Pyramodule - My Building Experience

MY BUILDING EXPERIENCE

(Frank Maiello, Designer)

Having purchased a nice piece of land on a virgin wooded island in Canada's Ottawa River, and after years of staying in a tent, I sat down one day in front of an early evening campfire and proceeded to design my home away from home. Being an architectural engineer, I thought it was about time for me to put my talent to use for myself, and come up with a building I could be proud of.
There were many things to consider. Under the circumstances, the project required satisfying the need to create a sturdy and inexpensive yet handsome looking structure that my wife and child would want to live in, since they were not yet acclimated to living in a tent for any extended period of time in wilderness conditions.
Before any design project, I'd always prime myself with the approach taken by Frank Lloyd Wright, using his famous axiom: 'form follows function,' which I combined with the German architect Mies' idea that 'less is more.' This time, the almost immediate result was an incredibly simple and versatile solution which combined two very basic design concepts that were never--at least to my knowledge--combined before! Namely, the post and beam frame with standard hip roof and the joining of the roof overhang with the floor, eliminating the vertical walls. This effectively opened up the interior, adding otherwise lost space, as well as created a novel, almost space-age exterior design. Simultaneously--as if miraculously--the structure, by virtue of these simple yet unique combination of design elements, was also wind-resistant, highly structural, maximum cost-effective from the standpoint of material-to-usable-space ratio (therefore cutting down labor simultaniously!), and energy efficient! I knew I was onto something special right away. Then and there I came up with a definitive name: the Pyramodule^TM.
Then came the building experience. Since I had a number of relatively straight cedar trees on my property, I opted to use them for my structural frame. Although the exposed logs in the interior give a nice aesthetic touch, in retrospect I would have rather just gone ahead with commercial lumber, since I have a bad back and did not need to make more work for myself than I had to. Oh, I forgot to mention: the prototype I built was a 14'x14' Pyramodule^TM, and I did it ALONE!

Nevertheless, everything proceeded quite smoothly. I took my time, having devised methods of construction that enabled me to do it myself. I was amazed how innovative I got! I finished the project in about 9 weeks. And my wife and son, as well as our friends, were quite impressed. Aside from the unique design, they were amazed to see how big the interior seemed to be. Firstly, it is admittedly an optical illusion--which is, in of itself, quite advantageous because you can have a relatively modest sized structure and it will push to the limit the materials actually used. To illustrate, a conventional 14'x14' [vertical walled] dwelling will yield a given amount in interior space, as well as LOOK that size; whereas, the 14'x14' Pyramodule^TM yields proportionately larger interior space [due to the angular walls], as well as LOOK EVEN BIGGER than it is! This is because your eye is taken into a sort of depth perspective, instead of being stopped by stark vertical walls. Incidentally, this also indicates that, per board-foot of building material yields the maximum possible cost-effectiveness of any known structure. Not an inch of space is wasted.
Remarkably enough, the need to expand our living space was not as pressing as I thought it would be. Although, we just recently started laying in foundation posts for an add-on 16'x16' Pyramodule^TM. And this is yet another nice feature this design package provides. You can theoretically add as many units as you like, without even fore planning--except of course to have land available to build on.
We're quite happy with our wilderness home, and sure that you'd be happy and proud for your family to own one too!