Project: Steel House
Architects: Vincent James Associates Architects
Interior Design: Leslie Jones & Associates
Landscape Design: Michael Boucher Landscape Architecture
Location: Aspen, Colorado, United States
Photography: Paul Crosby
Perched on the edge of a beautiful canyon, this stunning Steel House is a work of extreme precision and passionate purpose. The house steps down the hillside and opens up to spectacular views of the nearby creek, adjacent canyon wall and distant mountains. Multi-level terraces extend the living spaces toward the canyon’s edge.
The site had been aggressively cleared and graded by previous owners to accommodate two homes, a barn and horse paddocks. Michael Boucher Landscape Architecture worked closely with Landforms Inc. to reshape the site to a more natural topography and to revegetate the property with extensive groves of aspen and blue spruce.
On approach, the Steel house gradually appears as a long, low, dark red weathered steel surface that blends into the colors of the earth and surrounding foliage. Moving beyond a discrete one story entry wall, the upper story of the house opens to dramatic views up and down valley.
Structural shear walls formed of weathering steel and delicately textured surfaces define the interior spaces of the house while reorienting your view from the mountains out to the terraces and down to the creek. The project used digital fabrication for the steel, stone and wood structure, enabling complex patterning and precise integration.
Originating at the house’s lower terraces, a trail network circuitously navigates the site’s forests, meadows and glades. A series of distinct experiences unfolds along the route as it winds through the property, capturing views of the creek, distant peaks and strategically placed sculptures.
