Her back patio faces west and receives a great deal of sun in the afternoon and evenings, making the space virtually unusable. Additionally, her master bedroom has a window on the back wall of the patio allowing a lot of heat in. It was decided to have the structure sit on top of the existing roof. This afforded two advantages: The existing roof would not have to be violated thereby eliminating the possibility of leaks being created; The gap between the old and new would allow for airflow and for hot air to escape thereby keeping the air under cover from becoming stagnate. The new structure was engineered with a minimal two bearing points - one at the existing corner of the house, and a new one toward the far corner of the slab. A substantial glue-lam beam would span the two, rafters would then be run from this beam to a riser on the existing exterior wall. A curved-face extension to maximize shade and an opening to allow for venting smoke and heat from a chimenea completed the concept. Custom wood hanger details were introduced to hide the metal brackets.
