Let an element do more than one thing and belong to more than one order at once: a wall that is both inside and outside, a column that is both structure and sign.
Rules · Cities · Façades · Materials
Porches near the street, fences unlike each other
Bring every house forward to the street with a front porch, and mark the lot line with a white picket fence, each house with a different pattern of fence; build in wood with pitched metal roofs, and allow a small tower where the code permits.
The porch puts people within speaking distance of the street; the fence gives a clear line between public and private while keeping the street in view. Towers (belvederes looking over the dunes to the Gulf) are the privilege of certain lots and give the skyline its accents.
Related rules
Where a building is seen from a moving car across a car park, communication depends on large signs placed at the road, and the building behind them can be a simple shed.
Speak two languages at once: the technical language of modern construction for the profession, and a language of familiar, historical or popular signs for everyone else.
Treat a tall office building as base, shaft and top: an open, accessible ground storey for shops and entrances; an indefinite stack of identical office floors expressed as one; and a distinct attic that closes the composition.
base (1–2 storeys) + shaft (n identical storeys) + attic
Do not design the buildings; write a code. Give each lot a building type, and for each type fix on one sheet where the building stands, how high it rises, where its porch and outbuilding go, whether it may have a tower and where cars are parked; then let any architect design within it.
Make neighbourhoods compact, pedestrian-friendly and mixed in use, with a clear centre and edge, so that daily needs lie within a short walk: about a quarter of a mile, five minutes, from centre to edge.
centre to edge ≈ ¼ mile ≈ 400 m ≈ 5 minutes on foot
Cite this page Chris Paton, “Porches near the street, fences unlike each other”, The Textbook of Architecture, https://textbookofarchitecture.com/rule/seaside-porch-and-fence. Text, drawings and models licensed under CC BY-NC 4.0.