The Secret Behind This Malibu Home’s Hard Concrete Shell? Air.

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Project Details:

Location: Malibu, California

Architect: Binishells Inc. / @binishells

Footprint: 6,500 square feet

Builder: Shotcrete Structures Inc.

Interior Construction: All Coast Construction

Structural Engineer: Richmond Hoffmayer

Landscape Design: Planted LA

Interior Architect: Goodman Architects

Interior Design: Fox Nahem

Cabinetry Design: Machine Histories

Photography: Roger Davies / @rogerdaviesphotography

From the Architect: "The Shell Home project in Malibu challenges us to reconsider how we design and build architecture. This project illustrates how natural principles may be used to guide the design process, enhance and simplify construction and improve building performance. We call it ‘Form Finding Functionality’. Air is used to both design and build an asymmetrical thin shell structure quickly and practically. The resulting building is a sculpture for living. Architecturally expressive, highly resilient, far safer and greener, our technologies offer many advantages.

"The construction industry has trailed other major industries with regard to productivity and technology. This has resulted in significant inefficiencies in some of the most basic aspects of construction including safety, speed, affordability and environmental impact. Given buildings account for 30% of the world’s energy consumption, is it not time to rethink how we build and design?

"Our alternative approach deploys a single reusable, preformed pneumatic formwork secured to a foundation and inflated to a specified air pressure. Steel reinforcement and low carbon concrete are added onto the inflated air form. Air pressure is maintained during construction and curing. Once the specified compressive strength is achieved, the formwork is deflated and ready for reuse. Less material and labor are required and construction waste and timelines are reduced, yet the resulting building envelope is more resilient, safer and greener than traditional construction. The building technology exemplified by this project has applications across scales, programs and price points, and articulates a new architectural and construction approach synthesizing design, resiliency and sustainability.

"The Shell Home literally and figuratively emerges from the landscape providing endlessly flowing living spaces tied to views framed by generous organic openings. The project's sinusoidally silhouetted shell is as naturally elegant as it is safe. The building shell curves continuously to articulate sculptural environments and define comfortable, biomorphic spaces. The design approach is derived from natural principles. The resulting form elevates both sensations and performance, and brings us closer to a synergy with nature.

"The dual curvature, monolithic building envelope is much safer and more resilient than traditional envelopes. It carries dead and live loads efficiently and transfers them elegantly along its entire perimeter to the foundation. The building shell is self-supporting, eliminating the need for columns or bearing walls and allowing total flexibility to design and evolve the interior. It is made up of low carbon geopolymer concrete and contains less than half the embodied energy of a similarly sized traditional building. The building envelope is also thermal bridge free and insulated to reduce energy use by as much as 65%. The Shell Home’s high efficiency envelope, siting, landscape and water elements, natural ventilation and day-lighting combine with other passive design elements and active systems to further reduce environmental impact."