Raising of the Cupola

When winter’s on its way, putting on a hat only makes sense. For our house, that means putting up the cupola (CUE-pala). And although Jonah, Teyana, Cal, Maggie and I’ve been involved, it’s been our friends Svenn and Mick who’ve put the lion’s share of the work into this architectural complexity. Here’s a bit of that story.

Unlike a hat, the cupola is designed to let hot air out of the building. With the windows we have coming for the south side, we’re more in danger of overheating in summer than over-cooling in winter. Like the tee-pee design, we needed to find a way to let the heat out passively. There are eight windows in the cupola, four of which will open. We expect that the chimney effect will make it possible to draw air from the east (cooler) side of the house in summer. The other four windows will help bring light into the back of our earth bermed home. And, we expect, it’ll add beauty to our lives.

Here’s what it looked like the day we got the cupola up and Maggie arrived home from work

Mick is the generous friend who is designing the overhang braces. He’s holding one up – keen to contribute to the architectural impression the place will offer but also to ensure cosmic alignment with the four cardinal directions.

Svenn, in silhouette, (thanks to Jonah for the pic) was and remains the architect of this feature. He built it over a period of two weeks, calculating, fussing with details and eventually erecting it in our garage as a prefab. So the actual setting up took us an hour or so. It tests to being within an 1/8 of an inch of octagonal symmetry! Pretty impressive.

This week, as winter approaches, we want to get the tin on. We’re aiming for this Saturday – if you wish to join the fun. Ezra will head up the crew. We could use a few more hands, though, moving the tin into place and screwing it down. Bring gloves and working shoes. There’ll be good vibes, great food and refreshments. Text me at 204.305.0528, email roomtogrowdm@gmail.com or call 204.534.2303.

Oh, the colour we chose for the roof? Dark Red. It’ll look stunning in all seasons. Thanks for caring.