LAKE LIFE

EVERYONE IS TALKING ABOUT THE POWER OF THE PORCH THIS SUMMER.

Everyone is talking about the power of the porch this summer.

Recycled wood or floor-to-ceiling screens? When it comes to porches, lakeside homeowners have opinions. What is unanimous this summer is the idea of blurring the line between the indoors and outdoors. We speak with two architects who created sanctuaries on Squam Lake and Nubanusit Lake in New Hampshire.

RUSTIC WITH LUXURY

When LDa Architecture & Interiors principal Treffle LaFleche received a phone call from a family looking to reimagine their Squam Lake summer house as an overnight camp, he thought of s’mores, camping, and luxury. Wait—luxury? “These days, the trend is towards a rustic aesthetic with grand comfort,” LaFleche says. “We reward ourselves after working hard all week with luxury and refinement.” He designed the porch to have a red cedar cathedral ceiling, pine flooring, comfy furniture, and a hanging fireplace. LDa Architecture & Interiors, LLP, 222 Third St., Ste. 3212, Cambridge, 617-621-1455; lda-architects.com

WEATHERING HEIGHTS

Smack next to Nubanusit Lake is a house that begs to host entertaining. Architect Sheldon Pennoyer had just the plan: terraces. “We did not build any decks, but terraces,” Pennoyer says. “They offer opportunities for planting and a special connectedness to the land and the lake. An outdoor terrace does a much better job than a room.” Shaped with a curved ceiling, the porch offers a barely-there transition to the outdoors. “The trend is to be almost living in the landscape.” Sheldon Pennoyer Architects, 64 N. Main St., #1, Concord, NH, 603-856-8994; spennoyerarchitects.com

“AN OUTDOOR TERRACE DOES A MUCH BETTER JOB THAN A ROOM.” —sheldon pennoyer, sheldon pennoyer architects

Architect Sheldon Pennoyer created outdoor “rooms”—each offering a different experience—for a family’s summer house on Nubanusit Lake in Hancock, New Hampshire.

The owners of this Squam Lake home wanted to enhance the sights and sounds of a childhood camp experience. LDa Architecture & Interiors added another layer: luxury.