This “event” occurs in a typical row house with structural bays of very normal size - a little over 6' on one side and 14' on the other.  The owners’ request was a radical one - namely to void the entire interior bearing wall condition for almost one-half the length of the townhouse.  This bearing wall supported 50% of the live and dead load for the roof, second, and third floors of the house.  One owner devoutly wished this intervention to be an arched wooden opening, while the other owner was a devotee of expressive steel trusses. 

The resulting design fuses these two disparate “takes”.  The quantity of steel members and their thickness are increased at the center of the truss to compensate for its reduced depth.  Solid oak horizontals are used at the top edge to utilize the relatively high compressive strength of wood.  The steel assembly was shop-welded, wood prefitted, and reassembled in a shored-up context.  High strength bolts were used to fasten wood to steel, and their presence was expressed throughout the assembly.