A modest ranch transforms into a bright modernist house

The front facade is far from bland: Clad in painted white brick and outfitted with large windows, its aesthetic evokes mid-century elegance, while offering some privacy from the street. At the rear, a series of bay windows, arranged along the entire length of the house, overlook the courtyard and create a link with the landscape; the positioning of the windows offering transparency towards the surrounding nature. The Kebony wood cladding frames and accentuates the presence of the windows at the back of the house, while echoing the wood accents of the interior.

“Using Kebony wood gave me the opportunity to explore the wooden buildings here in Tennessee and tap into the spirit of agrarian structures that would have existed around here 200 years ago. . These slats that I use often create an atmosphere and luminous quality that is reminiscent of the many old barns that can be found in the area”, explains Goorevich.

The clients, newlyweds, wanted to buy a completely renovated modern house. But after a discussion about the costs of making it, they decided to take Goorevich's advice and renovate an existing ranch, dating back to the 1950s, instead.

“With their two-part layout, front and back, and access to services from above and below, it is relatively easy to retrofit these ranches to better meet the demands of modern living. In the case of this project, we proposed an addition in the form of a “bay window” that spans the entire length of the house and overlooks the courtyard and surrounding landscape”, continues Goorevich.

This arrangement made it possible to propose two types of facades. On the front façade, the layout imagined by Goorevich retains the openings as well as the original spirit of the ranch. Private spaces have been strategically placed along this side of the house. The remaining public spaces and porches have been moved.

In the kitchen, the ceiling has been raised to reclaim underutilized attic space. One of the problems with typical ranches is the standard eight-foot height of ceilings and small window openings. By raising the ceiling, it was possible to add a large window at the end of the house, which helped to bring light and depth to the space. A window placed above the cooktop completes the kitchen and makes it a must-see space. In this design, the house maintains privacy and anonymity from the street, while opening the interior to transparency with a wood and glass pavilion along the rear facade.

This project taps into the potential of an existing ranch to create bright interior spaces offering transparency to the landscape. The project is staggered over time and will soon be completed with a swimming pool terrace and a pavilion.

Kebony is a real, high-end, ecological and durable wood, used in many outdoor applications: decking, cladding, roofing and furniture. Kebony technology is a patented production process that improves the properties of softwoods to give them characteristics comparable to those of exotic woods. Thanks to an environmentally friendly process, the woods are impregnated with an organic liquid from agricultural crop waste. By heating the wood, the furfuryl polymers are impregnated into the cell walls of the wood, increasing its density and dimensional stability, and giving it a dark brown color similar to a tropical wood.

The two Kebony production sites are located in Skien, south of Oslo and in Antwerp, Belgium. The brand has regional sales offices in Europe as well as in the United States.