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The Princely Porch
Copyright Architectural Structure VA
1-283-885 USA 5/14/04
Here is a blue-gray deck covered with
a white porch arbor. The structure is about 50/50 plastic and wood. The deck
is made from integrated planking of 2x6 PVC plastic boards. The arbor's
canopy is made from 1¾-inch
square PVC plastic tubing with 1-inch spacing. The lattice panels and
skirting are also made from PVC plastic.
The topmost canopy is a 3-panel gabled
skylight made from 5/16-inch double-wall translucent white acrylic plastic.
 And
all of this is set in a timber framework painted oyster-white.
This porch-arbor was designed for a region that
has little rainfall. If the plastic canopy were to be replaced with a solid
roof, the architectural character would be greatly diminished. This is
because two distinctly different roof designs were used together that, in a
solid roof, are incompatible.
 While
there is plenty of blue sky here in California, we have to deal with
earthquakes -- and we never know when the BIG ONE will hit. So seismic
stability is a major consideration. This porch arbor has 21 6x6 posts, all
of which are set 2 inches into the beams they support, and each of which is
bolted from the top with an 18 inch-long ⅝-inch lag-bolt. This gives the
structure the lateral rigidity required.
The porch's design is predominantly one of
openness -- yet because this structure faces directly South it's almost too
open for the blistering California Summer and Autumn sun. This deficiency
was mitigated by hanging roll-down plastic-reed blinds on the interior side
of the beams above every opening. Now with a little manual adjustment the
porch is a delight to occupy anywhere at any time of day.
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