ICF For Single Family Residence
The Insulated Concrete Form is well suited to the construction of the single family residence. In this blog post we show a strategy for a new type of SFR in which an elongated integrated 'porte cochere' is fashioned out of ICF decking and doubles as the main entrance to the house. Situated above this porte cochere is the sleeping wing of the house dividing the residence front to back, and private / public zones. What has been sorely lacking in the traditional suburban development is the high privacy wall on the lot boundaries. We correct that with the ICF block to create a walled garden in the back of the house as shown below.
Americans are indubitably neighborly as when called for by the situation. However this is not to say that they do not much prefer privacy over forced conviviality. The ICF wall makes possible construction of the high garden wall transforming the back quarters of the house into a pleasant private courtyard like space as one might find in the Roman domus of the antique world or the courtyard centered house dominant into only recently in the world of the Orient.
The living area of the home is so devised as open out onto this courtyard garden through a vast expanse of glass which you can feasibly do now either by way of the huge plate glass one finds in
so many storefronts or with extruded aluminum mullion systems so popular with commercial structure architects. Please click on the top image to view the full set of exterior and interior SFR images.
As well clicking on the image below brings up a set of construction images showing how the house walls can be easily built with ICF block and how the floors as well can be all concrete in this case using the Quadlock Deck system. Quadlock has an in house design group which can assist in building design, floor joist calculations, and offer a variety of technical expertise.
As can be seen in the construction image, Quadlock's deck system can just as well work as a cantilever making possible creation of a balcony of quite appreciable depth.
