American-based architecture firm In Situ Studio has overhauled a mid-century modern home in Raleigh, North Carolina, that had ‘fallen into disarray’.
The Ocotea House, which sits in a private quarter of a suburban neighbourhood, was originally a well-loved, low-sloped ranch with a full basement visible on the right-hand side. Over the years, the brick, ranch-style home that was originally a clean image of mid-century residential architecture had been ‘haphazardly chopped up’ over the years.
![Opumo](https://www.opumo.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/12.jpg)
“The basement had been haphazardly chopped up to accommodate additional bedrooms, the main floor and public spaces had been reconfigured in an odd way, and a very poorly built sunroom had been added to the right side,” said In Situ Studio.
The major changes that the firm designed for the house include a new carport on the right hand side of the property that replaces the sunroom and extends the line of the roof. New front decks that introduce a floating, thin aesthetic to the formerly heavy front façade, a new kitchen and master suite, new stairs that connect the main spaces to a new, open living room in the basement, new utility systems and completely new aesthetic finishes inside and out. The house now sits comfortably in its mid-century neighbourhood, a start alternative to the method to buy, bulldoze and build-out culture that currently litters Raleigh’s suburbs.
Photography: © Keith Isaacs