Choosing a contractor
From a construction perspective, there were many challenges concerning the building of this house. Building on an island meant that all materials had to be moved either by boat or over the ice to the location. Ready-mix trucks could not economically be transported by barge to the site so workers had to mix 1200 cubic yards of concrete onsite using small electric 1/3-cubic-yard mixers that kept the noise at night to a minimum. This totaled thousands of batches of high-strength concrete with good consistency between batches over the duration of the project. Cost was important to Massaro as well and after several interviews, Wusatowska-Leighton, a local experienced custom home builder, was selected to do the work. Her ideas were both innovative and cost productive. What she would need to learn about concrete for this project, she accomplished through reading and attending seminars at the World of Concrete.
Constructing the house
Workers spent two months transporting materials and equipment over the ice to the island during the winter of 2004, including concrete aggregates in 1/3-cubic-yard batches at a time. Wusatowska-Leighton measured the ice thickness daily to ensure safe conditions. Construction on the house began in March and was completed on Wright's birthday on June 8, 2007. The last year of construction primarily focused on detailing the inside of the house with woodwork and built-in cabinets, and installing the integrally colored concrete floor topping. Wusatowska-Leighton says the most difficult elements of the construction included the 45-foot clear span living room floor, the 28-foot cantilever, the roof construction over the living room, and the 1500-square-foot skylight in the front entry.
The concrete roof over the living room was supported by two 3-foot-deep concrete beams supported at one end by a wall and at the other end by unequal transfer beams, held in place by a single column. This column also supported the floor and the cantilever slab. Wusatowska-Leighton adds that the cantilever was difficult to form because some of the shoring had to be secured under water on the lake's bottom. The design of the house presented challenges also with its series of intersecting triangles and no 90-degree corners anywhere. This precluded the use of standard forming systems for both walls and decks (or ceilings). All forms were constructed with plywood, 2x4s, and 4x4 wood shores for single use.
The largest concrete placement was the 200-cubic-yard combined living room floor and cantilever deck slab. It had to be completed in one placement, so it required 50 workers and eight concrete mixers, alternating every six hours of work with two-hour sleep breaks for 36 hours in order to complete the work. Wusatowska-Leighton says they needed a minimum of 8000 psi compressive strength but actual strengths were close to 9000 psi. When slab strengths reached 3000 psi, the PT reinforcement was tensioned.
Wusatowska-Leighton considers the skylight area just inside the front door to be the single most challenging part of the construction. Cabinetmakers built the forms using cabinet-grade plywood for the 23-foot-long architectural beams supporting the windows. The forms joined one another at many complex intersections, requiring very close attention to detail. Workers took a month and a half to fabricate the forms and another three weeks to assemble them in place. After the concrete placement, PT reinforcement provided the tensile strength to hold everything in position.
Heinz says that the entire roof for the house is flat. Rainwater rolls over the edges of the roof, runs down the copper soffit, and falls to the ground. "The structure was too complicated to design a pitched roof, even one with an 1/8-inch per foot pitch," he says. An 80-mil-thick UV-resistant green-colored poly vinyl chloride (PVC) membrane glued to the concrete waterproofs the deck.
The home today
RESIDENTIAL CONCRETE presents articles that discuss the "how" and "why" of the construction process, as well as promoting the advantages of living in concrete homes. However, we rarely comment on the aesthetics and design. But in this case, some comment should be made.
For a 1950-style design, this house is still ahead of its time. Wright often designed homes with large common areas and small private spaces, such as the bedrooms, bathrooms, and kitchens. When you walk to the front door of this home, the space gets smaller and smaller, and by the time you reach the door you feel somewhat confined. Then you enter into a large entry area and are flooded with light from the 1500-square-foot skylight. The space in the entertainment and living area is large--true to Wright's philosophy. There also is a great view of the lake, but sight from the water into the house is limited. On the deck at the end of the cantilever slab, you are over the water with a great 280-degree view of the lake. The bedrooms are adequate in size and each one has a private outside patio area. The kitchen also feels very comfortable and the wall formed by the whale rock is one of a kind.
The Massaros, Heinz, and Wusatowska-Leighton paid great attention to the details-holding true to Wright's original plans. This is evident especially in the design and installation of the wood detail work that adds great warmth to the concrete. You are left with the impression that this would be a great home to live in.
Editor's Note: RESIDENTIAL CONCRETE first wrote about this project in March 2005 in "Building a New Frank Lloyd Wright Home."
Project Participants
- Owner: Barbara and Joe Massaro, Mahopac, N.Y.
- Designer: Frank Lloyd Wright
- Architect of Record: Thomas A. Heinz AIA, Mettawa (Libertyville), Ill.
- Structural Engineer: Augie Mosiman, Albuquerque, N.M.
- Contractor: C&L General Construction, Mahopac, N.Y.
