Unifying House and Garden

Our client is an avid gardener. He felt his Wellesley home was cut off from the Japanese-inspired garden designed for his yard by ZEN associates. To remedy this, we designed a modern screen porch that acts as a dovetail between the house and garden. The rooftop, echoing the elegant shapes of a pagoda, doubles as a private balcony for the second floor primary bedroom. A custom-designed steel truss with stainless-steel cable supports the roof. A black nylon insect screen maximizes transparency. The structure is positioned adjacent to a terrace, which helps create a sense of organic continuity between the porch and the surround.

Our modern porch emphasizes the connection between interior and exterior space. A ceiling of red cedar continues from the interior to the exterior, protecting visitors from direct sun. Likewise, the grey granite floor pavers of the screen porch extend seamlessly outside to form an organic terrace. This continuity of material between the interior and exterior spaces, coupled with the elegance of shape and materials makes our modern porch an intuitive addition to the house—and an unobtrusive extension of the living space into the yard and garden.