Porch addition lets a large home live larger
A clever eyebrow roof distinguishes the new porch.
Photo by David Dietrich
The idea of outdoor rooms is to soak in the view, and the classic four-season space, while unimpeachably comfortable, can make nature seem more like a glassed-in exhibit than an actual experience. Environmental immersion is much realer with a screened-in porch — the rain, sun, fog, and wind does as it pleases. And that pleases Richard Jones, an orthopedic surgeon, and his wife Carol, a property manager. The local homeowners engaged Griffin Architects to add a stately addition to their traditional home, which overlooks the 11th hole of Biltmore Forest Country Club’s golf course, with a distant view of Mount Pisgah.
Robert Griffin and junior architect Noah Isles, working with Kevin Reed (BlueStone Construction), added more than 900 square feet to the woodsy Asheville property, including a screened-in porch where the old outdoor patio used to be and a spacious new patio with a novelty gas fire pit and a handsome brick-and-stone grill surround — an altar, really, for that most exalted of ceramic outdoor cookers, the Big Green Egg.
Pitching such a large addition near the previously added family room — which had the feel of a sunroom, thanks to floor-to-ceiling windows — presented some logistical challenges. Griffin talks about installing a large box gutter to collect rain flow from a new “cricket” roof transition that also serves an aesthetic function, allowing the new porch to be a seamless outgrowth of the extant architecture.
In other places, he took cues from the property’s compelling existing features to accomplish the style. Creating a graceful eyebrow dormer “sympathetically echoed the curve of the original brick pathway,” says Griffin. But roofing that new curve in copper was an opportunity to really customize the home’s outward appeal. “We wanted more of a focal point for the house than just your typical gables,” he explains. A vaulted, beamed ceiling adds architectural interest inside, with a minimalist/industrial ceiling fan imparting a fun contemporary touch (its center lamp picks up the copper theme).
It took some doing to preserve that vintage pathway, reveals Reed, who describes deep drilling and the use of high-tech micropiles to gird the foundation. “We worked hard to save every bit of that [exterior] brick,” says the builder, “and it wasn’t easy.” Griffin encouraged using protective layers of mulch and plywood over the historic walk so that construction work would not be hampered.
Photo by David Dietrich
The screened porch’s subdued brick floor, meanwhile, is new — but it coolly nails a rustic look, especially surrounded by layered white-painted pine and fir beams connected by simple iron saddles. The room is furnished with a teak round dining table that seats six, situated under a graceful drop chandelier. A cushioned sofa and two chairs surround the wood-burning fireplace.
Back outside, a granite-topped barbecue shelters the Big Green Egg. “Now we have the best of both worlds, with a screened area as well as outdoor space for entertaining,” says Carol.
Even though the screened porch will be left to breathe, unencumbered by glass, Carol notes that it lives like any all-season room: “We have warmth from the fireplace in the fall and winter, and shade and cool breezes in the spring and summer.” She adds that “we wanted the feel of outdoors, but with protection from bugs.”
Her husband Richard, however, says he loves to “sit outside and listen to music and cook. When you smoke things for a long time, it requires close temperature monitoring, and the Egg is perfect for that.
“It took some effort to design the top for the grill area to fit the Egg, due to the way it opens and the need to leave open areas to adjust airflow,” explains the homeowner. “But Kevin and Robert did a great job.”
Griffin Architects, P.A., 1 Village Lane #1, Asheville. For more information, call 828-274-5979 or see griffinarchitectspa.com. BlueStone Construction, Hendersonville, call 828-693-4484 or visit bluestoneconstruction.com.