Thanks to all for your suggestions, but I’ve already considered my options, including a ROR, and have decided on a dome for several reasons:
- Height: the observatory is ~35 feet above the ground. I did not want to roll off the roof so high in the air
- Wind: I want protection from the wind
- Light: my neighbors leave their lights on at night (Bortle upper-4/lower 5), and yes, a ROR would shadow ground lights, but I wanted more
- Design: it’s already been designed and permitted
- Framers: we’re using our regular framers (our family builds houses during the day), so the closer to regular framing is better, and putting up a 12’x12’ box in the sky is as simple as it gets
- Family: the most important thing of all: my wife has approved this design (she actually designed on her architecture program), and she has approved the spend (who am I to say no?)
Here’s the design, it consists of a breezeway/sunroom on the first floor from the kitchen, where the existing side door is. This room also has a spiral staircase to the second floor. The rest of the ground floor is a 3 car garage, a work area and a hoist to the 2nd floor. The 2nd floor has a walkway (open to the sunroom below) from the master suite to the warm room, and the warm room with lots of storage, desk, etc.. the 3rd floor is the 12x12 observatory.
Here is the plan:
85x11Final Front Entry Garage_06052020.pdf 376.69KB
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