One of our projects which I blogged about earlier this year, and
probably the longest running in the company’s history considering its scale has
to undergo another change.
The Observatory project of linking two neighbouring houses with a
courtyard roof, has been a great learning platform for me and past students who
have worked on it during their internship in the company (that is how long it
has been around). The houses both rest on different ERFs and are separated by a
(now demolished) boundary wall.
An initial proposal of a courtyard roof which the client had agreed
upon was approved by council, but now the client has had a change of heart and
would like a different design. And since a client should always be kept happy,
our immediate reaction to that was pulling out our pencils in order to go back
to the drawing board, literally. But
with the issues regarding the building regulations and the preserving of the
Victorian aesthetics the council is obsessing about, the task has proven to be
a bit difficult.
Because the plots are separate, the council wants the new courtyard
roof to not negatively affect future tenants. And that means an erection of a
future possible firewall should be accommodated for, and the central part of
the pitched roof should remain void. The roof, which was initially intended to
be glass, is now going to be made of steel posts, with clear polycarbonate
sheets covering while allowing the sun to penetrate through. And of course that
has come with my favourite calculations.
The central void has to be at least 500mm wide precisely from the
boundary line, and the steel posts / rafters should be lifted off the top of
the parapet wall while the sides of the roof have to be completely open. This
is part of what the council has instructed in order to have a total of 60% of
the floor area open. All of that has to be done with the consideration of the
existing eaves, which will probably have to be cut back.
My good friend Sketch Up has helped a lot…
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