Awards
2020 – Fay Jones School Alumni Design Awards, Merit Award
2019 – AIA Chicago Distinguished Building Award
Publications
The Ravine house is a new single-family residence for two empty-nesters intent on living in ways that connect them to their land.
The couple—cyclists, nature enthusiasts, artists—sought to create a modestly scaled single-floor house that supports their active lifestyle and personal interests while quietly engaging with the ravined site.
The project is a synthesis of the couple’s past and future, interests and passions. The house is conceptualized as a single, dark, rectangular volume. One corner, the garage, is broken off to create an entry courtyard. The house and garage are intentionally pulled apart to infuse a bit of the wild into daily routines.
While the exterior volume is wrapped in black square-edged vertical metal siding, the courtyard is lined with a vertical rain screen of American Black Locust.
Local stones, clustered plantings and swaying birch flow through this courtyard: in essence, nature wins. A singular, smooth column of Black Locust supports the low entry canopy. Positioned ‘just so,’ it begs to be touched as one walks past.
Within, the heart of the home is a central volume of American Walnut. All rooms feed off this hub and are drawn to it, revolving around the warmth of the material. Here, the couple walk on continuous white oak floors.
Sitting comfortably in the living room or standing casually by the kitchen island, the view drifts out through large windows to rest on the cadence of the seasons, color spreading through the autumn leaves or dappled light on fresh snow.
From the painting/spinning studio, the couple views past the courtyard birches rising through crushed stone to the raised beds of a vegetable garden that they built themselves.
“We are deeply committed to conservation and sustainability. We wanted to bring those values into the new home we would build. When we met Wheeler Kearns we knew we had found the right partner. Wheeler Kearns shares our values, and in the home they designed, it takes full advantage of the property’s natural setting. The way the house is sited, the abundant windows, and the way the rooms are designed bring natural light and ravine views into the home and give one the sense of being outside when you are inside. Being in our home is joyful and calming.”
Ravine House Clients
Additional Images
Structural Engineer: Enspect Engineering
Photographer: Tom Rossiter
General Contractor: Goldberg General Contracting, Inc
Landscape Architect: Kettelkamp & Kettelkamp Landscape Architecture
Civil Engineer: Daniel Creaney Company
MEP Engineer: AA Service Company Heating and Cooling
Lighting Designer: Lux Populi