Sitting at an elevation of 8,000 feet just a few miles out of town, Highlands Retreat boasts towering aspens, mountainous terrain and thoughtful, indigenous plantings. The home and grounds are are an award-winning example of holistic mountain design.
Mike Albert, ASLA, Design Workshop, Inc. – Principal
Eigelberger Architecture, Architect
KL&A Structural Engineer, Structural Engineering
Roaring Fork Engineering, Civil Engineering
Brikor Associates, General Contractor
Timberline Pool and Spas, Water Feature Contractor
Down to Earth, Landscape Contractor
Photography: Brandon Huttenlocher, Design Workshop, Inc.
Highlands retreat is set at an elevation of 8,000 feet, just a few miles from the mountain town of Aspen, Colorado. Settled within a narrow, glacially formed valley, this 10-acre property is characterized by towering aspens and mountainous terrain.
Chancing upon the property during a summer visit, the owners made it their goal to build a home with an aesthetic that would blur the boundaries between the built and existing landscape and appeal to multiple generations of their family for years to come.
Design Workshop, Inc. principal Mike Albert says, “With a focus on preserving the site’s natural features, our teams worked in tandem to create a design that would leave a light imprint on the land and remain fully invested in the future of the environment.”
The entry drive follows the natural contours of the site, serpentining more than 70 feet of vertical change. Striking a balance between year-round accessibility, slope retention and minimal tree removal, Mike’s grading plan also aimed to maximize tree preservation within several feet of the road edge and avoid costly retaining walls.
The team collectively agreed to site the home at the northern edge of an existing meadow, a location that was especially appealing because of its relatively flat terrain and unobstructed view of 14,000-foot Hayden Peak. Additionally, in this location, the home is concealed from the adjacent stream and county road, preserving the integrity of the undeveloped ridgeline viewshed from a public corridor.
The award-winning design encompasses filtered sunlight, cool temperatures and steep slopes that retain snow from September until late spring. Rich alkaline soil combined with a buildup of leaf litter hold significant moisture throughout the summer, which supports the lush Aspen Forest. Meanwhile, ferns, berry-producing shrubs and a variety of native wildflowers including columbine, lupine, geranium and valerian provide a veritable banquet for migratory birds and indigenous wildlife.
Highlands Retreat presents a refreshing vision of holistic mountain design, one that draws inspiration from its setting by dissolving the barrier between interior and exterior. Outdoor living spaces merge almost imperceptibly with forest and meadow, imbuing the home with a sense of peace, permanence and resilience.
“Natural materials that age gracefully, including oxidized copper shingles, poplar bark, cedar trim and moss rock, further allow the home to blend seamlessly into its surrounding landscape,” says Mike.
The home is oriented from east to west with floor to ceiling windows and doors to bring the outdoors in and visually link individual rooms with the surrounding forest.
The garden sequence is choreographed to introduce the woodland setting into the cultivated landscape, beginning at the entrance court where a sensual and fluid relationship between architecture and landscape is immediately evident.
A hand-carved stone fountain—located at the convergence of two paths and framed by a grid of trees—forms a sculptural focal point within the garden. Beyond the low stone walls, a painterly vignette of columnar aspen trees unfolds, light and shadow enhanced by the flickering and trembling of leaves in the overhead canopy.
A glimpse of restored wildflower meadows and distant forest through the front door ground the home in its setting, while a mass of flowering native shrubs flanking a set of gracious stone steps provide an entry sequence that is highly sophisticated, yet regionally appropriate and comfortably understated.
A stone firepit, sited under a dappled canopy of aspen trees, engages fleeting views of Hayden Peak and serves as a centerpiece for evening gatherings.
With successional plantings of young aspens and a native grass and wildflower seed mix, areas of disturbance were undetectable within a single season.
Overall, the planting design takes its cue from the surrounding high mountain environment. Layers of single plant species build upon one another to create a lush and textural palette in areas close to the home; further out, context-sensitive and sustainable strategies reestablish indigenous plant communities and enhance the wildlife habitat.
PLANT LIST
Colorado Blue Spruce
Quaking Aspen
Isanti Red Twig Dogwood
Dwarf Ninebark
Froebel Spirea
Snowmound Spirea
Robust Male Fern
Lady Fern
Thimbleberry
McKay’s White Potentilla
Mountain Snowberry
Wood’s Rose
Blue Cranesbill
Common White Yarrow
Purple Coneflower
Rocky Mountain Penstemon
Creeping Charlie
Sweet Woodruff
Western Wheatgrass
Slender Wheatgrass
Bluebunch Wheatgrass
Green Needlegrass
Blue Grama
Indian Ricegrass
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