The construction drawings for the trellis where pretty simple. I just needed to give the dimensions of the different pieces, and the rules (the construction details) for connecting them. The dimensions locating the trellis are given from an existing point, the upper left hand corner of the kitchen window.

All of the wood is 4×4 redwood.

Drawings:
Top: Plan (on top), front elevation (below) and side elevation (to the right). Each shows the same thing (the trellis in this case) from a different viewpoint.

Iso: A three dimensional drawing that shows how the pieces go together. This kind of drawing is especially helpful when pieces are at different angles.

Footing Detail of Center Piece: A short piece is used between the base (which can only take connections to elements pointing straight up) and the angled verticals.

Supporting vines and creating rhythm on a plain wall

We planted wisteria vines along the south wall of our house, next to the
driveway to our backyard garage. They get beautiful, deep purple flowers in the spring and green leaves in the summer. This wall gets lots of direct sun, and some summer shade helps cool the house.

Wisteria vines are kind of woody and heavy. They need support as they grow. We needed a trellis.

I had two thoughts about the trellis. First, I don’t like attaching things to existing walls. You never know for sure what is in there, and holes can let water in. I wanted as few connections to the house as possible.

Secondly, this wall was pretty flat, uninteresting and kind of random. The two windows are at different heights and haphazard locations. We wanted the trellis to look good among the randomness, not like it was squeezed in
wherever it would fit.

The windows left three spaces for verticals. Given the length of the trellis, about 27′, I knew we would need more than one piece of wood for the horizontals. I designed the trellis in three pieces, each one self supporting but clearly part of one design.

Each trellis has 3 verticals. They connect to a  footing on the ground and to the wood fascia at the roof. The verticals are connected at the top by two shorter, horizontal diagonals and the two horizontal vine supports. Geometry nerds will notice that the supports forms tetrahedrons, a very stable shape.

The pieces are equally spaced between the windows and the front corner of the house. The horizontals that support the vines are placed just above the higher kitchen  window. Because of the strong forms, you notice the trellis and not the irregular wall behind.

I extended the two story deck model and used it to design the trellis.

1st: Elevation view. You can see the windows as faint rectangles drawn between the trellis pieces. Notice that the trellis pieces are regularly spaced and symmetrical, but not at all centered on the wall.

2nd: View from above, showing the trellis, and the garage and deck behind. See previous postings for two story deck.

3rd: View looking down driveway from street.

4th and 5th: Closer views

You face the bottom of the stairs as you approach the deck from the house. The stairs are a little steep and narrow. They force you to look down,
rather than up at the view, as you walk up.

When you get to the top of the stairs, you look up and out to the view. As many times as I’ve been on the deck, this always comes as a surprise. No photo seems to do the view justice.

When you turn around, you are in another outdoor room. This room is defined by the rails, posts and curving awnings.

View looking down into our garden from the second floor. When you are on the first floor, you are within the garden. You are surrounded by the plants, shades and trees overhead. When you are on the second floor, you have views out for miles. It feels like you have broken through the surface of the ocean and can see out. Looking down from the deck, the plants on the deck, the shades and the plants on the ground form a sea
of green.

Photos of some details. The corner is also shown as a detail drawing in Part 2: CD’s.

Sunsets from the deck are terrific.