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Precedent Analysis arc 572

UT Solar Decathlon 2009 Ralph Rapson Case Study House #4 I 1945

01 Case Study House No. 4, the “Greenbelt House”

• Case Study House #4, “Greenbelt House”

• Designed 1945

• Never executed • Approximately 1800 square foot, including roofed interior “greenbelt”

• Widely considered one of the most progressive of the Case Study

Houses

02 Floorplan of “Greenbelt House”

ARCHITECT I PLACE+PROGRAM I SPACE+ORDER I CONSTRUCTION

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biography regional context urban context primary structural system influence building typology building diagrams secondary structural system

bibliography environmental context interior conditions mechanical systems

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01 Ralph Rapson

Ralph Rapson was born in 1914 in Alma, Michigan. He is one of the

world’s oldest practicing architects, and also one of the most prolific. His work is predominantly in the Modernist style, but Rapson also held

a deep appreciation for vernacular and traditional building types.

Rapson was educated at the University of Michigan and Cranbrook

Academy of Art under Eleil Saarinen. Rapson led the architecture

department of the New Bauhaus School in Chicago and practiced in Cambridge, Massachusetts, Stockholm, and Paris before becoming

head of the architecture school at the University of Minnesota in 1954.

Some of Rapson’s most visible projects include the United States

embassies in Stockholm and Copenhagen, both 1954, the Pillsbury House, 1963, the Guthrie Theater, 1963, the Cedar Square West

housing complex, 1962-1973,and Rarig Center, 1971.

He also designed furniture and accessories for Knoll Furniture in the

1940s, took place in the Case Study House program, and had his own

furniture line in the 1950s.

As of 2007 Ranson’s office, Ralph Rapson & Associates continues to

work on a variety of projects.

02 Rapson’s Glass Cube


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• Case Study House #4 was based “on the premise that it must create

its own environment—and it must look completely in rather than look out.”

• The house reduced to a microcosm Buckminster Fuller’s Autonomous

Living Package (an artificial environment created under cover to shelter

great numbers of people)

01 Early diagram of interior courtyard scheme


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Architecture, “Ralph Rapson Rules.” March 15, 2005.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dymaxion_House, “Dymaxion House.”

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ralph_Rapson, “Ralph Rapson.”

Hession, Jane King. Ralph Rapson: 60 Years of Modern Design. Afton

Historical Society Press: Afton, Minnesota. 1999.

http://livemodern.com/modernblogs/

fa2bbea55fb132e01e1fd8cc90718aeb/, “Rapson Greenbelt by Weiler.”

http://materialicio.us/2007/08/30/the-glass-cube-ralph-rapson/, “The

Glass Cube.”

McCoy, Esther. Case Study Houses: 1945-1962. Hennessey and

Ingalls, Inc: Los Angeles, CA. 1977.

http://wieler.com/homes/rapson-greenbelt

01 Late study for Case Study House #4


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• Single family

• Single-story: living-dining, kitchen, 3 bedrooms, 2 baths • Two pavilions: public and private

01 Exterior of Greenbelt House

02 Public and Private pavilions, bisected by greenbelt


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• Integration of inside and outside with “greenbelt”

“It seems fundamental to bring nature within the house—not in small, pretty planting areas, but in a large scale that will do justice to

nature.”

--Ralph Rapson

• Adjustable louvres below the glass controlled the amount of light and

heat in the in the interior courtyard • All interior walls except those surrounding the bathrooms could be

folded up to open up the house to the courtyard

01 Wall Types: Solid, Opaque, and Operable 02 Model suggesting how nature could be brought into the greenbelt


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• Designed for a hypothetical city lot in a built-up neighborhood

• Only case study house not specified for an open suburban lot • All of the rooms were positioned towards a central glass-enclosed

courtyard, which provided a focal point for all of the rooms, a built-in

view, and privacy from the neighboring houses

• Late studies considered elevating the house to provide parking

underneath, although the final design was only story and had parking beside the house

01 Late study proposing parking underneath the house 02 Late study proposing parking underneath the house


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• Open plan

•Kitchen is the “heart” of living activities, so it is positioned to give direct visual control over entire house

•Two parallel pavilions, public and private, bisected by “greenbelt”

01 Open floorplan

04 Building Diagrams

02 Kitchen Diagram 03 Public/Private Diagram


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03 Initial interior relationship diagrams

02 Model suggesting how nature could be brought directly into the

house

• Bringing nature inside the house would help to overcome the disadvantages of the city lot and would offer a built-in view while

giving the family a space in which to pursue healthful leisure-time

activities

•Kitchen: emphasis on functionalism, efficiency, and space

articulation—large amount of storage and counter space, room for deep freezer, washer and dryer, ironing board, etc.

• Beds and storage units in bedrooms were completely mobile

• Furniture will be designed by the architect and kept lightweight and

mobile

• Bright, textured fabrics used inside to compliment the lively façade • Greenbelt: could be planted, or could have emphasis on space for

additional living—pool table, small pool, etc.

01 Postwar Americans pursuing leisure-time activities


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• Wood or steel post and beam framing

01 Section showing the four basic functions of the house 02 Wall

Section

03 Post and beam framing

system


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•No fixed interior walls except those around the bathrooms

•The use of folding walls permitted each area complete privacy or

physical and visual enlargement of the entire enclosed space

01 Detail of folding wall 02 Perspective of bedroom opening up to greenbelt


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• The floor would be warmed by either radiant heat under glazed tile or

by a circulating hot-water system under a concrete pad • Adjustable louvres below the glass controlled the amount of light and

heat in the in the interior courtyard

• Wooden slats covered exterior glazing for shading

01 Louvres of greenbelt roof/ slats over exterior glazing


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• Wood or steel frame, depending on the family’s budget, painted light

grey • Facade of prefabricated panels: a flexible, interchangeable

combination of fixed or moving panels of glass (opaque or clear),

plywood, and brightly painted Cemesto board

• Plaster ceilings, painted off-white

• Frosted glass ceilings with concealed fluorescent light in bathrooms • Cool-lite wire glass or thermag semi-vacuum insulated glass roof over

“greenbelt”

• Stainless steel countertops, sliding wood cabinets

• Greenbelt: extensive plantings, very little, or completely paved, as the

family saw fit

01 Study of the roof section

02 Elevation showing various materials


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Prototype

• Unfortunately, the house was never built. There were questions of budget and aesthetic sensibilities.

• However, it was constructed at the Museum of Contemporary Art in

Los Angeles in 1989 for the exhibition Blueprints for Modern Living:

History and Legacy of the Case Study Houses

• It also influenced several later designs: • Edward Killingsworth designed interior courts reminiscent of

“Greenbelt”

• Rapson submitted an updated version of his Case Study House #4,

which he called The Greenbelt, to the Dwell Home Invitational in 2003.

02 Influence of the greenbelt in Edward Killinagsworth’s architecture 01 The Greenbelt House constructed at the Museum of Contemporary

Art in 1989

• The public responded so favorably to the updated home that

Wieler is selling a series of Rapson Greenbelt homes, improved

with almost 60 years of experience in architecture and design and updated to take advantage of the latest modular construction

technologies. The Greenbelt is available in several different

configurations, and is typically built in a factory then delivered and

assembled at your home site.


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01 Updated versions of the Rapson Greenbelt available through Wieler

02 Updated versions of the Rapson Greenbelt available through Wieler


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