The purchasers of this one-story 1950s house on a cul-de-sac of tight lots were adament about two things:  one, they wanted a front porch. Two, they wanted more space without causing the bulk of a second story to overwhelm the scale of the street (like the unfortunate mcmansion recently completed across the street).

The answer was to go up, but back. The face of the second floor is in line with the first floor below, but allows the first floor roof to flow around it to define the visual height of the house as being below the second story.  But we also extended the rear of the second story beyond the first floor, capturing more liveable space away from the street.  This also created a columned loggia below the overhang to act as a transition between the interior and exterior.