a bowtruss roof

BOW-TRUSS_04

A building type that was very common in the western United States in the decades before World War II, the bowtruss-roofed industrial building was a single story brick or concrete masonry shell, topped with a long-span wood truss roof that resembled a bow in section – hence the name.  Many of these stand throughout the Los Angeles basin, which are the originators of this project.  The brick volume is open to the short sides, pedimented on the approach, and takes hints of Hejduk’s Wall House, where bathrooms stand as separate, formally distinct, elements.  A more elaborate exploration is at the bottom, where the restrooms become chimney-inglenook pieces, and the bowtruss volume is surrounded with a peristyle among other things. . .

BOW-TRUSS_02

BOW-TRUSS_03

BOW-TRUSS_01

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