[ Predock ] Highlands Pond House

The journey into the site begins with a spatial contraction where aspens grow denser. The house settles into the site as if becoming displaced strata, inscribed by adjacent origins from the land. Spatial faults and outcroppings are heightened as hidden copper planes refract light, suggesting the landscape’s dynamism by transforming the interior space throughout the passage of the day.

A sheltered porte-cochere indicates entry to the house. Upon arrival, the house presents the visitor with a view to a concealed pond. Embracing the pond and completing the ring of the aspen forest, the house mediates a dialogue between immediate nature and distant formations. The view of the landscape is replaced by a view to the landscape.

An open central hall leads, in one direction, to the living room, dining room, kitchen and breakfast areas. Adjacent to the living room is a terrace that frames vistas and allows access to the pond by means of an exterior grand stair. A remote mechanical room anchors the end of the porte-cochere. From the kitchen, a glazed passage leads to a detached office. The office’s contemplative qualities are heightened by its focused views to the pond and mountains.

Opposite from the public spaces and adjacent to the central hub is the master suite. Perched in a grove of existing aspen at the north side of the house, it is distanced from communal spaces by an arcing gallery. A lower level is loosely connected to the upper level by stairs descending from the central hub. Rooms for two teenagers are located below the public wing. A guest area opposite acts as a semi-private space with a secondary entrance connecting the main house to the garage and caretaker’s house.

The incorporation of stone into the house reflects the adjacent geologic ridges and anchors the house to the site. Titanium with its inherent warmth, captures the fluctuating light of this high mountain valley.