The Floor at Chili's was integrated dye. We're hitting the home show in Raleigh tomorrow to see what we can do as far as a little less money..

Wednesday, September 23, 2009

Chilis today...


Our builder called this afternoon. "Go look at the floor at the Chilis near Target," he advised. It is the same exact colored concrete floor we are looking to use. The usonians generally had a "Santa Fe Red" floor dyed to match the sunset of the desert where Frank Lloyd Wright built his second Taliesen.

The hostess was very nice, even after expending all that smile wattage on us only to find out we just wanted to look at her floor and leave. The floor is exactly the color we want.

The plumbing has been stubbed in, inspected and gravelled over. Now, if the Georgia rains can bypass our little town, we may see the insulation, chairs and webbing in anticipation of the radiant heating tubes which must be in place before the red concrete floor can be poured. The question there, is do they pour the upper level first, then the stairs and finally the lower great room area or do they pour the stairs first?
This is why we have a builder.

Thursday, September 17, 2009

Rain

that's the post.

Wednesday, September 16, 2009

What we have in common with Sean Connery and Catherine Zeta Jones



Nothing really... but I thought of that movie where she's an insurance claims investigator and she has to wriggle her way through a network of laser lines and she's WAY too young for Sean. You could also reference the Steve Carell GET SMART movie where his tux gets all shredded, but it wasn't as snappy a title for this blog.
The reason I'm thinking of laser lines is this past week our still refusing to be named contractor has lined the house with all these little yellow strings which determine the level of the planes of the concrete floor.
We just spoke with the cement fellow and the 4 steps, from the entry down to the great room- a six inch rise to accomodate our aging knees -will be poured first. This will possibly eliminate a potential mess that would ensue if they poured the floor first and then the steps... but this will come later, right now the plumbing has to go in...

The Modern Sanctuary

In the Pope-Leighey house, as in all usonians I think, Mr. Wright provided one small room he labled as a "sanctuary," a place where the master of the house could go and think and get away from all his loved ones with whom he was crammed in the homes.

Tweaking this idea we have decided a better use of the Sanctuary space is a for a second bathroom. Many studies have shown that a limited number of bedrooms is less harmful to a family's chi than not enough bathrooms. Most usonians were built in an era where one bathroom was common. The second bathroom, Pat's sanctuary, will have a wheel-in shower large enough to accomodate a wheel chair or two people depending on how much you like each other.

We are not the first to not really use the Sanctuary as such. Even in the original, I think the Popes used their sanctuary as a nursery for young children. Even masterful men would recognize the selfishness of hogging one whole room for thinking purposes...

Sunday, September 13, 2009

Pillow talk

One area where a Usonian saves space is in the bedroom. Frank Lloyd Wright didn't think big bedrooms were necessary to life. Just a place to sleep and that's about it. Strange thinking from a man who was notorious for running away with at least one married woman and having numerous other affairs.

Anyway, on a certain level we agree with that. Our country home we built during the girls pre-adolescent years and in anticipation of many nights of sleepovers and dates, had a large master bedroom with a television viewing area and large separate front porch so we could hide from them. It didn't work. Most times, the gang just followed us in there, and ate popcorn on my nice Bates bedspreads and generally brought the mess into our sanctuary.

Years of sleepless nights have taught us a couple of things. Frank was right. Bedrooms should only be used for three things: 1. Sleeping 2. Reading a soothing book, not too big so that when it hits you in the nose when you fall asleep it doesn't hurt too much and 3. another activity of your choice which should NOT include working on a laptop or watching TV as both of those static imaging screens really, really mess up your sleep patterns.

So, our usonian will have very small bedrooms, no TVs but nice storage places for books.


Saturday, September 12, 2009

toe tags and body bags


Work stopped on our lot for a few minutes this week while we had a pet funeral. Our Speedo was killed instantly with a blow to the head by a hit and run driver. It just took a couple of minutes for the backhoe to dig an appropriate sized plot for the basset/lab mix who looked like a hairy sausage. Speedo had no vices except wanting to get out to eat the neighbor's cat food which was always just thrown on the ground. He was lured across the street by his cousin, Harvey and is now at peace in our new home, the first resident.

On a lighter note, we are in a contest with a young couple who are building their first home where as we are building what a friend calls our "toe tag" house. The winner, the first humans to get to live in their house, will buy the losers a cheap landscape plant. After all, the winners get the house first. The reason the plant has to be cheap is because the houses aren't.

So, this has injected a bit of gambling into the mix and we shall see. So far it appears they are winning, but I think once our slab is in place we'll catch up and get ahead. "The game is afoot!"


Speedo doing what he did best, babysitting.

Friday, September 11, 2009

9/11


Sad day.. that's it for now, will write more later on.

Sunday, September 6, 2009

A plethora of plywood

The hardware store in Gibsonville, NC is wonderful. Wood from around the world is organized neatly in towering pallets. It is from here that we will purchase our interior wall siding. Sheetrock will be on the ceiling, but wood will be the walls.
The Pope-Leighey house is clad inside and out with cypress from the Everglades, which were being destroyed at that time to make way for southern Florida's housing boom. It was the cheapest wood available at the time.

We'll have to make do with domestic natural birch plywood. It has a little less "WOW" factor and a lot more ecological friendliness. We had looked at a whiter birch plywood with less grain, but this is an imported type. It is an American house designed by the quintessential American architect. We're going with the domestic brand.

Usonians should be built with local materials. Both Taliesins, the one in Wisconsin as well as Arizona were built with locale mud, stone and wood. Burlington used to have a brick factory but that is gone now. At least our appliances are from Sears and as far as we know Made in America.

Just below is the link for Taliesin (Shining Brow) in Wisconsin. This is the home Wright built as a refuge for Mamah Borthwick Cheney and himself after their initial scandalous elopement to Europe. The one on the website is the house Wright rebuilt after the servant went nuts, set fire to the house and murdered Mamah and her children. A so-so novel, LOVING FRANK, by Nancy Horan goes into this in detail.

Here is the link for Wright's second Taliesin in Arizona, a home for the stewpot of architectural students who came to study at the feet of the master.

Saturday, September 5, 2009

For or Against?

For some reason, thinking about all these small organic houses makes me think of a hideously boring book I had to write a paper about at Ole Miss. AGAINST NATURE by Joris-Karl Huysmans was required reading in Dr. S___'s class.

There was probably more to it than what I remember but what sticks in my mind is this rich guy, decides he wants to play at being a monk. So he gets himself a cell, some monkish clothes, etc. But the cell, although it LOOKS like a monks cell is really a very luxurious room, his own bedroom in fact, made to look austere. He hangs expensive velvet curtains the color of stone to replicate monastery walls. His monk's robes, although they LOOK very scratchy and hairclothy are really very comfortable, soft, silken cashmere materials. He's pretending to be one thing, leading a spartan sort of life, set apart from the material world, whereas he's really taken all the goodies with him.

A Usonian is an honest sort of building. In the best of all worlds, it should be made with local natural materials by local craftsmen. It is different from AGAINST NATURE in that very simple things - simply by their arrangement- make for luxurious living. And, although the street sides of the houses are somewhat blocked from the world, step into any of the houses and you see all of nature, just on the other side of all those windows.

Here is a link to one of the most luxurious Usonians, Kentuck Knob which is in the Laurel Highlands of Pennsylvania, home to Wright's most famous house, Fallingwater. O, what the hell, I'll go ahead and link to that one too, although technically that's too high cotton for this blog.





Friday, September 4, 2009

No sweet tea for YOU!








The two pipes embedded in the wall are the conduits for the water to go through to heat the floor.


The mason who is building the concrete wall which will envelope the slab floor told me he liked the house.
I, of course was thrilled.
"I was riding a bike through Oberlin, Ohio and saw a little house that this one reminds me of," he continued. "And on a plaque it said it was a Frank Lloyd Wright House."

"OF COURSE," I was also thrilled that someone who didn't know, recognized this little house for what it is. And we had a nice talk about usonians and all that and by the end of the conversation, I think he forgave me for not bringing him biscuits and sweet tea.




This house is very similar to the one we're building. I didn't think anything would induce me to return to N.E. Ohio, but this may do it..

Tuesday, September 1, 2009

Big Wheels Keep on Rollin'


The Mighty Machine landed today.

The fellows in the picture are working at the little bit of excavation we have to do.
although the house is on a slab of cement, chock full of stuff, there still have to be footers put in first to support the slab.

And because of Frank Lloyd Wright's theory of "compression and release," even though the site itself is perfect for the house, some dirt had to be moved to accommodate the lower level great room.

The compression and release theory is as follows. One enters the house into a rather low ceilinged area - the compression bit. One then walks down four steps into the great room , which has the same ceiling plane but due to the lower floor, there is a "release" into a greater seeming expanse. Compression and release... the sunken living rooms that we remember from those trendy movies of the sixties, I'm guessing are another way to achieve that. Don't raise the ceiling really, lower the floor. That's Pat walking in what will be the kitchen area, or it could be the dining room. Until the furniture is in there who really knows?

Happy Birthday B.B.