Lookout House

Responding to the dramatic beauty of its setting, a steep cliff-side with panoramic views of Aspen ski mountains, was a major directive in the overall design of this highly customized 8,700 square foot home. Conveniently, it fit right in with our design team’s propensity for embracing complexity and depth. That the owners be able to showcase nearly 60 curated pieces of contemporary artwork within a gallery-like setting allowed us to express valued design concepts of proportion, scale, light and materials.  

Aligned with a sliding glass door across the entry, which also functions as an art gallery, the front door allows a direct view of area ski slopes. The reconfigured floor plan better organizes public and private spaces, creating a flow that accommodates the client’s lifestyle and artwork, including large freestanding sculptures. Public and private areas are bridged by a floating interior stairway topped with a translucent steel landing. 

A consistent, muted interior palette connects with the natural surroundings and provides a strong sense of continuity of theme and vocabulary, but with a change in materials. For example, the same concrete used on the exterior repeats in the monumental living room fireplace surround, which is scored into large rectangles. The same gray color and form of the concrete is used for the master bedroom fireplace, but expressed in leather squares. Additionally, polished limestone plinths appearing under the fireplace are repeated in the adjoining bath as a raised marble platform under the sink. 

Additional interior elements include European oak flooring (sometimes extended up the walls as well) and dark bronze hardware. Level-5 painted walls and ceilings allow specifically placed artwork to stand out in a gallery-like setting. Conversely, trademark built-in cabinetry such as a walnut cabinet system in the kitchen conceals storage. A specially designed stove hood, backsplash and cabinets inset with glass panels recede into the architecture. 

Replacing the former antiquated house on the site with new modern design helped to better integrate the home with the sloping site and also provided a visual and acoustic connection between the two levels. A new entry sequence established transparency throughout the home and opened up the volumes.

 I had a vision of what I wanted this house to be. The point was to make the space work as well as it possibly could, to have a flow and to make the outside a very important part of how the house worked on the inside. We elevated it to a whole other level. It works really well. – Homeowner, The Lookout