This contemporary American house was a ranch before its transformation

As soon as we see the exterior of this newly renovated house located in Nashville, Tennessee, USA, the tone is set. The property has two heterogeneous faces: one clad in painted white brick that faces the street, a tribute to the classic ranch, and one at the back, made up of floor-to-ceiling windows and Kebony wood cladding, a technology that allows improve the properties of softwoods to give them a dark brown color comparable to that of exotic woods, which reflects modern aesthetics and recalls the woody notes of the interior.

This two-faced house, “Two-Faced House”, draws on ranch potential existing in order to create modern interior spaces. “Using Kebony wood gave me the opportunity to explore wood buildings here in Tennessee. These slats create an atmosphere and luminous quality that is reminiscent of the many old barns that can be found in the area.“, justifies the architect Michael Goorevich.

Simple spaces to modernize

Newlyweds wanted to afford a modern house. But after a discussion concerning the costs of realization, they decided to take the advice of Michael Goorevich and renovate an existing ranch, dating from the 1950s. Before its renovation, this ranch was slated for demolition. “With their two-part layout, front and rear, and access to services from above and below, it is relatively easy to upgrade 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 runs the full length of the house and overlooks the courtyard and surrounding landscape.“, explains Michael Goorevich.

However, the architect encountered an obstacle during the renovation of the property: lack of ceiling height of the ranch and its small windows. So he decided to raise the ceiling to add a large window at the end of the house to let in light and give more depth to the space. Likewise in the kitchen, the raising of the ceiling made it possible to recover the underused space of the attic.