Architect E.J. Meade first visited the site of Lodgepole Retreat in midwinter. “It’s about a mile off the main road,” Meade says, “so we had to snowshoe in.” More than the high-altitude exertion, though, it was the place itself that took his breath away. “It’s a beautiful 40-acre meadow at an elevation of about 9,200 feet,” he explains. “There are spectacular views just about everywhere you look.” But the site’s orientation presented a conundrum. “The views are to the northwest, but that’s also where our weather comes from,” he says, noting that winter weather at this elevation can be fierce indeed. To make matters even more interesting, the house’s program targeted zero net energy consumption. But Meade and builder Jerry Long rose to the challenge, combining regional vernacular imagery with modernist rigor and sound building science to produce a house perfectly adapted to its high-altitude perch.
Views and vernacular inform the design.
The building’s simple form was modeled on the picturesque ruin of a nearby mining shed, says Meade, who pitched the roof to mirror the slope of the land and pegged the main floor elevation to the height of a massive boulder that stands close by. “The house sort of reaches out, and there’s this conversation with the boulder,” he says.
The long shed roof points toward Mount Meeker, some 10 miles to the northwest, and the Twin Sisters Range beyond. Turning the building’s short axis toward the view, while counterintuitive, allowed Meade to zone the main floor into public and private areas separated by a space-efficient combined entry and stair hall. “With a small house like that, you want to limit the circulation as much as possible,” explains the architect, who used the central stairway also to channel natural light from the entry to the lower-level mudroom and garage. An offset in the floor plan gives the master bedroom a northwest-facing corner window and its own mountain view.
Exterior materials deliver style—and survivability.
Vernacular mining and ranch buildings inspired the house’s exterior of board-formed concrete and rusted A606 steel, materials whose rough textures and earthy colors reflect the natural surroundings. “[The steel] gets this mottling that’s almost identical to the lodgepole pines,” Meade says. The contrasting yellow of the steel wood-storage box on the entry porch is “a dead-on match for the aspen leaves when they turn in the fall.”
But aesthetic harmony wasn’t the only consideration, Meade says. “We’re in a ‘high-hazard’ district for fire,” which means those lodgepole pines can explode into flame, raining down glowing embers “the size of your fist.” Accordingly, builder Jerry Long wrapped the entire exterior in noncombustible materials, down to the plaster under the roof soffits. “The fascia is metal, and the roof is Class A fire rated as well,” Long says. The deck framing and railings are galvanized steel; the wood decking, 2x6 Brazilian cherry planks that are rated as timbers.
In contrast to the rugged exterior, the interior presents a refined palette of painted plaster, Douglas fir millwork, and white composite countertops. “The only rusticated piece on the interior is a live-edge piece of Douglas fir on the entry bench,” Meade says. Long topped the entire main-level floor with a polished concrete slab that welcomes both snowy boots and bare feet. “It flows right into the master shower floor,” he notes.
Thermal performance rises to the challenge.
“Boulder County requires any new building to be 30 percent more efficient than the national code demands,” Meade says, “so you’re at the LEED Silver level right out of the pack.” But, despite its exposed location, this house goes even further. Long filled the conventionally framed shell with closed-cell foam insulation and created a thermal break and air barrier with two inches of rigid foam insulation outboard of the sheathing. The house’s orientation made the use of triple-pane windows essential. “It looks at a 13,800 foot peak,” Meade says. “The wind comes off of there at 80 to 90 miles per hour, and the walls are almost 40 percent glazing.”
Geothermal heating proved unfeasible, ironically, because the house doesn’t require air conditioning. “We wouldn’t be recharging [the ground source] during the summer, so the performance would degrade over time,” Meade says. Instead, an electric masonry-storage boiler provides in-floor hydronic heat, and a heat-pump water heater handles domestic hot water. And while the house’s shed profile faces the wrong direction for passive solar gain, its south-facing roof made an ideal mounting platform for the 10-kilowatt photovoltaic array. “It’s an all-electric house,” Meade says, “but their energy bills are only a couple hundred dollars a year.”
Project Credits:
Project: Lodgepole Retreat, Boulder County, Colo.
Builder: J.A. Long Construction, Boulder, Colo.
Architect: Arch11, Boulder
Structural Engineer: KL&A, Golden, Colo.
Living Space: 2,500 square feet
Site: 40 acres
Construction Cost: Withheld
Resources:
Bathroom plumbing fixtures: Toto, Zuma Collection
Bathroom plumbing fittings: Lacava
Countertops: Caesarstone
Dishwasher: Bosch
Refrigerator and freezer: Sub-Zero
Garbage disposal: InSinkErator
Hardware: FSB
Insulation: Icynene
Kitchen plumbing fittings: Dornbracht
Kitchen plumbing fixtures: Blanco
Lighting fixtures: Cooper, Itre, LGF
Oven and range: Wolf
Paints/stains: Benjamin Moore
Patio doors and windows: Kolbe
Roofing: Berridge
Structural lumber: Georgia-Pacific
Trash compactor: Jenn-Air
Ceiling fan: Big Ass Fans
