A Designer’s Perfectly Sustainable Home

Inspired by its picturesque property, an environmentally friendly residence is constructed with materials from the surrounding land. Nestled in a stretch of rolling land outside Carbondale, the low-profile residence artfully blends in with its dramatic surround, appearing as though it was meant to be there.

Architects Rich Carr and Chris Touchette designed a modernist house for designer and environmentalist Jill Soffer to blend with its dramatic property near Carbondale. Cor-Ten steel, glass, site-excavated rock, beetle kill pine and Oklahoma Blue Ledgestone highlight the structure’s streamlined form.

To bring her home to life, Soffer collaborated closely with architects who share her passion for sustainability and progressive design: Carr; Chris Touchette, also a principal architect on the project; and staff architect Rory Bilocerkowycz, who is no longer with the firm. To counter the stone and rock, the architects applied Cor-Ten steel in at-seamed planks of various widths to both exterior and interior walls. The burnt-orange material displays a dynamic texture that catches Colorado’s golden sunlight and pays tribute to the area’s agrarian structures. “The barn and arena are executed in rusted corrugated metal,” Touchette says. “We wanted the new construction to relate to the existing buildings.”

Soffer outfitted the dining area—which connects to the cinematic mountain surround via Weiland sliding glass doors—with a walnut table and walnut-and-leather chairs, all by Holly Hunt. The rug is by Lindström Rugs, and the chandelier is by Moooi. Tables and woven chairs by Janus et Cie offer an alfresco dining option.

Adjacent to the dining space, the open-plan living area features a sculptural fire surround crafted from Oklahoma Blue Ledgestone and site-excavated rock used in a gabion technique. The ceiling is marked by beetle kill pine in a gapped board application.

It was important to Soffer to mix handcrafted elements with some contemporary designs. “I wanted things with texture, that are handmade and crafted and relate to the architecture, but I needed a few simple and sleek elements to create balance,” she says. “Not every piece should scream for attention.” In the living area, a Minotti sofa offsets the stone of the fire surround, while in the dining area, a massive chandelier by Moooi and a sleek Holly Hunt table and chairs act as a foil to the rustic elements in the adjacent open kitchen. 

Soffer appointed the living area with a Minotti sofa and a custom credenza built by local craftspeople, including leatherworker Chris Chapman of Chapman Design, woodworker Ben Kelly of Honu Studio and blacksmith Ken Riley of Roaring Forge. The mixed- media artwork is by Anke Schofield.

When it came to crafting the interior, Soffer and the architects brought the exterior materials inside to achieve a strong indoor-outdoor connection. They applied Cor-Ten steel to the kitchen backsplash and built the living area fire surround using Oklahoma Blue Ledgestone and the site-excavated rock. Soffer, who selected all of the furnishings, customized a credenza for the space, using more beetle kill pine as well as leather. “I wanted to work with craftspeople who live in the Roaring Fork Valley,” she says. “I found a woodworker who built the credenza, and I commissioned a local leatherworker, who wrapped part of it.” 

Soffer hung a midcentury Brutalist light fixture on the fire surround’s Oklahoma Blue Ledgestone, which was supplied by The Gallegos Corporation and installed by C.K. Stone. A 1970s French ceramic lamp by Georges Pelletier from Paris Underground wears a custom shade made with a Donghia textile.

The use of beetle kill pine is one of many sustainable efforts that earned the house a LEED gold rating from the U.S. Green Building Council. Another, used throughout the house, is concrete flooring. “It’s an extra-thick slab that holds heat and coolness longer, moderating the overall interior environment,” Touchette says. Deep overhangs further help stabilize temperature by mitigating sunlight. “We also used triple-pane glass and two types of solar panels,” Carr says. “We always do as much as we can with passive solar design, and then we add in active solar mechanical systems.” Altogether, the elements create an incredibly insulated structure. 

Soffer worked with staff architect Rory Bilocerkowycz to design the kitchen’s beetle kill pine cabinetry. The Cor-Ten steel backsplash is applied in a random-width board-on-board style. Pendants by Moooi suspend above the island’s steel counter; the bar chairs are by BC Workshop from Blackman Cruz in Los Angeles.

Linking the home to its larger Colorado context, the architects incorporated local beetle kill pine, meticulously so in the wood ceilings and kitchen cabinetry. “We laid the material on the workshop floor and, with Jill and the architects, carefully selected which pieces we would use where to get exactly the right effect,” says builder Ants Cullwick, who worked alongside project managers Adam Sahnow and Mike Chmura.

Linking the home to its larger Colorado context, the architects incorporated local beetle kill pine, meticulously so in the wood ceilings and kitchen cabinetry. “We laid the material on the workshop floor and, with Jill and the architects, carefully selected which pieces we would use where to get exactly the right effect,” says builder Ants Cullwick, who worked alongside project managers Adam Sahnow and Mike Chmura .

Beetle kill pine siding anchors an artful stairwell, complete with bamboo stair treads and a handrail made of wire cables, which leads to the media room. A sofa and an ottoman designed by Patricia Urquiola for B&B Italia furnish the lower-level space.

In a corner of the master bedroom, Soffer positioned a Husk swivel armchair and ottoman designed by Patricia Urquiola for B&B Italia. Generous sliding glass doors by Weiland offer sweeping views of the West Elk Mountains.

A visual explosion of mountains, meadow and lake, is unveiled after the rest of the house is revealed more slowly. It’s the focus of this home’s design and the reason the rear façade—in addition to contributing to the passive solar gain during the winter months—is made almost entirely of glass.

Gabion rock walls and the Cor-Ten steel siding help connect the house, constructed by builder Ants Cullwick, with its landscape. Chaise lounges by Janus et Cie rest near the swimming pool, which landscape architect Shannon Murphy surrounded with wild grasses and varieties of garden sage.

Inspired by the homeowner’s affection for the setting and her effort to preserve the larger environment, the architects not only blended the house with the outdoors but also crafted some of the walls with the very rock found in the earth around it. “We used a gabion technique and filled wire- basket forms with red-, brown- and gold-toned rocks we excavated from the site,” Touchette says. The walls reach out into the land, making the structure appear greater than its footprint. “The material evaporates the lines between what’s man-made and what’s natural,” says Carr. The team also incorporated into the design Oklahoma Blue Ledgestone, an elegant gray stone that ties visually to the mountain peaks in the distance. The residence is so joined to its surround that even its rooflines mimic the hillside behind the house, allowing the mountain peaks to rise dramatically in the distance.

The ceiling and walls of the master bathroom are covered with white- and-gray glass tile by Ann Sacks. The glass-enclosed shower space also houses the tub, which is encased with a Caesarstone surround.

Beetle kill pine sheathes a wall in the master bedroom, where a custom bed, designed by Soffer and built by Ben Kelly, is upholstered with a Sahco fabric. Soffer also designed the nightstands, which were crafted by Kelly and Chris Chapman. The room spills onto an ample terrace appointed with a chair and an ottoman by Paola Lenti from Niche Beverly in West Hollywood, California.

Landscape architect Shannon Murphy was careful to respect the view. “I wanted the landscape to complement the native setting as well as the architecture,” she explains. “For the plantings around the house, I wanted to capture the essence of the meadow in the distance, so I used catmint, garden sages and wildflowers like lupine, ax and Aspen daisy.”