RAINE HOUSE | 2012

The Raine House was constructed for Lorraine “Raine” Toney, a Navajo and single mother of five children.

Lorraine had to travel an hour to get to work, a tough drive through the desert.   Her children lived so far from school that they were forced to board on the campus.  The boarding house situation has classically torn apart families on the reservation and this was Lorraine’s worst fear.  She needed a place to live, closer to work, closer to school, a place to raise her children. When the students asked what she wanted from the project she said only two words, a home.

The home is constructed primarily of thermally broken slow pour concrete. This concrete along with the concrete slab helps collect the sun’s rays and maintain a year round internal temperature between 62-82 degrees Fahrenheit (17-27 degrees Celsius). Interior sliding panels cover the glass curtain wall in the evening, providing an additional R-12 insulation. During the day they nest along the walls in the living room.