A Modernist Aspen Home Pays Tribute To Its Terrain
House Details
Style: Contemporary
Produced By: Caren Kurlander
Photography: JC Buck
Architecture: Rich Carr And Matthew Smith, CCY Architects
Interior Design: Noelle Hernandez And Nicole Stewart, Matter Planning and Design LLC
Home Builder: Tony Rutgers And Chris Morrow, Rutgers Construction Inc.
The house that architects Rich Carr and Matthew Smith recently designed for the Aspen landscape looks a lot like a modernist hilltop castle. The arrangement of minimalist forms–perched among towering trees and the Elk Mountains–serves as a multi-generational retreat for a couple, their son and his husband. “Our focus was for the design to embrace the site and the views,” says Carr.
The architects tied the house to its mountain topography using form and texture. “The gabled roofs and the dry-stacked quartzite ledgestone siding are a nod to the building tradition and heritage of the region,” says Smith. The main house is sided with dry-stacked limestone that offsets horizontal cedar siding. Glass walls and a glass rail that defines a large terrace on the front facade lend a contemporary note. “We also added very thin plate steel awnings that cantilever at some of the main outdoor spaces, adding sun protection and depth and shadow,” Smith says
Designers Noelle Hernandez and Nicole Stewart outfitted the rooms with a bold palette, simple silhouettes and layers of rich texture. “The clients like fine things and they love Christian Liaigre,” Hernandez says. “Liaigre’s designs were the foundation for our scheme. These clients were drawn to refined furniture, but they’re unpretentious–comfort was as important to them.”
For an Aspen property, architects Rich Carr and Matthew Smith designed two residences—a main house and smaller home—that blend progressive elements and regional mountain aesthetics. Dry-stacked quartzite ledgestone supplied and installed by Suarez masonry marks the exterior of the main house. The pivot entry door by Grabill Windows & Doors references the cedar siding
For an ample terrace, the designers arranged weathered-teak two-seat Sutherland sofas with cushions wearing Holly Hunt Great Outdoors Fresh Canvas fabric in deep violet. The grounds were designed by landscape architect Gyles Thornely of Connect One Design, who selected a quartzite sandstone to pave the terrace and a boulder fire pit by Roger Hopkins Stone Sculptor. Native grasses surround the area.
A plum-toned Liaigre sofa and leather-and-bronze Liaigre armchairs from John Brooks incorporated lend brilliance to the formal living area, where a Pat Steir painting hangs on the wall. The custom silk rug by Rosemary Hallgarten and the oak-and-steel coffee table by Jiun Ho are both from Town.
The formal dining area displays a walnut table by Altura furniture from Town surrounded by Liaigre chairs covered with a plum-hued leather by Edelman. The blackened-steel pendants by John Pomp are also from Town, and the artwork is by Walter Niedermayr.
A bathroom in the smaller home on the property features dark limestone walls, which frame a view of the trees outside. A streamlined Boffi tub rests on teak flooring, lending warmth and texture to the room.
The same ledge-stone was employed inside the house to provide a holistic feel. A large-scale artwork by Ashley Collins from Forre & Co. hangs in the entry, where engineered-oak floors by Aspen Valley Hardwoods lend texture. The bench is by Liaigre.
Another large-scale artwork by Ashley Collins from Forrel & Co. hangs in the master bedroom, where Hernandez and Stewart placed Magni Home Collection bed from Town. The bed's leather upholstery and the leather-and-bronze bench are both by Holly Hunt; the pendant is also Magni home Collection from town.