We met with client who wanted a new garage. My first thoughts upon visiting site were that this would not be possible due to location (Customer had an above ground pool) and the current detached garage located in rear corner of yard. Access to the yard was from the front drive as there were no back lanes in this neighborhood.
My first inclination was to design a garage that would utilize the existing garage on site. We could add enough building to equal the allowable square footage for a detached garage within the city of Winnipeg. When this idea was proposed it was turned down quite quickly. This due to several requests that were given after our initial meeting: a) the customer wanted taller walls than the existing b) Access to the garage had to be easy for maneuvering vehicle in and out. c) It would eventually become the storage garage for the customer’s classic car, freeing up the existing detached garage. The goal now was to provide the customer with a garage they could work in, with enough height, and ease of access. What we came up with was a single detached garage, maximized to use all of the allowable square footage based upon the customer lot size. Constructed with 10″walls and combining the use of scissor trusses with a greater roof pitch, we were able to gain height within the building. We located it at an angle within the yard that maintained all of the requirements for zoning with the city of Winnipeg and created ease of access for the vehicle in and out. We did not disturb the above ground pool or the existing garage during the process.
During the design process several site drawings were created using a digital CAD program. This aided in decision making of location as you could clearly see distances between all of the things going on in the yard. It made any changes the customer requested easy to do and decision making faster so that we were able to begin construction of the new garage.