Rethinking Trees Room

The existing breezeway is a concrete vault in which undisturbed grade is almost as low as the basement. To achieve the A.11 design, we would need to break up and remove 4 CY of concrete, then pour new footings, create new stem walls, and frame a new floor. We save all of that if we are able to use the existing top of concrete in the breezeway.

Lowering the Trees Room floor to 261.2 gives a nice overview of the room to the entry, but it fights the view into the ravine. Keeping the floor level with the main house, 263, lets us look down into the ravine.

This drawing shows a 12' 9" ceiling height in the Trees Room. The view into the trees would seem to dictate the height and window configuration, but the lowest branches of the trees by the property line are too high. We have basically a square hole at the end of the room, and it's a horizontal band of green leaves (the deciduous trees in the park), with occasional trunks closer in. It's not about looking up and down, but the parallax of the windows, the trunks, and the green background.

We need to use the existing steps down to BR3, but they are too narrow--34". I would prefer more like 43". We accomplish this by bumping 8" into the garage. We need to preserve the little wall at the top of the stairs as well--not moving the electric panel should save a lot of re-wiring (or not).

So, what is the Trees Room roof? I think I like a flat ceiling with 24" glazing all around, I tried to imagine how an engineered truss might accomplish that. We'd need a top chord bearing with a hidden header and a bottom chord outrigger. Maybe it's crazy, but here's the soffit design:

The truss height doesn't matter as long as there is room for 10" of batt insulation and air space above. It makes spray foam or SIPs look pretty good. I've shown a Pratt truss--flat on the bottom, sloping with a slight gable on the top. I'm not even sure they can do that. Maybe we don't need the overhang, anyway--it's an expensive detail and it tends to block the view of the trees to the east and west.