Robert Bruno's Steel House

[sculptorsam]

I thought y'all might find this interesting. Robert Bruno has been building-as-he-goes a house out of steel for 28 years now. He has a new website up now which has a good quicktime video/interview/tour. Check it out: http://www.robertbruno.com/

[anne (bxl)]

Very impressive! Wonderful shape but unfortunately no technical information on the process. Did he build it himself? with engineering control? pre-shape foils? what about insulation?
He started 30 years from now, does he live in it finally? Where is it located?

[TMR]

Great link , what a project!!
Anne, if you download the movie, he talks anout the process some, though not about insulation, which I was wondering about as well..
And near the end of the film he talks about a cable come along?
Do you know what that is Sam, It was pretty hard to decipher the words, so I'm guessing..
Thanks for the interesting link.

[ironman]

WOW, what a house, or is it a sculpture? I hope he's a good welder! Someone once said that sculptors are frustrated architects. Well, I think he's a sculptor & an architect. I can't imagine spending 30 years on one project but find this whole thing fascinating, where people spend almost their whole working life on ONE thing. Sort of like Simon Rodia building Watts Towers in L.A., which I visited a few yrs. ago. There are people all over the world doing stuff like that. Sort of makes you want to build something, doesn't it?
I have a book, Fantasy Worlds, by Schaewen & Maizels, published by Taschen.
It's a great book and shows many of these sort of projects all over the world.
Thanks Sam for posting the web site.
Have a great day,
Jeff

[sculptorsam]

The thing I love about projects like this is their energy. I'm not sure if it comes from the single-minded intensity of the creators, from the sheer "differentness" of the idea or perhaps just the love. Things like this make me want to do something crazy myself. Luckily, I have several projects already in mind... :)

I don't believe he mentions insulation anywhere on the new site, but I seem to recall something about putting it between the double skin of the walls. But I'm not sure. He lives near Lubbock, Texas so my concern would be more for heat than cold. I wish he had more biographic/process information on the site. He has built it by himself and hopes to finish in a year or so (this is in the video). I remember reading him saying that he didn't want to create a design in a year and spend 20 years of labor realizing it. Instead, he wanted to spend 20 years designing it as he built it. Since he's in Texas, a crazy land of outlaws and rebels (used to live there myself), he probably didn't have much trouble with building code stuff or the lack of any plans or architectural designs. That's just a guess. Using 1/4 inch plate, he estimates the weight to be 110 tons. It should be overbuilt enough to withstand a hurricane and an earthquake combined.

And a come-along is a hand operated winch with hooks near the body of the winch and on the long, steel cable you wind up. You can use it to secure something to a trailer/truck bed, pull something along by attaching one end to a stabile object, or anything else you can imagine.

Glad you all enjoyed the link. I hope it inspires you to do something crazy/beautiful yourself.

Sam

[fused]

Some friends had an opportunity to visit with Robert Bruno at this site
a few years ago and created a page of images (http://www.buckfunk.com/bruno/). It's very cool.

[Araich]

Fantastic.

It was a shock to see it so close to the road.

[ironman]

Hi Fused, clicked on "page of images", more great pictures, what a place, I too was surprised it was so close to the road. He must get a lot of visitors! Does anyone know why I can't open those boxes with the little red X in the corner.
Jeff

[rderr.com]

[And a come-along is a hand-operated winch with hooks near the body of the winch and on the long, steel cable you wind up. You can use it to secure something to a trailer/truck bed, pull something along by attaching one end to a stabile object, or anything else you can imagine.]

Sam,
Typically a come-a-long is used to string barbed wire. I’ve an uncle that raised Santa Gertrude. Often their first or second calf was too big and a come-a long is also there a useful tool.

Robert

[Julianna]

Very funky. It certainly looks like it's something out of a fantasy novel.

[jwebb]

A beautiful piece of sculpture, but I could not imagine living in it. No place to hang a painting on the wall. What about lightning?

[JAZ]

Nice. The light does good things and it looks like the "house" (in quotes because it's definitely something more meaningful than a house) has been there always and will be always.
Gaudi without the mosaic. Steel is such beautiful stuff. Hard to imagine bending it with only a come along. Thanks.
JAZ

[fritchie]

An amazing building! And he must be an amazing person as well. Sort of like Buckminster Fuller and Frank Gehry folded into one.

I briefly considered non-rectilinear space for my own home many years ago, but the realities of building stopped all consideration of that really quickly. An architecture student I critiqued as a guest many years ago, did use some curves in his own San Francisco home, I’m told, but it takes a special person to do this.

Does he actually USE the place, or just visit? (Visiting certainly is enough!) I had to pick images on the second site just to see anything, as I’m on a dialup, but only one image had anything living, and none showed evidence of occupancy.

And, did anyone pickup on the goggles in the face looking outward? There seems to bea lake below the cliff site in one image. What a piece!

[schuberth]

I was a student of Bruno's in '74 when he started the house. He is a guy in the tradition of Gaudi, thinks very long term. I believe his house is about the process of creating, not being finished. When I left Lubbock in '79 he said he'd be done in five years. Every time anyone asks him when he'll be done he says "about a year", and he's been doing this for about thirty years now. Don't get hung-up about details like insulation, history won't judge him on that item.
He has built this entirely by himself, and if he needs a tool to help, he builds the tool. He once built a crane on top of the house that he controlled with a switch that lowered him into position to make his welds, place the steel, bend the steel. He started with a rough sketch, and then let his sculptural intuition take over.
It is worth a trip out there to see it - bring a camera and lots of film. Talk to the neighbors, they'll give you about a thousand tall tales about him.

[hpatenaude]

ironman,

odd, i always heard it the other way around--everyone has always told me that "all great architects were just frustrated sculptors."

[Spokaneman]

Interesting that I ran across this. I traveled to Lubbock quite a bit in the late 70's early 80's. A guy I worked with lived fairly close to this place. I remember driving by and thinking hummmmmm. Needless to say the neighbors in more conventional housing were less than impressed. I had forgotten about it until a guy at work sent a web site of other unusual houses. I Googled "lubbock steel house" and there it was.

Must be interesting in a west Texas hail storm.

[sculptor]

Ain't he done yet?

[iron ant]

Aliens have landed,and they are in the hippest spaceship I ever saw.I too am blown away,the forms and light are very powerful.Lightning storm could be a little scarry,but he probally has a mile of copper ground under the house/sculpture.The amazing thing he is building this by himself out of 1/4 sheet,he must have roller or machine shop of some sorts.Almost at a lost for words......................IA

[settecento]

ironman,

odd, i always heard it the other way around--everyone has always told me that "all great architects were just frustrated sculptors."

mmmm...... a very interesting quotation..... but how you explain that were frustrated sculptors, what is what make a sculptor frustrated?
good to hear your view.

[Landseer]

A beautiful piece of sculpture, but I could not imagine living in it. No place to hang a painting on the wall. What about lightning?
Interesting project, I don't care for it but the inside reminds me of a complex cave or something which is pretty cool.
He said he didn't build it to have a house but to have something interesting, so I guess you could call it a walk in sculpture.
28 years later and it looks like it has many more years to go, as the fellow's hair is mostly white and 28 years on the project he has to be in his 50's and could be in his 60's by the time it's done.
Thje views out the windows are great but it's amazing he could build this since there's usually building permits and they almost always require completion within a specified time- 1 or 2 years.

I'm not sure I'd be happy living next door to someone's half completed house that sits with no paint, rusting and looks like an abandoned construction site.
Must have very lax building rules in that area!

[sculptor]

Re:
Building permits

Gee Randall, what are requirements in lake city?

I'm rural.... When I got plans somewhat formalized and was ready to build house and studio here
I called the county bldg. dept and asked about their building codes--they said, "We recommend that you follow the state's recommendations" so I called the # for the "state" which they had given me-----folks on the other end of the phone didn't seem to have any idea what the county guy was talking about...but did suggest that I might want to check into the health departments requirements.
Health dept. was concerned with sizing septic system to # of bedrooms not # of bathrooms.explanation was that bedrooms were a more accurate estimate on # of persons using the system...
Then I got the permit---darned cheap if I recall about $5.00 and it had a start date only along with a request that I update the assessor on my progress.

The permit seems to be good in perpetuity.
(Darned good thing too, as I work toward an aesthetic and will redoo whatever doesn't further that goal.)(many things are tacked up temporarily, then reworked then tacked up temporarily, then reworked then tacked up temporarily, then reworked then hopefully taken down the last time, sanded and sealed and put up permanently.)

I hope the same is true for Robert Bruno's permit and the patience of his neighbors.
Quality in art is everything and quality takes time...maybe the rest of our lives.

sympathetically, and compassionately yours for a fellow retarded artistic builder

rod

[Merlion]

It is a remarkable house, a magnificant sculpture, both exterior and interior. I love some of the interior views with their 3D lines, curves, profiles, lights and shadows. They remind me of the interiors of some lofty cathedrals or mosques.

He is very creative, very focused, very persistant, and perhaps very stubborn, all attributes of what we look for in great sculptors. It is good if this sculpture can be used as a house. If not, never mind as it is more a work of art. His enjoyment is in constructing it, single handed.

[Landseer]

Re:
Building permits

I'm rural....

Health dept. was concerned with sizing septic system to # of bedrooms not # of bathrooms.explanation was that bedrooms were a more accurate estimate on # of persons using the system...
Then I got the permit---darned cheap if I recall about $5.00 and it had a start date only along with a request that I update the assessor on my progress.

The permit seems to be good in perpetuity. Well my town is small, only 1800 peeps and while I am not really "in town" legally the town limits extend out a couple of miles so I AM within the corporate city limits and subject to the city ordinance. I have city water, sewer, garbage collection and gas.

Basically they asked for a crude sketch of the proposed addition I made to my house last year for a sculpture/modelling room, sketch to show the property, proposed footprint of the addition and how far from the property lines etc. It also asked the approximate value.
For up to $1500 value it was $5 for the permit, over that it was $20
The sheet they hand you with your approval simply says to follow the nationally approved building codes.
The permit is good for ONE year and says the work under the permit must be completed in that time frame.
I suppose it could be renewed, but not 28 times likely :)

They rarely deny permits but I noticed someone wanted to build a trailer of some kind and the board asked for detailed PHOTOS before approving.

But realise we are in the rarity with this, when I lived in Oregon on 20 acres of forest I bought they required a $800 septic system permit, a percolation test for it, and a special sand filter system. They also required a certain width driveway and a fire suppression system. I didn't even bother trying to build and sold the place.
You could not get electric on the property without the septic system installed and approved FIRST.
They send out an inspector for each and every stage of the process, the foundation trench, drain tiles, footings, walls, electric, plumbing on and on.

I tell friends in other states how I was able to add a room on my house with a $5 permit and a sketch and they go WHAT???? Holy cow, nothing like that here, you have to get permits for every stage, inspections in every phase etc.

My property tax on my 2 bedroom 1,000 sq ft house with full basement on 1/2 acre of land runs about $28 a year. Photo taken a few years ago, the porch has since been enclosed with multi-pane windows, and a whole new roof.