Product line 03 · worked example
The Wells Highway Tract: sixteen lots on 12.79 acres between Seneca and Clemson, reached by a single entrance. The ground falls 98 feet across the tract, so the road traverses rather than climbs and every house sits with the slope instead of fighting it.
Median lot 9,955 sq ft; 33,056 sq ft of housing across the tract
One architecture at three sizes — they differ in footprint, not in vocabulary
18% average slope. The road traverses the contour instead of climbing it
A single entrance off Wells Highway; public water main at the frontage
The idea
The three models share one building language: a strict rectangular volume, a flat roof behind a slim parapet, and an upper storey that cantilevers four feet forward with a deep covered balcony carved back into it — so the balcony is roofed without a single extra beam. Smooth warm taupe render, one cedar-clad bay, deep window reveals, slim black frames, and a timber-clad garden wall that turns to enclose a private walled patio at ground level.
They differ in footprint, not in vocabulary. That is what makes this a street rather than a collection of houses — and it is also what makes it buildable as a programme, because sixteen houses in three variants is one detail package repeated, not sixteen problems.
The wall is the argument. A Prime Blocks Tech panel is an expanded polystyrene core wrapped in galvanised mesh, tied through by diagonal truss wires, then rendered with 3 cm of 4,000 psi structural mortar on each face. The mortar skins are the structure. What you see at every window — a reveal seven inches deep — is not a detail somebody added. It is simply how thick the wall is.
The models
| Model | Conditioned | Bed | Bath | Ground floor | Upper floor | Walled patio | In the scheme |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PB-18 Keowee | 1,792 sq ft | 3 | 2 + 1 | 28 × 32 ft | 28 × 36 ft | 224 sq ft | 5 of 16 |
| PB-20 Chattooga | 2,016 sq ft | 4 | 2 + 1 | 28 × 36 ft | 28 × 40 ft | 256 sq ft | 6 of 16 |
| PB-24 Blue Ridge | 2,400 sq ft | 4 | 3 + 1 | 32 × 40 ft | 28 × 44 ft | 288 sq ft | 5 of 16 |
No panel spans more than 14 ft in the two smaller models or 16 ft in the largest, to a single central bearing line. Windows are 13 standard plus 4 feature on the PB-18, 15 plus 4 on the PB-20 and 16 plus 6 on the PB-24, all impact rated. Every model carries a 112 sq ft covered balcony, an R-17 wall assembly and a 10 ft floor-to-floor storey height. No enclosed garage: the architecture has none, and adding one would cost about 400 sq ft of footprint. Each lot gets a paved 20 × 30 ft two-car apron instead.
Inside
The reveal is the detail. A Prime Blocks wall is 7.20 inches thick and solid. Every window sits deep in it, and that depth is the single thing that makes these rooms read as masonry rather than as plasterboard. Nothing is applied; it is simply what the panel is.
Quiet, and slow to change temperature. Concrete on both faces with an insulating core is a heavy wall. It damps sound from the street and it damps the swing between a Carolina afternoon and the night that follows. The assembly runs R-17 against the R-5 or R-8 the 2009 IECC asks for a mass wall in climate zone 3 — which is the edition adopted across South Carolina, frozen there by the state Energy Standard Act.
Flat ceilings, no trusses. The floor and the roof are panels too, spanning to a single central bearing line — no panel spans more than 14 ft in the two smaller models, 16 ft in the largest. There is no attic and no truss web, so the upper ceiling is flat and the roof is flat over it. Services run in a shallow zone, not through a forest of timber.
The standard that is not optional
Behind every house there is a 16 × 12 ft anchored concrete pad carrying a covered cook station with an Argentine open-fire grill. Not an optional extra and not a landscape flourish — it is written into the covenants alongside the flat roof and the cladding palette, so it survives the third owner.
| The unit | Backyard Discovery Timber Rock, 10 ft covered cook station with an Argentine open-fire grill. 120.3 × 52.9 in assembled, 8 ft 3 in to the roof, 1,038 lb. Solid cedar posts, powder-coated galvanised steel cantilever roof, 5.5 linear ft of quartz counter. |
|---|---|
| The pad | 16 × 12 ft, five inches thick, welded wire mesh, thickened at four anchor points — because a half-ton station is bolted down rather than set on pavers. A GFCI outlet and a hose bib. |
| The fuel | Wood and charcoal. No gas line, and no permit for one. |
| Ratings | Rated by the maker to 2,150 lb of snow and 100 mph of wind; five-year warranty on every part. These are the manufacturer's published figures, not ours. |
Specification
| Element | Panel | Thickness | Nominal R |
|---|---|---|---|
| Exterior wall | PBT120 | 7.20″ finished | R-17 |
| Elevated floor | PSG2-140 | — | R-24 |
| Roof | PSG2-200 | — | R-31 |
| Partitions | PBT60 | 4.90″ finished | — |
Panel capacities used in the package are allowable, service-level values from DrJ Engineering report TER 1202-12 for the Gulf Concrete Technology SCIP system. R-values are nominal for the core and render, before thermal bridging through the connectors and before any assembly testing. No fire-resistance rating is claimed for any of these assemblies.
Status
Areas, dimensions and costs are provisional. The boundary has not been surveyed. No structural design has been sealed. Sanitary sewer service to the tract is still to be confirmed.
Nothing here is an offer, and no lot line should be priced until a surveyor has set the corners. The tract sits in a Control Free District, which places no limit on use — the 20 ft front setback on every lot is a design decision, not a requirement, and that is stated on the sheet rather than presented as compliance.
Every image on this page was generated from written descriptions of the designed buildings after the geometry was fixed. They illustrate design intent. No built house is depicted anywhere.
PENDING APPROVAL — for review by the professional of record.
Send the tract. We will lay out the lots against the real contour, pick the model mix the ground supports, and give you the road length, the yield and the panel package for the whole scheme.
Ask for a yield study →