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Architects: 1+1+ Architects
- Area: 800 ft²
- Year: 2022
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Photographs:Laura Marie Peterson, De Peter Yi
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Manufacturers: Simpson Strong Tie, Suntuf
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Architecture and Design: Laura Marie Peterson, 1+1+ Architects
Text description provided by the architects. Big Roof is an oversized garden pergola designed by 1+1+ Architects and HD Structural that hosts dining and events for Coriander Kitchen & Farm, a farm-to-table restaurant located along a canal in the Jefferson Chalmers neighborhood of Detroit, Michigan.
Extending Coriander Kitchen & Farm’s dining space into the outdoors, the structure inspires an open relationship with environmental conditions at its waterside site. A supersized garden pergola nicknamed after its most prominent feature, Big Roof collects rainwater for a rain garden onsite.
The corrugated, planar-roof form echoes those of the marina, and sits as lightly as possible on six steel columns, maximizing the flexibility of happenings below. Nine custom-designed triangular trusses, built of nominal lumber and standard Simpson Strong-tie connections, become the framework for a clear, polycarbonate roof that opens up views to the constantly changing skies above.
Through grounding the project in its environment, Big Roof creates a multi-seasonal, sensorial experience for all to enjoy: during the winter, the structure glows like lantern, illuminating the surrounding landscape. In the spring, the plastic facade is removed and dining activities spill out onto the canal side, and the birds and bees are welcomed under Big Roof.
Blurring the boundary between the indoors and outdoors and vice versa, the project reaches out to embrace its unique surroundings with a continuous gravel ground that extends beyond building envelope. Pilotis and a removable façade create an open floor plan that explores architecture’s relationship with site as a literal extension of architecture.
