Large Rural Porch Design

Today I worked on sketches for my own house. In developing ideas to re-model I plan on switching the entrance over from the west side to the east. I had merely thought of just putting a door and a porch onto the existing structure, but there is so much wrong with the house as regards location of rooms and function that I ended up working it over entirely. Not only is it more north-south oriented, it also sticks a few feet into the setback from the road. In cutting a portion of the building off to get back into compliance I found myself wanting to orient the whole thing along east-west and utilizing the southern exposure to the sun for passive solar benefits.

In the above sketch I depict the house as seen from the southeast. With this design the Master Bedroom receives direct sunlight at Winter Solstice. As my house is now the bedroom I use is on the west. And though it is interesting to catch the indirect rays of the sun lighting up the tree tops of the San Isabel National Forest in pink or yellow, this indirect lighting wrecks havoc on how I start my day too much at leisure. I plan on bounding the porch in granite boulders from the local stream beds and supporting the awning with peeled Ponderosas or Spruce.

Looking north.

The upstairs bedroom with windows oriented to the south has a cantilevered deck and  is sheltered three-quarters around by logs-style walls.

The dining room windows are oriented towards the setting sun. The extruded sheltering of log-style walls are continued near the chimney for purposes of keeping dry firewood. (It should be noted that these logs in the idea stage are made of cementitious material to make the house less susceptible to fire, and these alcoves - though open to the elements - would have removable cover of a simlar function. I have even thought of putting in overhead doors in this situation. Firewood can also be kept on the second storey.



I have not yet added windows to the north side. This is the side traffic normally runs where the house is placed too near the road.

Looking west.

Southeast side of porch closer in.

Looking west.