Passive solar pergola

Completed in conjunction with Paul Miragliotta this is the passive solar pergola.

The brief was to replace an old dilapidated pergola with one that actually served to shade the house in the summer. We looked at some designs and ended up combining two. 

One with what we are calling 'hash tag' notched joins and another for a passive solar awning with sun angle and shade specifications for Melbourne.   

                      

 We did most of the work in my garage and basically prefabbed the whole structure. We used Cypress macrocarpa which was salvaged from old windbreaks and milled in Gippsland.

We had to call in the experts for some of the more complicated work...

...then we assembled the pergola on site, like an old wooden puzzle.

 
 

                                            The slats are angled to the winter sun such that light can hit the windows during the cooler months, warming the back room. In the summer the slats block most of the direct light to the windows, while still creating a pleasant dappled light.

More recently we have added the hand made trellis screen pictured. Furthermore we replaced the step and bike ramp and paved the area under the pergola using broken pieces of concrete recycled from a front yard up the road!