Sea Glass was envisioned after Hurricane Sandy destroyed the Smith’s Jersey Shore home.  The bayside property is located on a narrow stretch of Barnegat Bay Island, which was washed out by tidal waters during the storm.

The new three story, 2,500 sf residence, elevated fourteen feet above base flood elevation, sits atop eight 18” diameter poured in place concrete columns and is constructed of board formed cast in place concrete.  Beneath the columns a grade beam connects thirty-one pilings driven twenty-five feet into the soil.  The project required 255 cubic yards of concrete for the home and exterior rear perimeter wall.

Concrete was the immediate choice of material for this rebuilding project; its strength and durability ideal for coastline conditions, its sustainability attractive for long-term value, and its sculptural qualities offering a natural and unique beauty. The mix design included Cradle to Cradle™ Certified hydrophobic and corrosion resistant admixtures to insure long term wear, performance and attractiveness, as exposed concrete was to be the finished surface of the home’s interior and exterior walls, floors and ceilings.  The mix also featured 3/8” coarse aggregate and a viscosity-modifying admixture to insure the concrete would easily flow amid the extensive rebar reinforcement and also insure a well defined imprint of the wood boards used to line the formwork.  Concrete mix quality was monitored at the batch plant and on site to insure compliance with air entranement, water content and slump design criteria. 

Horizontal spans are designed to a 5,000 psi minimum compressive strength and vertical walls are 4,000 psi.  Cylinders were taken at time of pour and sent to batch facility to break post pour at the 7 and 30-day mark to confirm compressive strength requirements were achieved.

Concrete in the project is reinforced by thirty-one tons of epoxy-coated rebar.  Four concrete beams connect the columns front to back at the first level, allowing the extended supporting column spans.  At the front elevation, the first floor slab appears to float above the ground as it is stepped back from the mid point of the 18’ tall columns and is supported only by the beams.  This was achieved in the field using form savers inside the steel column forms that were connected to the main structure subsequently, at the time the beams were poured.  Inside the home finish free column forms were used for the 12” diameter supporting columns, imparting a marble-like finish upon form removal.

An Energy Star Certified hydronic geothermal system provides heating, cooling and domestic hot water to the home.  Three 300’ deep ground loops are connected at a manifold beneath the grade beam and enter the home through one of the rear concrete columns.  Radiant heat tubing is embedded in the polished concrete floors, which contribute to several US Green Building Council LEED V4 criteria.  A monolithic layer of insulation is integrated seamlessly within all the vertical walls, using a patented system of connectors and positioning devices to create an insulation sandwich between the interior and exterior concrete wythes.  The resulting insulated concrete walls create a thermal mass that maintains warm air in the winter and cool air in the summer.  The goal of these renewable and energy efficient systems is an energy positive concrete building with LEED Platinum qualification.

At the third level, a 24’ x 20’ opening reinforced by surrounding concrete beams allowed the building to receive three 20’ high cube double door shipping containers, modified to serve as the master bedroom of the home.  A 650 sf concrete terrace and railing surrounds the container structure, the slab and interior space beneath protected by a waterproof roofing membrane, rigid insulation and concrete paver tiles.

Light channels, an art hanging track and curtain rails are cast into the board formed concrete ceilings to conceal system hardware.  The home’s plumbing and electrical is concealed within the concrete via conduit and chases.  Specially designed light channels fill and seal the holes left by formwork ties and channel light into the home during the day and glow up outside at night from interior lighting. An exterior concrete balcony and railing cantilever from the first floor living area overlooking the back yard and rear perimeter wall, which features cast in planters.

A young family commissioned ELA to transform their two bedroom apartment into a three bedroom light filled art gallery.

ELA transformed this family’s weekend residence, situated on the Mianus River to take full advantage of its picturesque setting.  Each room is afforded an expansive view and access to outdoors.  Pool and terraces were reimagined to flow seamlessly from the interior.  Many of the spaces were redesigned to showcase the owner’s collection of art and mid century modern furnishings.  ELA created a custom LED light art wall at the end of the main gallery, which features a subtle glowing ever changing light program.

An homage to the late Cornell astronomy professor Carl Sagan, Cosmos is a site-specific installation by New York–based artist Leo Villareal (born 1967), a pioneer in the use of light-emitting diodes (LEDs) and computer-driven imagery. His signature pieces explore complex movement and dazzling patterns created by points of light using his own computer software.

Planning for Cosmos began in November 2010, when Villareal—along with the project architect, Walter Smith, and donors Lisa and Richard Baker—worked with Johnson Museum staff to determine the optimal location for the installation. The ceiling of the Sherry and Joel Mallin Sculpture Court was chosen for its high visibility not only on campus but also from the city of Ithaca. After studying the Museum’s architectural plans and considering structural and aesthetic aspects of the installation, the artist’s team returned to Cornell in April 2012 to install a nine-foot-square mock-up. Installation of the final piece took several weeks, with twelve thousand energy-efficient LEDs on a gridded framework attached to the ceiling of the sculpture court. A zero gravity bench was designed by the artist for viewers to fully immerse themselves in the viewing experience and to foster a more communal involvement with his installation. Villareal gave a public lecture to mark the opening of the installation.

Villareal’s works reinterpret fundamental components of such twentieth-century art movements as pop, minimalism, conceptual, and post-painterly abstraction while responding to the ingenuity and imagination that defines technology in the twenty-first century. Among his most notable site-specific works are the illumination of the exterior of the Brooklyn Academy of Music (2006), Multiverse in the Concourse walkway between the East and West Buildings at the National Gallery of Art (2008), and Sky at the Tampa Museum of Art (2009). Villareal recently completed a Metropolitan Transportation Authority commission in the Bleecker Street/Lafayette Street subway station in Manhattan. His largest installation to date is The Bay Lights, illuminating the West Span of the San Francisco Bay Bridge for its 75th anniversary in 2013.

Andrea Inselmann
Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art

In September, 2011, Education Lab Architects completed a new 43,000 sf facility for Waterside School, a privately funded k-5 school in Stamford, Connecticut for children too often underserved.  The school’s design is based on the highest level of LEED Platinum principles, yielding a building filled with the healthiest of tangible and intangible components of light, air and acoustics.  The new Waterside School has immediately generated universal acclaim for its simple elegance in form, as well as its advanced functionality.

Waterside School was and continues to be a project near and dear to our firm and goals for educational projects.  By working closely with the very dedicated group of Waterside School stakeholders and their unique program, our goal was to create a building that truly exemplified this incredible group of students, faculty, administrators and board members and would help them propel forward with their ambitious mission.  We take great pride that we met the challenge posed by the school’s restricted budget (and a year of unprecedented weather extremes) and successfully delivered a building that is the pride and joy of the school and surrounding community on time and on budget.

For over three decades, James Turrell has used light and indeterminate space – not objects or images – to extend and enhance perception.

The Baker Pool was the first project of its kind by James Turrell in the United States and he has cited it as a significant piece.  The artist explained, “The idea is not so much illusion as trying to create another reality.  A Daydream…it’s a little bit like what happens when you read or listen to music – this expansion of space into the realms of dream space, this idea of how we superimpose this dream state upon the conscious reality.” 

The pool itself is housed in a freestanding building designed specifically for Turrell’s work by architect Walter Patrick Smith.  The large, barn-like structure was built with reclaimed lumber and rock and Mr. Smith’s design evolved in complete collaboration with Turrell to yield an ideal and sublime integration of art and architecture.

The pool is found in the lower story of the building, but the ambient, audio portion of the work of art is heard upon entering the cavernous space of the building’s first floor. Light works by Turrell include a complex series of programs that alter the light and sound throughout the pool area and its attendant rooms so that the viewer experiences the work of art as an integral part of the building.

Subsequent to the completion of Baker Pool, Turrell has worked on similar projects for other important collectors, indicating the success of the critical reception to this piece.

Since 1972, Harry P. Carpenter and Sons, the Carpenter family's Heating and Air Conditioning business, has been located at 72 Dyke Lane in Stamford's General Industrial District.  In 2015, the family commissioned ELA to evolve its business headquarters to the "Carpenter Center," providing expanded services in the HVAC industry.  To accommodate this expansion, ELA designed the new Carpenter Center adding a two-story poured in place concrete addition that maximizes lot coverage and doubles the existing space.  The addition provides on-site parking, storage, manufacturing and loading facilities, as well as office space at the mezzanine level.  In order to maximize site, ELA helped Owner obtain a variance to eliminate the required setbacks and fully utilize the lot.

Squishy Universe was an exhibition organized to create opportunities for permanent placement of art for public benefit.  ELA/Rip Ions was honored to host this exhibition at Miami Art Basel 2009 to raise funds for a series of commissioned art projects for the Waterside School.

The Waterside School (www.watersideschool.org), located in Stamford, Connecticut, is a co-educational K-5 independent school whose mission is to provide children too often underserved access to opportunities for educational and personal excellence and to prepare them, in time, for positions of leadership and responsibility. 

ELA/Rip Ion’s Miami Art Basel 2009 exhibit featured a selection of work from the artists commissioned to create permanent installations throughout Waterside School. 

Current artists commissioned for the school and featured at this exhibition included:  Nils Folke Anderson, Hrafnhildur Arnardottir, Robert Breer, Michael De Feo, Ryan Doyle, Ellis Gallagher, Mimi Gross, Michael Kerschbaumer, Anakin Koenig, Teddy Lo, Fujiko Nakaya, Jason Peters, Meridith Pingree, Erwin Redl, Matthew Schreiber,  Hedi Sorger,  Kai Vierstra, Leo Villareal, Robert Whitman, Richard Wislocky and Heeseop Yoon.

These artists are proud to show a selection of their pieces from the permanent future at ELA/Rip Ions Gallery’s Squishy Universe exhibition 150 NW 24th Street, Miami, Florida.