Wind, rain & close neighbours
Covers that take the mountain gusts.
The south-easter spills over Table Mountain and gusts through the City Bowl, and the winter fronts bring heavy rain. We build for both: frames sized to the span and fixed with anchors chosen for the wall, and louvre blades that close to drain into a gutter built into the frame.
Sightlines are the other constraint. In Gardens the houses sit close, so a cover is seen from next door as much as from below. The white ceiling awning there has concealed drainage, so no gutter hardware shows from any angle, and the all-charcoal louvre roof reads as a dark architectural line against the pale house wall.

No ferrous metal to stain a pale wall

White panels bounce light into a small patio

Wall anchors chosen for older masonry

Sized and anchored for south-easter gusts

Built-in gutters, drainage kept out of sight