Project: Blue Mountain House
Architects: cgmodern architecture
Location: Blue Mountain Estates, Golden, Colorado
Area: 1800 square feet
Completed 2021
Photo Credits: David Lauer Photography
AWARDS
2022 Colorado Design Award of Merit
The goal for this single family residence was to create a simple, compact live-work home in the mountains that fully embraces living in nature while also addressing the social and environmental challenges of living in the mountains.
As the architect and home owner, we tightly tailored this 1800 s.f. all-electric home to meet our program needs while being economical to build and use. Working primarily from home, we needed a design that created a clear separation between home and work. The solution was a two-story structure with living quarters on top, and our offices, guest room and garage on the lower level.
The Blue Mountain house is composed of three simple forms. The lower level reads as a solid rectangle base that tucks into the hillside with small punch openings for windows. This creates a cozy work experience with grade level views of the landscape while also creating a solid base for the lighter, three-sided glass living room cantilevered above. At 15’ wide, the living room feels both suspended and surrounded by nature while serving a secondary purpose: a covered front porch below. The third and final mass, the secondary living spaces, simply stacks on top of the concrete walls below for economy in both cost and materials.
Composed of readily available materials, including non-architectural exposed concrete, corrugated metal siding and composite wood decking, the house is both economical and fire resistant. The interiors are minimal yet bold, with oak wood screens, polished concrete floors, custom steel accents and pops of color with tile.
With exterior insulation and triple pane windows, the Blue Mountain house is designed for passive solar heating. The southern facing floor-to-ceiling windows warm up the concrete floors in the winter, while the appropriately sized overhangs and motorized solar shades keep the house cool in the summer without air conditioning. The house is 100% electric with hot water radiant floor heating fed by an efficient heat pump and solar panels, yielding a HERS rating of 29.
