Project: Danielson Grove
Architect: Ross Chapin Architects
Developer: The Cottage Company
The Front Porch

The front porch is a particular ‘layer of personal space’ that needs highlighting. It is perhaps the key element in fostering neighborly connections. It’s placement, size, relation to the interior and the public space, and height of railings is both an art and a science. The Pocket Neighborhood book (link to book page) devotes several pages to the porch, and more information can be found in print, such as A Pattern Language, and online.
The porch promotes grace and comfort. It promotes good conversation simply by virtue of the fact that on a porch there is no need for it . . . It is our reviewing platform and observation deck, our rostrum and dais, the parapet of our stockade, the bridge of our ship.
Garrison Keillor, author, storyteller & radio personality