CURVED ROOF MADE OF STRAIGHT BITS

 Jeff is a handy carpenter, good surfer and great bloke. Over the years he has lovingly worked on this old beach shack. Most people would have ripped it down, but he has fixed up the old frame while making something new. The internal planning is significantly changed and quite compact.

He didn’t ask for anything from the design except a curved roof that he could build that wouldn’t cost too much. This is usually a contradiction in terms. Curved roof rafters are usually built in factories using a complicated procedure of glue lamination and customised stressing patterns. It’s expensive. Instead, we designed a wall with a curved top plate. At right angles to the walls, we fixed straight purlins to take the roof load. Over the purlins were battens thin enough to follow the gentle curve. Other than the arc of the top of the walls, every piece in the construction is straight and Jeff friendly.