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Le Chateau
de Lumiere
An Architect's Experiment In Beauty And Practicality
by
Freda Parker
Photographs by Rick D'Elia
"A very
satisfying experiment!" That's how Rick Crandall, MDI's consulting architect,
describes the construction of his new Monolithic Dome home in Lehi, Arizona,
that he and wife Melody call Le Chateau de Lumiere or Castle
of Light.
Rick readily
admits that between January 3, 2000 and January 3, 2001 he and Melody
and their contractor Robert Johnson of Stetson Construction were not just
building another Monolithic Dome home. "The purpose of this project was
to do things that had not yet been done in other domes," he says. "We
had three goals -- or areas of testing.
"The
first test was social acceptance. We purposely applied and didn't
withhold any funds from architectural treatment because we wanted to measure
or gauge the acceptance of domes as homes by people from very exclusive
neighborhoods. And we found that while everyone has not accepted them
100%, we got a very high approval rating. So, domes are appealing to a
different market, to people from homes twice the size and cost of ours."
An original
photograph of a French farmhouse inspired the exterior and interior motif
of the Crandalls' castle, consisting of a central core structure flanked
by two, Monolithic Dome towers. Rick says, "The only difference between
our design and the Seventeenth Century original is that the original had
conical pieces atop its towers, while we have domes."
A glazed outer
wall, 14 feet high and 16 feet wide, in what looks like glass block, but
is really more energy-efficient plastic, fronts the central, two-story,
core section. It allows a tremendous amount of light to penetrate the interior.
But besides that, its sparkling translucency inspires a compelling expectation
-- one simply must open that front door and see beyond.
Inside the
curved entry hall, a huge mural depicting water gently falling into a
garden pond adds to the drama and feeling of spaciousness. At the other
end of the core, a curved kitchen, that opens onto a patio, echoes the
shape of the entry hall.
A winding
stairway intersects the middle of the entry area and curls gently up to
the second floor balcony. Throughout the core, graceful arches and areas
built curvilinearly complement each other and the rounded dome look of
the exterior.
The two Monolithic
Dome towers, each with a diameter of 23 feet and vertical walls 16 feet
high, have no internal partitions on either their first or second floor.
Instead, they are divided horizontally so that each dome houses two, very
large rooms: south tower with family room and master bedroom; north with
living room and guest bedroom. Rick says, "We did not subdivide the domes,
and, as far as I know, that has never been done. So, if you lie on your
back, on a bed in one of the bedrooms and look up, you see the whole, completed
dome. That creates its own feeling and character.
"Because
of the way the domes were assembled with a central core but no corridor
space, in our 1900 square feet of living space, we actually have fewer
rooms than in our previous house, but each room is much larger," he adds.
Their second
goal or area of testing involved experimenting with different construction
means and methods. They experimented a lot with attachments, looking for
the best, most economical ways in which to do them. Sometimes they used
proven procedures. But at other times, they would complete the attachment
and mechanically break it and start over.
Rick says, "In
some cases, we actually tore the house apart two or three times in the testing.
We wanted to see what was the best, most economical way of doing things.
We experimented with attaching items to the Airform, the foam and the shotcrete.
We used different bolting methods -- anchor bolts, spikes, and so on. It
was a large experiment. We had a list of 163 things to try or test."
A considerable
amount of effort went into seeing if products manufactured for conventional
homes, such as counter tops,
cabinets, shower curtain rods and drapery hardware could be curved, rounded
or bent and adapted to the dome. "We bent and broke a lot of wood, gypsum
board and Masonite to find what could be curved or bent and how," Rick confesses.
By the end of
the project, Rick claims they had "reeducated" themselves on some of the
oldest wood-bending techniques that date back to the 19th and 20th centuries.
These included steaming wood and kerfing -- a boat-building skill that removes
thickness from the back of wood to make it bendable. Rick says, "These are
old, old skills that are now being revised and that you wouldn't normally
see in new houses these days."
Another experiment
involved a metal, three-foot-long, return-air grill they had to install
in a very tight curve in the entry hall. Rick says, "We shopped for a grill
to fit that spot. None was available. So we began experimenting with what
was available, and we ruined a lot of grills. Finally, Robert took a grill
home one night and, just with his fingers, began gently manipulating it,
and he got it into the shape we needed."
Rick and Robert
documented and photographed as they worked. Rick also inspected, as did
the assigned building inspectors from Mesa, Arizona and other interested
officials and professionals, including fire and police departments and out-of-town
builders.
The third
goal is really an ongoing test. Its purpose is to test the thermal
capability of a Monolithic Dome home built in a high heat climate. Rick
says, "Most residence domes, so far, have not been built in high heat
conditions. So we installed sensors into the soil, foundation and walls
that will measure temperature variations, solar cycles and humidity. It
will take several years to collect this data, but it will give us a practical
sense for why the domes are so energy efficient -- especially in high
heat areas."
Meanwhile,
Melody and Rick will continue enjoying life as king and queen of their
Castle of Light -- a beautiful, ultra-modern version of a traditional
farmhouse -- set not in a cool French valley but in sunny, often steamy
Arizona.
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