Porches, garages, and the public realm

Transcription

1 Porches, garages, and the public realm Historically, porches are part of the architectural vernacural of North Texas and the greater South- Central region of the country. Prior to the advent of air conditioning, porches served not only as outdoor rooms but also as a way to shade and cool the front of homes. In addition to their architectural benefits, these outdoor rooms provide social benefits for residents and the greater neighborhood. Garages accompanied houses before the invention of the automobile. Historically, homes had carriage houses which oftentimes lay in the rear of the home or property. As the car gained popularity and became commonplace, garages constructed as part of the home fell into favor. In recent years, homes are constructing ever-larger garages and driveways, requiring either larger lot sizes or a greater portion of the home s front consumed by the garage and driveway. This can create several problems for neighborhoods. It can cause unsafe and uninviting conditions for pedestrians on sidewalks due to numerous driveway intersections. Additionally, this design can cause a lack of connection with the street and public spaces by residents inside the home. Porches, on the other hand, have several advantages for residents and the greater neighborhood, including promoting eyes on the street, which can produce safer streets and promote greater social interaction amongst neighbors, while also helping to reduce energy bills for individual homes.

2 Benefits Promotes Eyes on the Street Eyes on the street is a term originated by urbanist Jane Jacobs. The idea centers on the notion that streets must be safe places, and this is ensured by casual and active surveillance from surrounding buildings and pedestrians. These eyes can be provided by people inside buildings (through architectural elements such as large windows, bay windows, etc), on porches or rooftops, or through active street life through elements such as sidewalk dining. There must be eyes upon the street, eyes belonging to those we might call the natural proprietors of the street. The buildings on a street equipped to handle strangers and to insure the safety of both residents and strangers, must be oriented to the street. They cannot turn their backs or blank sides on it and leave it blind. -Jane Jacobs Enhanced Social Contact with Neighbors Porches are one of the most common components of enabling eyes on the street. Porches provide on the street seating, enabling a casual eye on public space. This, in turn, increases the amount of people interacting with the public realm, and, in turn, makes pedestrians feel safer. In addition, porches extend the private nature of the interior of a home out to the public realm. This creates a feeling of ownership of public spaces by adjacent homeowners, while also providing pedestrians the security that they are in a semi-private space. Crime Prevention When residents can easily observe street life, streets are safer. This is achieved by increasing the ability to view the street from within homes and by increasing the number of people present on porches and within the public realm. Crime can be further prevented by improving street lights and the reducing unprotected spaces. Improve Home Energy Efficiency Porches are a historic design characteristic of Texas homes for several reasons. Before homes had air conditiooning, porches provided a cool and shaded space for residents to sit. Their large overhangs also provided shade and protection for the windows in the summer months, ensuring the interior of the homes did not receive direct sunlight, keeping them cooler. Now, with the invention of air conditioning, porches provide an additonal outdoor room that can expand the usable space of a home without the added cost of higher utility bills. In addition, the shade the porch overhangs provide for the home can keep homes cooler, providing lower utility bills in the long summer months. summer sun porch winter sun interior

3 Best Practices Less Ideal Porch and Driveway Condition More Ideal Porch and Driveway Condition The movement away from porches and small driveways towards a more garage-oriented approach is best seen in the photos above. The photo in the upper-left shows narrow-lot single-family homes with driveways that comprise almost the entirety of the lot s frontage. The photo in the upper-right shows wider lots as are more typical in present-day suburbs. These homes, known as snout houses since their garages protrude from the front, have large driveways that make up the majority of the front yard. They also result in numerous conflictzones for pedestrians on the sidewalk. In addition,both examples in the top photos show the limited amount of interaction the building facades have with the street and public areas, resulting in reduced eyes on the street. The bottom two photos show homes in Winnetka Heights in Dallas. The neighborhood, built in the early twentieth century, shows quintessential early-century homes with large porches and recessed garages. Most homes in this neighborhood are built on 50-foot wide lots. These homes and their designs effectvely engage in the public realm. The limited curb cuts from narrow driveways also reduced conflicts with pedestrians and leave more usable yard space. On the following page, different examples of constructable homes on both 35 and 50 lots are shown, ranked according to how effectively they engage in the public realm.

4 Small Lots (35 or Less) 2-Car Garage Snout House 2-Car Garage No Porch 14% Active Facade This home model is frequently seen on narrow lots in largely suburban contexts. The two photos above show examples of these types of homes that can be built on a foot wide lot. This model reserves most of the frontage of the house to the garage, with little or no facade of the house comprising any sort of livable space. This results in visual and physical disassociation with the street by the resident, greatly affecting the natural surveillance that occurs when people feel safe and secure in the public realm.

5 1-Car Garage Shared Front This home model is a more ideal model for narrow lot homes that have garages. In this model, half or less of the facade is made up of the garage, allowing at least one room of the house to front the street. It also allows for a porch to be constructed. A more ideal construction of this model recesses the garage so that the porch becomes the dominant front feature of the architecture, as shown in the two renderings on the upper-left and upper-right. 1-Car Garage Porch 34% Active Facade

6 Large Lots (50 +) Less Desirable Public Realm Engagement Garage Size 2-Car 2-Car 2-Car Porch? Optional Yes Yes Percent of Active Facade 40% 56% 66%

7 More Desirable Public Realm Engagement 2-Car Yes 66% 1 or 2-Car Yes 74%

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