The Porch Parliament
A novel Venice–Berkeley cooperative residence in which the porch itself becomes an outdoor civic room and circulation network. On a flat rectangular masonry footing, arrange three separate narrow dwelling bars around a central court open toward the front: a two-story left bar, a three-story rear bar, and a two-story right bar set forward. The side bars run front-to-back; the rear bar runs left-to-right. Each has a shallow clay-tile gable along its long axis, broad eaves and exposed timber rafter tails. Keep the roofs separate and the court open to the sky.
Brick ground-floor service cores wear patched salmon lime plaster above hard stone feet. Upper dwelling walls are timber framed and clad in silvered shingles, with grouped green-shuttered casement windows. Oversized redwood bridge-loggias link the left and rear bars at the first upper level and the rear and right bars at the next level, forming a rising, inhabitable sequence around the court rather than a bridge across its open center. Carry the bridges on visible posts, deep paired beams and bolted knee braces; support the higher landing against the rear core. Straight exterior stair flights with landings connect the levels along the courtyard walls, with full slatted guards. Deep bench niches broaden the landings into shared outdoor rooms. The rear elevation has paired windows, a shallow service balcony and a masonry stair core; both outer side elevations alternate shingle walls, porch recesses and visible braces. Visible geometry should emphasize layered voids, timber joints and communal thresholds, with no floating volumes and no grand central doorway.