Objective: design
a three-walled garage without a door, with as much glass in the
walls as possible, situated on an existing parking area that was
constructed with concrete masonry retaining walls.
Special challenges: the top course of the
masonry retaining walls was not level and the walls were not perpendicular
to each other (in plan).
Additional Information:
The obvious design solution was to construct each of the walls with
glass panels set between tube steel columns and beams. The steel
structure would act as a Vierendeel truss. [This type of truss resists
deflection or deformation (in this situation, lateral forces from
wind load) at the welded connections between the structural members.]
The roof structure consists of a plywood deck constructed
over wood joists (spanning between the tube-steel beams). A second
plywood deck was constructed above the initial deck to slope the
surface to which the roof membrane is adhered, to a scupper at the
rear. The ceiling is 1 × 6 tongue and groove Aspen boards.
The two side and rear, glass paneled walls, are
single sheets of tempered glass spanning between wood frames fastened
to the tube-steel sills, columns and perimeter roof beams. The front
of the garage is open to the highway. The glass is set with wood
stops on 1 × 4 redwood boards. The boards are attached to
the steel columns, sills and beams with self-tapping machine screws.
The tube-steel sill beams are lag-bolted to shaped 3 × 12
pressure-treated wood sills bolted to the existing concrete masonry
walls.
Because the existing concrete masonry retaining
walls were not level, each of the steel columns is a different height.
The steel framing was fabricated according to field measurements
and wall alignments determined by myself. I also constructed (as
a carpenter) all the wood framing and finished wood components.
When the owners drive into the garage they sit a
while before disembarking from their automobiles to take in the
beauty of the natural surroundings. Each of the four seasons becomes
a completely different experience.
Surprisingly, the glass does not accumulate dirt and dust, and
requires only intermittent cleaning, if at all.
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