CLIFF HOUSE - COLORADO
Size: 2 acres. Single family home.
Objective: Design for 2 full time residents with capacity to house grown children and their growing families.
Challenges/Opportunities: Lot is cliff-side overlooking the Dillon Reservoir. Site access is limited. Hight alpine climate make snow, grading/drainage, and erosion a factor.
Solution: 2 designs for the different site access options allows for flexibility when working with the local municipalities as well as cost considerations for grading and drainage. A simple roof structure makes snow melt management easy and eliminates extra cost/worries of moisture intrusion of peaks/valleys. The structure sinks into the site at its lowest point to utilize the beautiful natural existing cliff-faces as an aesthetic amenity for the lowest rooms of the house.
What is “different”: The “base” of the house is prefab insulated concrete panels. The lightweight prefab foam panels are easily delivered and erected on site to minimize on-site concrete work. Once erected, a shotcrete crew completes the structural envelope which doubles as the interior/exterior finish surfaces. An insulated concrete base eliminates the worry of snow drift against the structure and the color of the natural concrete blends into the existing cliff-side giving the appearance of the house “rising” out of the cliffs.
Deliverables: Photo-realistic flyover animation with geo-referenced terrain and placement of important surrounding natural and man-made landmarks. 2 different CAD layouts for different site access options.
