When architect Susan Conger-Austin was approached by the owners of this Mountain Village, Colorado, property, they asked her to strike a balance. “They envisioned a retreat and part-time residence for their multigenerational family,” she says of the couple, who live in Chicago. “The design had to be flexible: comfortable for just two people but welcoming for up to 10.”

A Chicago couple built a gable family retreat in Mountain Village, Colorado, for their kids and grandkids to come together under one roof. The base of the home is finished in quartzite, while the wood cladding is yakisugi accoya wood." layout="" credit="Photo by Tom Rossiter" photoUserId=""/>

The wife’s parents, now gone, had lived in the Telluride area for twenty years, so she felt a connection here. And since her grown children and grandkids were living on opposite sides of the country, it made sense to build something roughly in the middle. She and her husband found a plot of land on a quiet cul-de-sac where aspen and spruce create a verdant frame of the San Juan Mountains. It had a feeling of grandeur, which felt right for the home they envisioned. It’s just that the reality was, well, a little more constrained. “The lot sizes are extremely modest,” says Conger-Austin of the site, which is 0.13 acres.

Working with the lot’s compact size relative to the amount of open land around it, she drew upon the idea of a historic homestead, the kind of simple wood cabin of yore where a single family might live for generations. If this place was going to be a hub for memories, then rooting it in a straightforward form that honored its surroundings felt the most appropriate.

“In contrast to the opulence of many contemporary homes that dominate the neighborhood, using fewer materials allowed me to investigate the traditional house form while fitting it into the natural environment,” Conger-Austin says, adding how limiting the palette also meant the build was more sustainable.

She created a 2,100-square-foot gable home with a rectangular plan that cantilevers out over a garage finished in stone, and clad it in yakisugi accoya wood, a finish the town permitted for the first time ever after she showed them its resilience against wildfire and harsh weather. A metal roof and window frames match the cladding in black.

Inside, walls finished in Baltic birch plywood panels, flooring made of white oak, and tall ceilings make for surprisingly light and voluminous spaces. “Though the house is modest in size, the spatial quality of its interior is not,” Conger-Austin attests.

At the front of the home is a living and dining area, followed by a guest suite, then a library, then another suite, and finally one more bedroom and bath. Along the hallway connecting them are built-ins that hold decor, but also act as screens that temper the sun. “They allow for Colorado’s intense natural light to filter through,” she continues. “And there are skylights along the main level hallway which cast ever-changing beautiful shadows through the wooden screen throughout the day. At night, the illumination along the hallway continues the light patterns as well.”

“Each space varies in height and shape, contracting and expanding to capture both natural light and the forest shadows.”
—Susan Conger-Austin, architect

“The owners wanted the common spaces to be informal,” Conger-Austin says. “Screens used for books and objects were designed to delineate the library from the light-filled passageway. The guest rooms can be accessed from the library, along with an exterior door to the stone patio.” Moments like these allow the family to find privacy as needed, or use the shared spaces to come together, which is, after all, why the owners built the cabin to begin with.

Related Reading:

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Project Details:

Architect of Record: S.Conger Architects LLC

Builder: Fortenberry & Ricks, Ryan Deppen

Structural Engineer: Pekkala Engineer, Jesse Pekkala

Civil Engineer: Uncompahgre Engineering Co., David Ballode

Landscape Design: Landscape by Lance

Lighting and Interior Design: S.Conger Architects LLC

Cabinetry Design: Timeless Millwork, Hadassa Berger

Contributing Architect: Jacqueline Twardowski

MEP Engineer: Burggraaf Associates, Mark Burggraaf