Think Aspen, and skiers gliding down mountains probably come to mind. It’s why, traditionally, the architecture of the area has tended to focus on keeping the weather out and the warmth in. But there’s another side to this Colorado resort; in summer the wildflower meadows are a blaze of colour and the sun hits hard. So, when it came to designing a year-round holiday home for a Miami-based family, Lake Flato took the best of the local building style and blended it with something strikingly contemporary.
The land has always played a huge role in how founder Ted Flato and his team look at architecture. ‘It’s about leveraging the environment,’ he says, adding that his clients, a couple who work in property development and have four children, agreed a ‘sparse’ brief, then ‘let the rest run its course’.
The site overlooks a meadow that the family didn’t own – ‘a borrowed landscape’, as Ted calls it – so the challenge was to create a home that felt like it was floating within that scene while also harnessing ‘heroic views’ of the mountains in the far distance. Studying ranches in the area, the Lake Flato team observed the prettiest, simplest buildings were wooden barns with small windows, yet they wanted their design to reach out to the natural world.
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Their solution encompasses both options: the main living space is essentially a series of windows sitting between the meadow and a sheltered courtyard, while bedrooms and bathrooms are tucked behind solid stone walls, cosy and intimate. ‘They’re radically different experiences,’ says Dan Carter who, along with Colin Gorsuch, worked on the project.
A house designed to feel immersed in its surroundings is inevitably going to involve a lot of glass, which can feel chilly in the winter. The huge timber beams required to hold up the snow loads help to warm up the spaces visually, but the interiors needed texture. Luckily, the owners knew who to call on: a longtime friend, Miami-based interior designer Constanza Collarte. ‘She was instrumental in playing off the natural materials and making it a holistically lovely experience,’ says Ted.
Having holidayed with her friends in Colorado, Constanza knew how they lived and what they were drawn to. She finds with country homes, inhabitants are less concerned about everyday practicalities, like having the kids’ shoes ready by the door, and more focused on creating a relaxed sanctuary.
Her aim was to ground the interiors and give them a sense of place and timelessness within the contemporary structure. ‘We were looking to make it feel authentic and approachable, while responding to the architecture. I wanted to soften the edges,’ she explains. Vintage, handcrafted and reclaimed pieces bring layers of richness, while neutral tones and a mix of flannels, wools and linens lend themselves to summer and winter.
Constanza has noticed an evolution in American country residences: ‘the style is moving beyond the clichés of antlers, heavy log walls or stuffed leather sofas,’ she says. Now, sheepskins sit alongside tailored pieces and, where rustic stone is used, it’s more precise.
Much as they love creating buildings that make their occupants happy, Ted and his team see each project as a ‘portal to the landscape’, so he was delighted to find that this home’s owners have discovered the trails surrounding their property that allow them to hike or bike into Aspen – no need for a car. Even better, ‘they enjoyed the house so much, they now live here most of the time’. lakeflato.com; collarte.co
