The modern farmhouse has become a staple of residential design. When you look at key characteristics of modern farmhouse architecture, it’s easy to see why it is so appealing. The elements of the traditional American farmhouse are modified and often enhanced.
American Farmhouse Elements
The porch is a significant feature. It may wrap around most or all the house and is at least 8 feet wide to accommodate rocking chairs, tables, and porch swings.
Windows and doors are typically very large and plentiful to connect exterior to interior space and bring abundant daylight into the rooms.
Exterior proportions are streamlined so that the home has bulk and solidity, but maintains the traditional gable forms.
The farmhouse holds appeal because it’s classically American and can adapt fairly well to many different geographical locations. A farmhouse in upstate New York seems as appropriate as it does outside Atlanta, Georgia. Although wood is the traditional siding material, farmhouses today may be constructed of concrete, brick, stone, or stucco. Combinations of these materials are also used on the exterior.
The casual indoor/outdoor lifestyle that modern farmhouses embrace, coupled with clean-lines and a simple look, promotes timeless qualities with fresher appearances. It’s not unusual to find great rooms that have vaulted ceilings with exposed trusses; an open style that would not have worked for our ancestors.
Original farmhouses were designed for utility, economy, and efficiency, with pitched roofs that shed snow and a deep porch that enhanced cross ventilation while managing solar gain. Modern farmhouses do all this while incorporating the latest sustainable technologies. Low-maintenance materials such as fiber-cement boards and high tech insulation such as polyisocianurate, are replacing less efficient older alternatives.
