The company constantly gauges whether its designs are perfect, often expanding scale drawings into mock-ups to check that proportion, scale, and materials are just right. On the Hess project, the front porch was redesigned because none of the firm architects liked it. In a collective process, the team redesigned the boxed-in porch by opening the gable with an arch to let in light, unfettering the rafter tails and eaves, and highlighting the bead-board roof.
“It’s a porch that’s experienced from below. You will look up while you’re waiting for the door to open,” Morris explains. “Now, the expressed structure is there with detail. It’s a lesson in Arts & Crafts.”