By Joanne O'Sullivan / Photos By David Dietrich
“Keep it simple” was Al Platt’s guiding principle as he designed a new porch for his own home, a classic 1950s ranch. As part of a “top-to-bottom” renovation of the house, the Brevard architect (principal of the firm Platt Architecture) aimed to create an outdoor living room where the family could “enjoy the backyard…bug free.” The first step was to remove the smaller sunroom he had added in an earlier renovation. The new stucco-and-metal frame structure is about twice the size of the previous porch and connects to a breezeway that provides direct access to the kitchen.
Recessed lighting and fieldstone floors create continuity between the breezeway and the porch and give the sense of being in a transitional place between the outdoor terrace and the rest of the house. The natural eastern white pine ceiling (treated only with a neutral, flat urethane) also has the effect of bringing the outdoors in, and gives the space a modern feel, which is reinforced by the metal tie-rods—a structural necessity that Platt left exposed in order to keep the ceilings high. A pair of skylights in the porch echoes the ones in the kitchen and allows a great deal of natural light to enter the space. The ceiling fan and the breeze serve as the room’s climate control.
Three simple oak screen doors provide access to the terrace, the yard and a storage area. Outside, Platt chose to distinguish the porch from the rest of the house with color—red on the exterior and golden yellow on the interior—which gives it a modern feel and really pops against the yard’s lush green in the summer. Platt says the new porch allows the family to take advantage of their backyard’s privacy, and they frequently eat dinner there in the summer—one of life’s simple pleasures.
