The HOUSEofCARDS is a design/build project in Arnaudville, Louisiana. The project was conceived as a folly on a rural piece of land and serves as an artist’s retreat for a non.profit community organization. The concept is that of a 16’x16’ self-sufficient Thoreau’s Cabin on a Cajun Walden Pond. Concrete was chosen as the primary material for its longevity and durability. In this way and at the small scale, concrete is a sustainable material because it will not require maintenance and will last indefinitely. Twenty-nine third year and graduate architecture students designed and built the HOUSEofCARDS over two semesters. The concrete was mixed in small batches on the site and poured in 12” lifts. The 10” thick walls are insulated in the middle with 2” of polyisocyanurature foam insulation providing a vapor barrier and thermal break. The walls were dyed the color of earth to blend into the site and contextually textured with the savaged board formwork from a dismantled barn on site. The walls lean at 8 degrees against each other on the corners like a house of cards achieving forced perspectives and scale shifts. Paradoxically, even though the structure is heavy and monolithic, the extensive windows and clerestories imbue the space with lightness as if it had been built with giant’s hands from a deck of cards. The polished concrete floors and salvaged pine butcher block countertops and desk provide a relaxing space for artists and scholars to produce their work. The building has water from a well, electricity from a planned solar array, a mini-split heat-pump, and a compost toilet providing self-sufficiency. In addition to hands-on experience in material properties and processes, the students gained expertise in client and consultant relations, subcontractor coordination, budgeting, and scheduling. Within this small rural outpost, solitude and community unite.

Project photography by Chad Chenier Photography.

Project sponsored by Absolute Concrete Polishing, ADG Engineering, Air Plus, Alchemco, American Institute of Architects-South Louisiana Chapter, Armentor Glass, Associated General Contractors-Construction Educational Trust Fund, Atchafalaya National Heritage Area, Billeaud Companies, Construction Specifications Institute-Acadina Chapter, Dave’s Screen and Window, Delehoussaye Company, Distribution International, Doug Ashy Building Materials, Enterprise Data Concepts, Event Solutions, Grave Hebert Curtis Architects, Fult Coast Air Systems, Holly and Smith Architects, Iberia Rental, JB Mouton Builders, Lambright Construction, Mapei, Metal Head Architectural Metalwork, Oge’s Rent-All Center, Peppers Unlimited, Ramier Architects, Randall J. Herbert & Associates, The Gen Group Construction, and Whitecap.

In 1969 Richard Serra crafted “One Ton Prop,” also known as the House of Cards. The sculpture consists of four 500-pound steel plates approximately 1 inch thick and 48 inches square. The four plates lean on each other with no connections like a house of playing cards.

Fifty-three years later, a group of 27 architecture students has created an 80-ton concrete HOUSEofCARDS to live in. The 10-inch-thick insulated cast-in-place walls are each 12 feet high and 16 or 20 feet long. The fifth “card” is a steel-framed and-clad 20-foot-square roof. Glass infills all of the gaps and openings. The structure is paradoxically both bunker-like and airy.

The constructions share more than a name and rough form. Both rely on a tongue-in-cheek, whimsical name and premise, yet are solidly and massively serious. The dichotomies continue. Sculpture vs. Architecture. Object vs. Space. Craft vs. Industry. Ephemerality vs. Permanence. Monumentality vs. intimacy.

However, whereas one has no function, the other is a dwelling. One resides in a gallery and is viewed. The other is in a rural, secluded setting and is used as a sheltering artist’s retreat. One was cast from steel in one day and the other cast from concrete in 28 days. One is smooth and does not speak of its provenance. The other is imprinted with reclaimed barn wood and speaks of the student’s hands. Two distant cousins.

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•Total weight= 86,240 pounds

•Approx. 24 cubic yards of concrete

•750 pounds of red terracotta concrete powdered dye

•2,070 pounds of reinforcing steel

•3,100 linear feet of #4 rebar

•1,632 square feet of formwork

Honey Locust

Building Institute of ULA