Aerial of the shell at full height, the precast planes set and the shoring still under them.
← Leslie House

The Shell

Every heavy thing in this building arrived by crane, over a neighbour's roof, onto a lot with buildings hard against both property lines. There was no lay-down yard, no room to stage, and no second attempt on any pick. The structure is filled-cell CMU on cast-in-place columns, beams and slab on grade, heavy structural steel across the spans, and precast concrete for every other slab in the building — and the hardest part was never the engineering. It was the sequence.

Specification

Primary structure
Filled-cell CMU walls on cast-in-place columns, beams and slab on grade; heavy structural steel beams and joists; precast concrete for every other slab
Structural engineer of record
Nodal Structures — Carlos A. Nodal, Florida PE 49285
Long spans
Structural steel beams and open-web steel joists
Decks
Precast concrete slabs
Roofing
Waterproofing — self-performed by the builder
Site constraint
Infill lot, buildings against both property lines, no lay-down area
Method
Structural material craned in over adjacent roofs

Structure and roofing scope are taken from the permitted trade descriptions. Site and method notes are attested by the builder.

The shell

Steel, then masonry, then precast — in that order.

The permitted A-13 building sections put the entire load path in one view: footings, stacked walls and columns, the…
01The permitted A-13 building sections put the entire load path in one view: footings, stacked walls and columns, the circular stair, folded roof planes and the rooftop pool over the great room. The City of Miami approval stamp is visible on the sheet; the photographs that follow show how that section was assembled in the field.
Structural steel landing on the concrete and block frame. These beams carry the long openings the masonry cannot — the…
02Structural steel landing on the concrete and block frame. These beams carry the long openings the masonry cannot — the ones the finished house needs to look effortless.
The curved roof under shoring — precast planes held exactly where the drawings put them until the welds and grout make…
03The curved roof under shoring — precast planes held exactly where the drawings put them until the welds and grout make the connection permanent. This is the geometry that gives the house its profile from the street.
The deck before the topping pour. The precast slabs are set and grouted, and the reinforcement is tied out across them…
04The deck before the topping pour. The precast slabs are set and grouted, and the reinforcement is tied out across them — mesh, rebar and the conduit that has to be buried before anyone pours over it.

The shell

Around it, then through it.

Filled-cell CMU, poured columns, structural steel and precast, read from the air and then from inside.

Placing concrete. This is the topping that locks the precast slabs into one working floor, and it goes down in a single…
05Placing concrete. This is the topping that locks the precast slabs into one working floor, and it goes down in a single continuous pass — there is no second chance at a topping.
Inside the arch, still shored. The arch arrived precast, in pieces, and the falsework holds it in position until it is…
06Inside the arch, still shored. The arch arrived precast, in pieces, and the falsework holds it in position until it is welded and grouted into one element.
Waterproofing the roof. On a house whose roof is also its ceiling, the membrane is the last line and there is nothing…
07Waterproofing the roof. On a house whose roof is also its ceiling, the membrane is the last line and there is nothing above it to blame.
The pick, from above. A precast element clear of the truck with the street closed underneath it.
08The pick, from above. A precast element clear of the truck with the street closed underneath it.
Flown over the block, downtown on the horizon. There is no side yard here, so everything arrives through the air.
09Flown over the block, downtown on the horizon. There is no side yard here, so everything arrives through the air.
Lowering a panel into the roof opening. It is stencilled 509 — every piece is numbered, because each one fits in…
10Lowering a panel into the roof opening. It is stencilled 509 — every piece is numbered, because each one fits in exactly one place.
Seating a gable: spreader bar, chain slings, and the cast-in plates along the top edge that will hold it there.
11Seating a gable: spreader bar, chain slings, and the cast-in plates along the top edge that will hold it there.
From above, the folded planes read as one surface: the roof turned into the elevation, and the arch cut through the…
12From above, the folded planes read as one surface: the roof turned into the elevation, and the arch cut through the base of it. Photograph by SOOP.
The shell as a 3D print, set on a board with the neighbours blocked out around it. The folded planes read at a glance…
13The shell as a 3D print, set on a board with the neighbours blocked out around it. The folded planes read at a glance in a way no photograph of them does.
And carried out to the street, held against the real block it was drawn for.
14And carried out to the street, held against the real block it was drawn for.
The folded roof, in the 2019 massing. Everything on this page exists to stand that geometry up in precast concrete and…
15The folded roof, in the 2019 massing. Everything on this page exists to stand that geometry up in precast concrete and steel.