Affleck House Analysis

[g.dorn]

Interestingly , the elevations don't seem to be showing the height of the workspace roof - any guesses what it is?

and, does the wc/powder room have the same height ceiling?

[Tom]

Workspace estimate vertical height:

From the main level elevation the brick walls of the workspace top out at about 14'-4"
About 2'-4" down from that is located the steel lintel that carries the brick over glass windows that light the workspace from above.
So I'd say the ceiling of the workspace is at least 12'-0"

The red hatched line on the Main Level with the Loggia closeets is the wall below on ground level not steel above cupboards.

[Matt2]

Fascinating information and images.

Is there a backstory on the evolution of the Sandwich wall? It is clearly not structural...right? The stepped quality, to my untrained eye, would make it much less than stable and certainly poor at insulating the interior (not a big concern at that time). Most of all, it looks to be a real fussy thing to construct. So why would Wright adopt this technique?

[SDR]

I wonder if that furniture piece in the above photo is Wright's. I think probably not. A furnishings and cabinetry sheet could answer that question.

S

[g.dorn]

Here is screen shots of 3D construction model so far. - Its just massing at this stage - details such as steel and timber framing, doors /windows added next.

Hope these are of interest.
classic gully shot
affleck classic pose by g dorn, on Flickr

Living Section
Affelck Section living 3D by g dorn, on Flickr

Long Section
Affleck section long 3D by g dorn, on Flickr

Deck Birds eye view
Affleck W 3D by g dorn, on Flickr

Private side
affleck 3D NW by g dorn, on Flickr

[SDR]

The Usonian sandwich wall is indeed structural; look at the street-side wall at Jacobs I, which supports the roof. Perhaps the corner return there was intended in the architect's mind to stiffen that wall, though there is nothing but nails (?) holding its mitered corner together.

The earliest houses were drawn with vertical boards as the core; if these were straight there would be no difficulty in keeping the wall plumb. Plywood soon supplanted the boards, though construction photos of Richardson (1941) being built with a board core. Today's CDX construction plywood can arrive at the site curved rather than flat; alternating in and out bends to compensate would not help much, as it would with individual boards. The wise carpenter would not stick with "crown up, and out" in this case---if he wanted a plumb and flat (i.e., load-bearing) wall !

Sheets of building paper on either side of the core were intended to stop air in/exfiltration, possibly an issue with board cores at least; whether Wright imputed insulation value to this material I don't know.

S

[SDR]

Throughout his long career Mr Wright seemed intent upon trying, at least once, every possible variation on an aesthetic or constructional theme. We see this in the endless variety of roof fascia or fireplace designs, to name just two details among many. The elevated concrete slab at Affleck vs the mill-deck-like floor at Sturges represents just one more example of this restless exploration ?

S

[Tom]

Workspace height again:

According to the south western elevation drawing there is a window placed as high up in the brick walls as one can get and still have a roof.
I thnk that puts the interior ceiling of the workspace some inches above 13ft

[g.dorn]

I sometimes wonder that Mr Wright was very keen on Timber framing- but wanted to push its boundaries. The board and batten is very similar to the slab walls of barns - he just eliminated the grits, sills and studs, and added in inner and outer finish.
Even some the cantilevers suggest derivative of hammer beam trusses.

GivenHe spent a fair bit of time in Japan, and Japan was still timber framing back then, he would have seen the marvellous timber structures they built - with light weight in fill walls.

vertical slab walls




hammer beam truss


Japanese pavilion


Japanese 'Minka' interior - note diagonals and unit based layout

[g.dorn]

Workspace height again:

According to the south western elevation drawing there is a window placed as high up in the brick walls as one can get and still have a roof.
I thnk that puts the interior ceiling of the workspace some inches above 13ft

Thanks Tom

I watched youtube video which showed roof from above - and it showed the workspace roof as being level with top of the brickwork, So I did that figuring the roof was 1 unit deep ( 228mm)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zp6otjLCsQM

[g.dorn]

FRAMING PLAN



<snip>

On this Framing sketch of the steel layout, it says NOTE: all 10" I + C beams are flush on top .....etc

then there is section sketch showing the 6" C butting into 10" I beam - are they flush on top of bottom?

this looks like its for loggia floor

what about the living floor - it has 6 x 2 Channels - where are they positioned in relation to the 10" beams

I suppose more succinctly - are the intermediate 6" C beams supporting the concrete floor or the timber soffit below? -

I = Universal beams , C = Channel

also at the top of the sheet is an elevation of 20" long 6 x 3 3/8 I beam - where do these go?

prelim of steel for floor inserted into model

Affleck steel prelim 3D by g dorn, on Flickr

[g.dorn]

Prelim of carport roof steel in model.

This pretty simple - I wonder how the timber framing part of it works?

Affleck carport steel prelim by g dorn, on Flickr

[g.dorn]

Whilst doing this steel, I started wondering how they went about staging the different elements in the build

was the concrete slab installed before the upper brickworks such the brickwork sits on the slab -

or

was it all brickwork installed first, then steel then concrete.

Any thoughts?

[g.dorn]

Carport roof framing.

carport roof framing 3D by g dorn, on Flickr

I need to find a nicer colour for the brickwork

[Tom]

On this Framing sketch of the steel layout, it says NOTE: all 10" I + C beams are flush on top .....etc

then there is section sketch showing the 6" C butting into 10" I beam - are they flush on top of bottom?

this looks like its for loggia floor

what about the living floor - it has 6 x 2 Channels - where are they positioned in relation to the 10" beams

I suppose more succinctly - are the intermediate 6" C beams supporting the concrete floor or the timber soffit below? -

I = Universal beams , C = Channel

also at the top of the sheet is an elevation of 20" long 6 x 3 3/8 I beam - where do these go?

prelim of steel for floor inserted into model

Models look great. Big contribution to the forum. Thank you.

The detail that shows the channels dropped down has lines with arrows pointing to their locations that extend from the logia into the living room.
I have assumed that the dropped channel is making room for wood framing, but the dropped distance is only 3.5" - not too much.

So whereas most I to C connections are flush on top, there are some exceptions where the C is dropped.

I've been wondering what the concrete was poured on top of. I'm sure it wasn't corrugated steel decking. I think at that time sub-flooring was still 1X boards laid diagonally. If so then maybe the underside of the boards aligned with the top of the steel and they poured the concrete directly on the diagonal wood sub floor .... I have no idea really.

Also have no idea where those 20ft long beams are placed.

Yes - the carport framing is simple, but still amazes me. I mean who else would have thought to do something like that in 1940? Most of the load of that roof is taken by ONE cantilevered beam with a whole lot of brick on top. The other two beams, technically, are simply supported, that is supported at two locations.