Where no attic space is needed, it has proved more economical to span the roof with triangular trusses with interior web members.
Plans for the Silicon Valley site include a 420,000-square-foot, single-story warehouse topped with a garden that will span the entire roof.
Wimborne Minster features a chained library and a 14th-century astronomical clock; Christchurch Priory is renowned for its miraculous beam which, according to legend, was installed by Christ; and the 15th century roof spanning the nave at St John the Baptist Church in Bere Regis is described by architectural historian Nikolaus Pevsner as the "finest timber roof of Dorset".
The exposed steel roof beams, spanning the 25m width of the hall, have been slimmed to a miraculous 12mm thick, which allows natural light to wash over the space.
They support 7 2 inches thick 25 feet metal roof deck spans between the roof girders.
The first use of wrought-iron trusses, which were made of flat bars riveted together, was in a 28-metre (92-foot) span for the roof of the Théâtre-Français in Paris in 1786 by the architect Victor Louis.
Giorgio Vasari used king-post timber trusses for a 20-metre (66-foot) span in the roof of the Uffizi, or municipal office building, in Florence in the mid-16th century.
The work includes stripping the bridge to its foundation, straightening the structure of the 242-foot long span, replacing the roof and cedar siding, laying in a new floor of three-inch-thick oak planks, and finishing it all with a coating in Cornwall red paint.
Retrofitting a home for an intensive green roof requires structural analysis and almost certainly involves beefing up support members, not only of the horizontal span of the roof rafters but also the vertical support of the walls.
A wooden lift car was discovered on the ground floor and a 55 inch spanning sheave in the roof space.
Consider the life span of the roofing shingles as guaranteed by the manufacturer.
