Dave Mayfield, developer of Afton Village in

Dave Mayfield, developer of Afton Village in Concord, North Carolina, and landscape architect Richard Burck visited cities across the Carolinas and Georgia to survey and measure porches and to discover what elements create the right balance between private and public space. They found that the depth of the porch as well as its height above and distance from the sidewalk played crucial roles. To successfully create an outdoor room, the porch should be at least eight feet deep, Mayfield says, leaving room for outdoor furniture and ease of movement. The minimum width should be twelve feet – which after subtraction of circulation space for the front door would leave a seating area of eight by eight feet. “We consider that the bare-bones minimum,” Mayfield says. Porches should be a “conversational distance from the sidewalk, which Mayfield defines as a maximum of 20 feet. Often porches in neotraditional communities are 12 feet or closer to the public right of way. A railing can also help to give residents a greater sense of “psychological separation,” Mayfield says.