Concrete evidence

Custom Home, July-August, 2002 by Shelley D. Hutchins

"This wall came from a desire to intrigue people at many different levels," says architect Joy Cuming. "It's visually stimulating as well as tactile." She and partner Alan Dodge of Architects Studio Limited in Wellfleet, Mass., needed a strong core to support the hillside home. Builder Ed McPartland, who now is part of Architects Studio Limited, had worked frequently with concrete and suggested it for its strength and insulating qualities.

Dodge designed a radiating geometrical pattern for the wall to reflect 45-degree angles found throughout the home. The partners built forms for the poured concrete of MDO board and studs linked with fiberglass ties, then finished them with pieces of Masonite, wax, and a releasing agent that allowed them to pull cleanly away leaving the pattern intact. Shadows cast by monopoint spotlights dramatize the pattern's relief. Colored pigments infuse the wall with sandy tones and the floors with a terra-cotta-like hue.