rubber-banded houseraleigh, north carolina

a single family suburban residencewith mutable rubber-banded walls

plan level 002-001-000

rubber-banded houserubber-banded houserubber-banded houserubber-banded houserubber-banded house

Surface, through its formal and material investigation, de-fines the premise of the rubber-banded house.

Set in a suburban single-family house neighborhood in-side the beltline of Raleigh, North Carolina, the rubber-banded house depends upon a mutable wall surface tosimultaneously define the form and function of theresidence’s public space.

The surface, as the premise of the rubber-banded house,relies upon its material, fabrication and presence to defineits identity. The character of the architecture and the formalresponse of its spaces are governed and inspired by theflexible scrim. The surface creates enclosure and place.

The form of a house defines two modes of the domesticrealm: public and private. The activities within each realmorchestrate and activate the formal enclosure. The privateoccurs in the opaque vertical loop that allows the penetra-tion of light and view while revealing the intimate actions ofinterior to exterior. The public is a transparent glass layerenclosing a public horizontal loop. Three woven rubber-band walls operate, flexing space, transparency and lightwithin this living corridor. Their activity governs space byorchestrating event and composing form.

The diagram of the house in founded on three interior wallsfabricated out of a movable matrix of delicate steel cablesupports fixed in movable glides and then woven togetherwith an elastic membrane of common rubber bands. Thesemutable figures establish an elastic surface that providesprivacy, filters light, establishes scale, defines space andadjusts emotion by riding through the house in responseto the actions of the inhabitant. The membrane, as a con-tinuous system, adopts the interaction of single point ofinterface across the entirety of its surface. The residualspaces are governed by the flexible surface of enclosure.

The flexibility of the material surface creates a flexibility ofthe plan to allow a transparency of occupancy. The subur-ban home is transformed through the interaction of occu-pant and material.

program loops

elevations - s ns ns ns ns n

elevations - w e w e w e w e w e

porch deflectionview from drivewayinverted view

carport

porch view

layered surfaces

transparent surfacemutable wall

brise soliel

interior layersrubber banded wall

rubber-banded houserubber-banded houserubber-banded houserubber-banded houserubber-banded house

A re-interpretation of the single-family home allows for aninvestigation of the domestic landscape. Split between thepublic and the private, the house became a double helix:two loops, each belonging to different social spheres rotatedagainst one another to interlock their forms. Their adjacencyallows for a bridge between the public social face and theprivate intimate realm.

The private is a solid ring, cloaked in birch plywood. Thefacade cracks back at distinct moments to reveal aperturesbeneath the patterned skin. Dealing with a sectional arrange-ment, the ends become vertical circulation spaces with theupper deck as a privileged vantage of private living, and thelower subterranean level as protective sleeping and bathing.The in-between realm of the public is perpetually traversedto link the inhabitant to the social contract of societal partici-pation.

The between realm exists in a dual interior and exterior con-dition. The traditional yard and elevated porch become exte-rior public spaces, housing a patio for grilling, and an autocourt in addition to the cultivated lawn and alley of tress. Theinterior realm is enclosed within an undulating glass ring -responding to the movement of the interior operable walls.The interior encircles a central gravel courtyard. The innerpublic space, as a continuous loop folding around itself, hasthree rubber partition walls. Constructed out of a series ofoperable vertical structural poles, encompassed in a wovenflexible rubber membrane of standard rubber bands, the wallis able to undulate base on desire. The architecture physi-cally reacts to the occupation.

Vertical poles, running from floor to ceiling hold alternatinghooks upon which the rubber band is stretched. The polesare inset in a sliding track in the floor and ceiling, laterallyspaced based upon the minimum tension of the elastic rangeof the rubber band. As a force is applied to a single pointalong a pole, the rubber band deflects, ultimately drawingthe adjacent poles with it approximating the force across theremainder of the membrane. The action causes a diffusedreaction across the entire surface.

The suburban house becomes uniquely American in its iden-tity. The realm of the individual is defined and demarcatedby an architecture that celebrates our social rituals. The mu-table surface of inter-laced rubber bands, overlaid with theprogram and activities of the domestic realm fabricate thecollective composition of the rubber-banded house.

position 1

position 2

position 3

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mutable wall sequences

12

3

5

13

14

169

10

17

12

11

8

4

1

2

3

4

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7

13

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interior courtyard

operable energy

2" steel pipe column - roof struts

polished concrete roof

recessionary roof overhang

gravel

porch

parapet roof

interlocking rubber band wall

flexible interior

operable glass panel

fixed glass panel

stress pole - vertical .5" stainless steel

inset sliding track

radiat slab on grade - polished conrete

suburban lawn

concrete pier foundation

compacted gravel

earth

6

7

15

1819

porch column field transparent wall striated operable rubber wall interior occupation operable interior transparent wall court

sequen

ce mirror

waterproof membrane20

20

internal drain21

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