Great Room Attic Space

[braido11]

I am designing a house that has 6 foot exterior walls on the second floor with a 4-12 pitched roof. I plan on using the pitch of the roof with no attic and some shallow dormers to provide the headroom instead of a 12-12 pitched roof with large/deep dormers.

1) Is the design I am using practical, or should I just use a full second floor with 8ft walls even though this will create a very high great room and chimney?

2) Do I prectically need an attic or can I essentially live in that space? Could I use the pitch of the roof until it gets to 8ft then use the rest of that as an attic?

3) How can I show the ceiling above the great room as having no attic, but just the triangular contour of the roofline? In the attached picture you can see a flat ceiling from the loft, but it should look like a triangle.

Thanks!

[Allen42ACJ]

!=Go with at least a 5/12 pitch.With dormers you'll have valleys and water problems..
2 With that low a pitch there will not be much attic room=insulation,heating ducts ...
3 =After the roof is built,raise the ceiling height...
I don't recommend this design.You will need a structural ridge that will add $$$ to material and labor..Also think it will look ugly..Good to have the 3d to check..