0357T - Timber Case House, Construction Prints Done!

This plan set has been kicking around on the back-burner for a few years now. I had created the Design Prints and started on the Construction Prints, but set it aside to develop other designs. Its nice to have four variations on the Steel Case House, but getting other designs published took priority. But I'm in spring cleaning mode now and it was time to finish this and get it online.



The Timber Case House differs from the rest of the Steel Case line in that it substitutes an engineered timber frame for the steel frame that gives the line its name. The SIPs entry wall and roof increase the performance of the building envelope making up for the vast glazed area on the back side of the house. If you have not studied this design in while now is a good time to take a second look.

0357T Timber Case House

A few more plans sets to go and the initial collection will be complete.

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0357 Steel Case goes Timber!

Finally, introducing the Timber Case House, an all wood version of the Steel Case House.

Why oh why would I do this. Well there have been a number of inquiries over the years for a wood version - people who have liked the house but did not want to venture into the exercise of procuring the steel frame; or simply had a preference for wood. On my part I have a fascination with our current engineered wood products, parallel strand lumber (PSL) and engineered roof and floor trusses. This was a perfect opportunity to make a house that showcased this technology rather than bury it in the walls as is so often the case.



An interior showing the exposed PSL posts, beams, and wood/steel floor trusses.



And the familiar exterior with pressure treated PSL members for the exposed posts and beams.

Design prints will be completed shortly, and Construction Prints to follow soon after. I'll announce it here as usual. This will complete the 4 variations of the Steel CaseHouse which I mentioned earlier in the blog. Next I will try to get back to some of the other designs that are in progress.

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0357 Steel Case SIPs version complete

The cold climate version of the Steel Case House is complete.

Design Prints and Construction Prints of the new cold climate version of the Steel Case House are complete. The design now has its own page on our catalog site. The primary change from the original is the replacement of the masonry wall with a SIPs panel wall of the same thickness. This 8" thick SIPs panel greatly raises the average U value of the envelope offsetting the large window area. In northern and mountain climates we may still need to reduce the window area, but along with advanced glazing this provides more options for balancing windows with energy efficiency.

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Steel Case cold climate

The cold climate version of the Steel Case House is taking shape

the renderings are done, Design Prints prepared, and the web page coming together.

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also in the works

the cold climate version of the 0357 Steel Case House

This is a modification of the original 0357 Steel Case House to prepare it for colder climates. The thrust of it is the replacement of the concrete block wall with a 8" sips panel wall. It is looking a bit like this under way:

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stereoscopic viewing

adding depth to 3d images has long been the holy grail of 3d modeling

We have all experienced stereoscopic images. We have stereoscopic vision, so everyday sight is what I am talking about. The few inches between our eyes provide a slightly different view point. For any given surface that we see one eye sees a little bit more or a little bit less of it. While the difference is very slight it is sufficient for us to judge distances in 3d space. This is something we have not really been able to capture when we do drawings. While we have gotten pretty good at depicting 3d space the images don't create the sense of relative depth that our two eyes provide.

There have been many attempts to provide this vision to flat images, and we are pretty familiar with them I'm sure. With the advent of photography early on there were efforts to make 3d images with special viewers and cameras that took two images with the required offset. We have probably used a "View Master" image viewer which worked on the same principal. I'm sure that you have tried a blue/red filter glasses to view images or movies in 3d. These rely on the filters to deliver the proper image to each eye. More recently this has been done more effectively with polarizing filters on the projectors and viewers glasses. Sometimes the effect can be achieved by simply staring into the distance with the respective images directly in front of each eye.

The two images below are such stereo images, each slightly offset from the other.



Another way to put the images together into a 3d view does not require you to feed the right and left images discreetly to each eye. Its been found that if the right and left images are presented sequentially, alternating in the same space that your mind will read the spatial depth in a similar manner. If you click on the images above such a sequencing will load. The depth of field in this image will exaggerate the effect - it will look a bit like an earthquake but nothing that will make you nauseous!

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click

and then drag

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Steel Case House mods - Design Posted

The Steel Case House Metal Edition has been posted.

This all metal modification to the Steel Case House stock plan has been posted to its own web page in our online catalog and officially titled the Steel Case House Metal Edition. All of the renderings have been generated and the web page follows the same structure as the original design's .

Right now this page is not linked from the catalog directory - you can not navigate to the page unless you know the url, or if you have come through this blog's link. We want to gauge the interest in this all metal design among the people who interested in modern houses, who have been watching the design process and reading livemodern in general. Send us an email if you are hesitant to post, let us know what you think of this.

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Steel Case House mods - another preview

A view of the more or less complete modifications.


There are just a few items that I need to revise and the model will be complete for generating the renderings. But more or less, there it is - the Steel Case House in its new all metal clothes! I have decided to show the overhang braces in this version as they will be required almost anywhere that has any snow load. I am quite pleased with the transformation and what light it sheds on the design. One of the goals of my own design brief for these stock plans is to create house designs that can stand up to personalization, execution in a variety of materials without losing their integrity. I think this redressing speaks to that. The original for comparison.

I am not going to be showing too much more now till it appears on the lamidesign site in the plan catalog. If this metal version connects with you let us know about it. I am trying to gauge how people feel about it while we work on making it available. Shoot us an email at plans@lamidesign.com

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Steel Case House mods - early preview

I thought I would offer this low res draft image as a good preview of how the changes to the house appear on the interior.


This is a direct comparison for the corresponding image from the original design . There is more work to do, but almost everything in this view is complete.

previous comments:

Posted by Rous at 05-03-2004 05:55 PM

As a big fan of CSH8, when I first saw the Steel Case house I loved it, but wondered if I would like it more if there was more steel in it. Now I have seen it both ways and must say I prefer the original version with CMU and wood floors. Maybe it is the Sketch-up images, but the steel that replaced the CMU seems a bit too heavy and industrial for the rest of the house. One of the great things, IMO about the Eames house is how it looks so light and airy. As strange as it may seem, I think the CMU version gets at that more than the steel version.

Posted by lavardera at 05-03-2004 06:29 PM

All good observations Jeff. The original version's wood floors mediate the hardness of the cmu wall and the steel frame. The metal version's steel panel wall and concrete slab floors leaves it without much warmth. I leave it to you to decide which version appeals to you - the extreme that each represents is a useful sounding board for sizing up your own preferences. Here in the north east I would tend towards the original (probably the upcoming SIPs version which will trade out the CMU wall for an 8" wall of insulated panels.) Its telling that there have been serious inquiries about the metal version for areas of CA subject to wild fires.

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Steel Case House mods - 3d work starts

The modifications to the 3d model used to create rendered views has begun.



I think you can get a good sense here of the character of the deep rib siding, and the large scale of it in relationship to the wall. Its the scale of the siding that allows it to be a substitute for the solidness of the masonry wall in the original design. For comparison.

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Steel Case House mods - another detail

Looking at another typical detail.


This time a portion of the wall section, showing the transformation from wood products to steel products.

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Steel Case House mods - a detail study

A close look at the nature of the design modifications for this variation on the Steel Case House.

This is a comparison of details from the original 0357 Steel Case House, and the new Metal version. The detail on the left from the original shows conventional wood stud framing mounted over the structural steel frame. This is part of the logic of the house - once the steel frame is erected by the steel subcontractor the rest of the house can be finished with ordinary carpentry.



On the right in the new version we are dispensing with all things wood. Light gauge steel studs go directly over the structural steel frame, there is no plywood - corrugated metal siding is attached directly to the studs, and the strength of the siding takes the place of the plywood

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Steel Case House mods on the boards

I am currently working on several variations on the Steel Case House.

Mods to the 0357 Steel Case House is the focus of our current efforts. Why would that be? This design is supposed to be complete? Well we are creating several variations on the house, not changing the design of the plan, but creating variations on the construction materials and methods. In the works right now is an all Metal version of the house. All wood products contained in the original design are being substitured with standarized metal products. Metal siding from industrial applications in place of lap siding panels, metal deck with a concrete slab in place of the wood planks, and a highly insulated framed wall with deep rib metal siding will be replacing the concrete block wall which is prominant in the original design. Here is a small snip from the construction prints which will give you an idea of how these changes will appear.



more info on this, and the other mods, yes there is more than one, will come as the renderings are prepared.

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