What do you do when your home has strong bones and an ideal location but its outdated style is keeping you from enjoying it to its fullest potential" Remodel it, of course ? even if the end result is virtually unrecognizable from the original. There was never any question that the Red Rocks residence in Phoenix was worth saving, despite the fact that its underutilized formal entryway pushed the common areas to the rear of the home and made them feel stuffy. This dramatic update by The Ranch Mine makes the house a lot more livable while completely changing its exterior from Spanish Colonial Revival style to a cantilevered contemporary wonder.

Formal entryways may have been très chic just a few decades ago, but these days, trends lean in the direction of more casual open spaces that interplay with the outdoors. For Red Rocks, architects Claire and Calvin Costello found a clever way to expand shaded outdoor spaces by as much as 2,000 square feet (186 square meters) while opening up the heart of the home, all without expanding beyond the original footprint to avoid disturbing the natural landscape. ?It was clear very quickly to [us] that although the Spanish Colonial Revival style can be beautiful in the right situations, the style of this home was repressing the potential of the site, or more simply put, the house was style over substance,? they explain.
The Spanish Colonial facade, along with its view-blocking columns, was removed altogether. The architects then stri...