Hook guest houses

The first domestic use of the plywood vault is found at the Hook Guest House. This triumph is multi-dimensional, for it continued Rudolph's preoccupation with rationalist modular construction techniques based on standard material dimensions, but also looked toward a broadening of the functionalist legacy of his Harvard education. Rudolph used the integrated formal and structural qualities of the vault to expand the vocabulary inherited from Gropius and Breuer. A buttressed post-and-beam frame is employed to raise the main living space above the landscape and accept the outward thrust produced by the plywood sandwich vaults. The modified trabeated frame is infilled with panels consisting of board siding, fixed glazing, or operable jalousie windows, alternating in response to the interior program of the house.