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Click thumbnail to view more Hopkins & Porter Additions
by Sharon Jaffe Dan, photography by John Troha
This Glen Echo, Maryland, home is surrounded by mature trees and it boasts a patio and koi pond in the back yard. But because of small windows and a steeply sloping roof overhang, the homeowners felt cut off from their back yard and its views. Guy Semmes and architect Kai Tong knew the house well, since their firm, Hopkins & Porter, had already completed several renovation projects there.
Landscaping and stone retaining walls and pathways surround the curving porch. |
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The new semi-circular porch replaced a steep roof that blocked views of the wooded back yard and koi pond. |
When the homeowners requested a porch addition that would allow them to better appreciate the landscape, Tong approached the design by thinking outside of the box. Somewhat contemporary, the house has multiple planes "going in several directions," he says. Rather than settle for a typical square shape, Tong "tried to use simple geometry to create a nice counterpoint to the visual density of the house and open it up." He devised a semi-circular plan that captures a panoramic view of the back yard and the koi pond and creates the natural setting his clients desired. A widened kitchen door leads directly to the porch.
Tong divided the half-circle into segments, then varied the angle of the roofline in each segment. "This creates a rhythm and complexity of space inside," he says. Rain cascades from one roof segment to another and eventually down to the ground where it's channeled away from the house in a river-rock ravine of Hopkins & Porter's design.
"They wanted the porch screened so they wouldn't be devoured by mosquitoes in our Washington summers," says Tong. A stone retaining wall follows the curve of the new porch. Landscaper Todd Layfield of Gardenfield finished the project off with attractive plantings.
Tong credits these long-term clients for being open to his design. "They have an artistic outlook on life and were looking to try something novel because of their creative attitude," he says.
Kai Tong varied the angles of the roof segments to create rhythm and complexity.
Architecture: Kai Tong, Hopkins & Porter Construction, Inc., Potomac, Maryland Contractor: Guy Hopkins Semmes, Hopkins & Porter Construction, Inc., Potomac, Maryland Landscape Design: Gardenfield, Boyds, Maryland
Photographer John Troha is based in Bethesda, Maryland.
