The architects were challenged to create an artful house that would be deferential to it’s high alpine mountainous site, amplify its revered beauty, and be tough enough to withstand extreme climate.
With intimate knowledge of the 70-acre site, the clients desired to live on the north edge of a meadow, beneath towering Engelmann Spruce trees — which all needed to remain undisturbed.
The design team undertook a meticulous site analysis in both quantitative and qualitative terms, establishing a program split into three smaller buildings: a main house, sauna, and garage. The building roof forms shift and fold with the sloping landscape, preserving the gently undulating meadow beyond, while also allowing interior spaces to open to views.
In order to fit between the trees, the design team optimized the program, paring it down without losing any desired functions. Multi-purpose rooms were designed to be interchangeable spaces, including an office/bedroom. In addition, behind the fireplace, an intimate reading corner connects to the outside, and a sleeping nook is tucked under the sloping roof on the second level to add functionality throughout the tight floorplan.
Clad in copper, this 4,000-sf house provides a crafted enclosure designed to meet the needs of the ever changing weather conditions at 10,000 feet. The house was also designed to be closed off while unoccupied. A full-height entry door enables the clients to secure the house when not in use, protecting it from heavy snowfall and the elements.
Inspired not only by the site’s surrounding landscape, the design team also looked to contemporary visual and land artists for inspiration when ideating the façade. The copper exterior is composed of a series of four metal profiles arranged in a non-repetitive pattern derived from the DNA sequence of the site's surrounding Engelmann Spruce trees.
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