Alpine Residence
A weather-shaped retreat at the edge of the Boulder foothills.
A young family of four with a clear request: a home that disappears into the landscape from the road, but opens entirely to the western view from the inside. The site sits on a 1.4 acre slope at 6,800 ft, with prevailing winds from the north-west and significant snow loading six months of the year.
We split the program across three offset volumes following the contour of the slope, with a central circulation spine running east-west. The roof is a single folded plane in standing-seam zinc, calculated to shed snow toward gravel drainage beds rather than walkways. The west elevation is fully glazed with motorised exterior shading; the east is almost entirely solid local stone. Materials throughout are honest — concrete floors, blackened steel, white oak — with no applied finishes.
The home performs at 38% below code-baseline energy use and produces a net surplus through a 14kW PV array. It received a regional design citation in 2024 and was published in two trade titles. The clients moved in twelve months ahead of the original schedule.