Reprinted from The Philadelphia Inquirer
Inventor builds modular, plastic-block chateau
By John Markoff
New York Times News Service
Stanley Mazor is one of the architects of the information age, one of three Intel Corp. engineers who invented the original microprocessor, the nerve center for personal computers as well as refrigerators.
So it was not surprising that when Mazor turned his hand to building a vacation house, his approach would be inventive.
The results of his experiment can be seen in the rolling countryside on the outskirts of Ashland, Ore., where he has finished building the first two-thirds of a French chateau, modeled on a 17th-century structure in Normandy. Not being a purist, Mazor, 63, gave the project, which will cost about $2 million, all the pragmatic earmarks of a Silicon Valley engineer.
For example, the house is built not of stone and plaster but largely of polystyrene blocks reinforced with concrete. Much of its decorative trim has been fashioned from extruded plastic foam, and six of the ornate window surrounds on the third floor are made of Corian, material widely used in kitchen countertops.
The materials fit with Mazor's belief that houses should be affordable and modular.
Although building with plastic foam is more expensive than building with wood, and similar in cost to cinder block or brick, the blocks are larger, do not need to be insulated, and offer some advantages. Plaster, for instance, adheres well to them without any preparation.
And modular construction, Mazor said, allows a dwelling to be built over time, a pay-as-you-go approach. His chateau is being built in three phases, but could have been built in as many as six.
He chronicled the project in 2003 in a book, Design an Expandable House: For Present Needs and Future Dreams (Unlimited Publishing, $40).
Mazor, who is retired, sketched his chateau for three years, recording details of buildings he admired on business and pleasure trips to France. He hit upon the idea of building with foam in Japan, when he noticed fast-food containers in a Tokyo alley and began to think about its uses. Later, he discovered insulated-concrete forms.
Mazor's architect, Elvin Spurling, translated his sketches into architectural renderings.
They collaborated, sending sketches and specifications back and forth via e-mail between Mazor's primary home in Los Altos, Calif., and Spurling's office in Prineville, Ore. They did not actually meet until after the first phase of the building was finished.
"I would do a sketch and hit send, and then we could talk about it immediately," Spurling said.
Construction began in 2000. The building, a jumping-off spot for Mazor's rambles around the Northwest, has advanced from the original three-story, 1,800-square-foot "cottage" through Phase 2, a
3,000-square-foot wing, to Phase 3, the final section, under construction.When completed, the house will be 152 feet wide and its 7,800 square feet will allow for six bedrooms, a music room, and a gym. There will be a tower at each end, one designed to house two cars, the other for the kitchen and dining room.
He drew his idea of designing the complete building first and then constructing it in stages from what is called top-down design in the computer world. The chateau is being built with "interfaces." The floor plan locates doors and windows, to make it relatively easy to add on.
The chateau as an architectural form began as a fortified building that could be used to defend an entire village. It was not unusual for chateaus to be surrounded by moats, so Mazor added a bridge across a small stream on his 25-acre estate, which is on the edge of Ashland, a city known for the Oregon Shakespeare Festival.
His land, however, feels remote, and his house is increasingly surrounded by red oaks, birches, poplars and pines that he planted.
He puzzled for a few years over the narrow footprints of chateaus, which present a thorny challenge in laying out rooms. But after many experiments with pencil and graph paper, he decided to adhere to the classic proportions.
In 1997, an article in Architectural Digest about a Normandy chateau caught his eye. He wrote to the owner, a marquis, to ask if he could visit.
On receiving no for an answer, he and his wife flew to Normandy and called again when they were about a half-hour from the chateau. The marquis answered the phone and, in perfect English, told them they were welcome to come by and take photographs.
As Mazor wandered the grounds, he observed that the building had been created in stages. "They originally built it sequentially," he thought to himself. "Why don't I build it sequentially, too?"
Back home, he discovered there were several polystyrene products on the market. He decided on Rastra, which combines recycled foam plastic with a concrete slurry to make a block that is strong, lightweight and highly fire-resistant.
The blocks, which fit like Legos, are first glued together. Concrete is then poured into the resulting channels.
The link between architecture and computer design seemed obvious to Mazor. Computer design has increasingly moved to a higher level of abstraction, and computer architects now work by assembling components like Legos.
And so it was fitting that when the Mazor chateau was under construction, the work crew displayed a Lego banner high above the ground.
Thomas J. Watson - WoodDorker
tjwatson1ATcomcastDOTnet (real email)