Whitten Architects Hello and thank you for your question. Please take a look at our website for any additional interior photos that may not be uploaded to Houzz. The barn was moved to this site from a field about 300 yards away ... it was reconditioned with new foundation, structure, siding, and roofing. The first floor now serves as a 3 car garage, wood furniture workshop, and informal entry / mudroom.
cupola - I'm wondering what the difficulty level is of incorporating a cupola? Do you have to change the roof trusses? Does it significantly lower the energy efficiency? Do you buy an existing structure from a vendor or do you custom design/build? Thank you! »
Whitten Architects Hello, thank you for your question. This was an existing barn, that was moved to this location. We added the custom designed cupola to the existing structure. The barn is not within the main conditioned environment of the house, so energy efficiency was not as much of an issue here. Typically in northern climates, it would seem that a cupola would be a large source of heat loss in the winter ... and this is probably true. However, a cupola also could be a good way to naturally and efficiently cool the house in the summer.