This split-level home with two stories at each level is the only one of its kind in Southwest Louisiana. In fact, the precast concrete construction method is a rare choice for a singlefamily residence anywhere. Consider the source: The design/build team for this home is Phillip and Monica LaCombe Miller.

Pushing the design/build envelope is a family tradition for the Millers. It started in the 1900s. Titus Miller formed T. Miller and Sons Contracting in 1925. In the mid-1940s, Titus’ son, Alfred Miller founded Alfred Miller Contracting, a masonry contracting company. Phillip’s father, Chester, became president in the ‘70s. Phillip became president in 2008.

This is the family’s first concrete precast residential project, a contemporary masterpiece that would likely get a thumbs up from Frank Lloyd Wright. The Wright look, in feel and philosophy, is what Monica Miller was going for, especially Wright’s integration of the natural surroundings.

Monica told her husband that, above all, she wanted to build a house that brings the outside in. About 45 percent of the exterior walls are glass and utilize a special low-energy transmitting glass.

“Frank Lloyd Wright didn’t actually say ‘form follows function,’” Monica clarified about a saying often attributed to Wright. “He said, form and function are one.”

“I just wanted a concrete house,” Phillip Miller deadpans.

Atlanta Architect Richard Nelson is a friend of the Millers.

Nelson said the Miller house, with 5,100 square feet of living space and over 8,000 square feet total, would be a stand out in any city. But building a house for the sake of building something different or to attract attention was not the couple’s goal.

“There is no ego in the project. Phillip just happens to have different hobbies than most and wanted a race track around his house and to be able to park about eight cars under his house.”

Nelson said the house does say a lot about the couple.

“Phillip can build anything and Monica is this down-toearth and engaging Cajun.”

“At some point, the design of the house began to dictate the furnishings and placement,” Monica said.

The house is modern. It’s constructed of industrial type materials, making it durable, wind-resistant and energy efficient. The house also has a 25 kilowatt solar panel system. That is five times the average size system purchased in the U.S.

But Monica has filled the house with comfortable sitting spaces that invite reading, visiting with friends, entertaining, napping, coffee sipping, homework and playing music. Phillip was in a band in high school. The Millers have a combo theatre/ music room. The view of the three-acre property can be enjoyed from any room.

The art is perfect, evocative. Monica enjoys selecting it and believes in taking her time to make sure every piece is something she will love living with. Art includes paintings by her daughters.

As with any project, there were challenges. Phillip and Monica brainstormed and solved problems as they went. The 800-lb pivoting steel front door wasn’t in the original plan.

Though the budget for the house is one few would find affordable, the Millers balked at the cost of some of the materials, for instance, the quote of $30,000 for the original catwalk design and materials. The Miller’s changed the plan to stainless rods threaded through wooden banisters.

When the couple couldn’t find the perfect dining room table, they designed one. The base is an industrial pipe rack, something they build at Alfred Miller for local industry on a regular basis.

“I call it my nod to industrial art,” Monica said.

She has an eye for detail. She wants things a certain way. Her background is finance and accounting. However, she has a creative and warm side that is apparent in her pride of family, selection of art and comfortable furnishings.

“We have no trim, molding, crown or baseboard in this house,” she said. “I have this thing about like materials that overlap.”

When she points out what she means, it becomes clear. Trim can make a house beautiful. It can also cover up a multitude of sins, especially after adding caulk. In this house, every piece of concrete, steel and glass have a perfect one-quarter inch gap.

There was not room for error in size or installation.

“If it’s off this much,” she holds up her thumb and index finger and they almost touch, “it’s wrong. Phillip can draw anything and he did all the sandblasting. He was very hands on.”

The house is constructed of 137 precast pieces, according to Phillip, and 133 of those are unique.

A curving Hawaiian Koa wood wall adds warmth and an organic line to the house. Dark grey slate from Maine is used on the main level. Flooring on the upper level is birdseye maple. The Millers found a place for her great grandmother’s butler’s pantry and his great grandfather’s rocking chair.

The house is a split level with two floors at each level. It is five feet off the ground, allowing plumbing, electrical and pool pumps to be hidden. It’s also a good space for storage.

The acoustical ceiling design keeps sound from bouncing around. Large, remote control shades can be adjusted over the massive glass walls as needed. The fiber optic lights, which can be seen from the road at night, are what Monica calls a happy mistake.

The thin strings are pulled down from the acoustical ceiling one by one and usually snipped off evenly. Monica left the lengths totally random.

“God is in the details,” is a saying often attributed to Mies van der Rohe. It spoke to the attention to detail and follow through required to achieve anything of worth.

This home doesn’t stand out because it was designed to be different; it stands out because it was built especially for the people who live in it and no two people are alike. It is constructed with a material they understand better than any other building material. It stands out because it’s good design and because good design includes attention to every detail — inside and out.

The Phillip and Monica Miller home

Monica said after the house began to come together, it became clear how it should be decorated.

The outdoor living space