The first noted residential project in Tucson to employ board-formed cast-in-place concrete was the 1968 Swaim House (1700 North Harrison Road, Tucson, Arizona 85715).  Designed and built by architect Robert Swaim for his family. The house is located on 10 acres on Tucson’s east side in a lush mesquite bosque (forest) along the Tanque Verde River. The design carefully took into account the environmental conditions of the site.  Every major tree was mapped and the 2,600 sq ft house carefully sited to preserve the sonoran desert vegetation, integrate into the natural setting and capture views of the Santa Catalina Mountains.  Swaim referred to the interior as “the enclosed portion of the site.” The use of expansive glass window walls created a strong interior-exterior relationship.

The un-compacted silt soil on the site required an engineering solution of nine-foot deep concrete piers every eight feet which in turn established an a eight-foot module grid for the house which created the metrics for room widths, windows and paneling, all in multiple of eight.  The cast-in-place concrete walls were formed eight-inch thick and reveal the wood grain texture and marks of the bolts that held in place the 12-inch wide pine forms. Swaim noted, “We like everything rough and natural [...] I wanted to try this type of wall [...] because I wanted the whole house to be informal.  In addition the walls are permanent, strong and give a slightly different texture.” Two inch cedar decking atop rough sawn fir beams were used for the ceiling . The house was divided into 5 elements: the children’s bedroom wing, master bedroom wing, living room, kitchen, and a second story office.

The house received significant local attention and was featured on the cover the Tucson Daily Citizen Magazine “¡Olé!” March 21, 1970. (Pavillard, Dan, Tucson Daily Citizen Magazine ¡Olé!, Architect Tops New Home with his Studio, March 21, 1970.)  and the cover of the Arizona Daily Star “Home and Buildings” on January 17, 1971. (Sortore, Nancy, Home by The River, Arizona Daily Star “Home and Buildings,” January 17, 1971)

(Written by Demion Clinco, Tucson Historic Preservation Foundation)