By: Glenn Adamson
Financial Times

A porch is an in-between place — partly indoors, partly out, perched between private and public. The word comes from ancient Latin (it’s related to the term “portico,” a formal entrance with columns), yet there’s nothing more traditionally American. In the South, especially, it’s where folks watch the world go by and sometimes welcome it in. 

It is also the theme for the U.S. Pavilion at this year’s Venice Architecture Biennale: Porch: An Architecture of Generosity. Somewhat unusually for an exhibition on the international biennial circuit, the project was organised in the American heartland — specifically in Northwest Arkansas, a place that coastal types may regard as itself being neither here nor there. Pavilion co-commissioner Peter MacKeith, however, argues that Arkansas is an ideal vantage point, centrally located in the country and rich in vernacular buildings. Arguably, these structures tell us what people actually want and need, as opposed to what architects think they should have. 

To read the rest of the story, visit the Financial Times website.