Design by Committee

The Approval Battle Begins

I began contacting the various city agencies that will need to approve our home design, and it looks like it will be an uphill battle at best. Initial unofficial feedback from members of the Historic Commission and the Design Review Board mentioned major concerns with:

1 - The lack of a front-facing entrance.
2 - The lack of a front porch.
3 - The materials in general and the metal siding in particular.
4 - The flat roof.

I spent an afternoon photographing other homes and buildings in the neighborhood to document the context. There are plenty of older homes in the neighborhood with no porches or only minimal stoops on the front. Pictures are on Flickr.

Since we already intend to modify the Hive design by adding a mudroom and changing the front door to face the street, we should be ok on issue #1. Now we need to find a front porch design that will not detract from the design of the house but will still fit in with the neighborhood. I am thinking of something like this example:



or:




Just imagine this configuration on the Hive with a small roof projecting out over the front door and a small stoop raised up a few steps from ground level.