RHYTHM OF STEPS

Enclosed portico addition to an existing house, with an integrated seat, display shelves for small objects, coat hooks and closets.  Owner wishes to have a cushion between house and street, a private receptor, connects to and protects from the outer-world. Under a large street tree canopy, the existing house faces a village street.  The back of the house opens to a serene view of a bay, with an osprey nest. The separated views can be experienced as a sequence. 

The design of this minimal portico explores the permeation of spaces between street, front yard, house, rear yard, and the bay, while keeping separations and secrecies.  A new pergola, running across the facade, filters the sky, and ties the front yard to the house.  Wood-lattice panels, fastened with hinges on the wall and posts, protect the privacy from the street.  Filtered by the lattice, the staggered windows cast diffused light in wall-niches, instead of catching views. 

A stepping rhythm synchronized with the staggered niches creates movement and pause, watching and panning, completing the permeation of spaces.