This snowy Rockies retreat is the perfect Colorado family stay
DNA Alpine by CCY Architects is a family Colorado Rockies retreat, designed to provide the perfect mountain sports and snowy getaway experience
![DNA Alpine cabin is a colorado snowy rockies retreat](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/ZUEgyv6sSuMafwvNxeeqgm-415-80.jpg)
CCY Architects has just completed a new, idyllic Colorado Rockies retreat. DNA Alpine, as the snowy project is called, was designed for a client who likes secluded getaways, and a place among nature where they can gather and spend time with extended family and friends. Located in San Miguel County, the home sits in a plot the owners were familiar with, as they often travel to this part of West Colorado to take part in outdoor activities, such as hiking, snowshoeing, and cross-country skiing.
Colorado Rockies retreat: DNA Alpine by CCY Architects
'The clients have owned the land for many years,' the architects write. 'They had long camped on site for overnight stays, but, over time, they wanted a more permanent dwelling, but one that conserved the landscape.' The design team obliged, assessing the land, its natural terrain and existing flora and fauna, in order to create a new dwelling in a respectful way, minimising its footprint and remaining in sync with its wooded surroundings.
By cleverly creating a series of multifunctional spaces – for instance, open-plan living interiors, and a study that doubles as a guest room – CCY Architects composed a home within three distinct volumes. These contain, respectively, a main house, a sauna, and the garage. This gesture allowed for flexibility in the programme's arrangement and the creation of a series of smaller structures – as opposed to one big one – which could easily fit between existing spruce trees.
At the same time, the cosy and adaptable interiors are made to provide the perfect alpine experience – featuring floor-to-ceiling windows that not only maximise solar exposure to help energy savings, but also offer sweeping views of nearby peaks and the San Juan Mountains in the distance.
Hard-wearing, vertical panels of copper, which will weather beautifully over time, clad the exterior of this Colorado Rockies retreat. These give way to warmer surfaces and natural materials inside, including timber, stone and a range of fabrics. Meanwhile, a clever design code in the outer skin is a nod to the clients' personal interests. 'The design team drew from the clients’ interest in synthetic biology, adapting the pattern produced by the DNA sequence of Engelmann spruce to inform the order of the panels. In this way, the genetic material of a tree species so important to this site creates the framework for the placement, angle, and size of the façade’s panels,' the architects explain.
Wallpaper* Newsletter + Free Download
For a free digital copy of August Wallpaper*, celebrating Creative America, sign up today to receive our daily digest of inspiration, escapism and design stories
Ellie Stathaki is the Architecture & Environment Director at Wallpaper*. She trained as an architect at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki in Greece and studied architectural history at the Bartlett in London. Now an established journalist, she has been a member of the Wallpaper* team since 2006, visiting buildings across the globe and interviewing leading architects such as Tadao Ando and Rem Koolhaas. Ellie has also taken part in judging panels, moderated events, curated shows and contributed in books, such as The Contemporary House (Thames & Hudson, 2018), Glenn Sestig Architecture Diary (2020) and House London (2022).
-
‘Hedonistic and avant-garde’: Rabanne’s Julian Dossena on the legacy of the chainmail 1969 bag
Paco Rabanne’s 1969 chainmail handbag encapsulates the late designer’s futuristic, space-age style. Current creative director Julien Dossena tells Wallpaper* about the bag’s particular pleasures
By Jack Moss Published
-
Postcard from Paris: Olympic fever takes over the streets
On the eve of the opening ceremony of Paris 2024, our correspondent shares her views from the streets of the capital about how the event is impacting the urban landscape.
By Minako Norimatsu Published
-
The Mercury Prize nominees for 2024 have been revealed
Charli XCX, The Last Dinner Party and Beth Gibbons are amongst this year's nominees
By Charlotte Gunn Published
-
IM Pei's Everson Museum of Art gets a modern makeover
The East Wing of the Everson Museum of Art in Syracuse, NY has been given a contemporary refresh by emerging Los Angeles studio MILLIØNS
By Ellie Stathaki Published
-
Black Modernism’s lesser-known, at-risk architecture gems gain a lifeline
Conserving Black Modernism announces vital funding to save and preserve overlooked and endangered buildings by African American architects and designers
By Bridget Downing Published
-
Step into the Blanton Museum of Art's reimagined public realm by Snøhetta in Austin
Blanton Museum of Art in Austin, Texas is completed and reveals its reimagined public realm and plaza designed by Snøhetta
By Ellie Stathaki Published
-
This New York Townhouse renovation is a lesson in contemporary minimalism
TenBerke’s carefully considered New York townhouse is the reimagining of a century-old Manhattan structure that reframes vertical living
By Ellie Stathaki Published
-
Visit The Frost House, a lesser-known modernist architecture marvel in Michigan City
The Frost House is a lesser-known midcentury architecture gem in Michigan City, Indiana; we took the tour as the property goes on the market
By Audrey Henderson Published
-
Broadway designer Scott Pask’s Arizona retreat is a scene-stealing discovery
Scott Pask invites us inside his Arizona retreat, nestled in the foothills overlooking Tucson – a place to reboot, recharge and commune with nature
By Michael Webb Published
-
Upstate New York retreat Ridge House evokes land art
Ridge House in upstate New York, the work of Brooklyn-based studio Worrell Yeung, is at one with the surrounding countryside
By Ellie Stathaki Published
-
Rafael de Cárdenas’ first ground-up project is a forever home with waterfront views and hidden treasures
Rafael de Cárdenas reveals his latest completed project in the Pacific Northwest, a family home of calming spaces that bleed the outside in, and ten years in the making
By Ellie Stathaki Published