When she founded her namesake architecture firm, Renée del Gaudio embarked on a search for what she describes as “the most authentic architectural language for our unique climate, landscape and history here in the Rocky Mountain West.” A decade on, an impressive portfolio of residential work that’s earned her countless accolades suggests she’s found some answers.
Share some design decisions you’ve made to achieve a sense of authenticity. In my most recent project, Goatbarn Lane (below), I sited the house alongside a dramatic granite outcropping. The rock informed the location, floor plan and circulation of the house. For me, authenticity is found when a building emerges so strongly from its place that you can no longer imagine it anywhere else.
What materials are you gravitating toward? I want to do extraordinary things with ordinary materials, like plywood for instance. I find that challenge more interesting than seeking out the latest, greatest new material on the market.
If you could design on any Colorado landscape, where would it be? One of my upcoming projects in the foothills above Boulder is my dream site. It has it all: Flatirons views, a mountain meadow, snow-capped peaks in the distance. It has a pine forest, aspen groves and granite outcroppings, too. All it’s missing is a mountain stream!
