Colorado Cool: 7 Mile-High Modern Spaces

Michael Johnson’s answer to having little buildable land to work with in his design of Ruth Hiller’s Winter Park, Colorado, house was to elevate and cantilever the kitchen, living, and dining space over the carport, nearly doubling the home’s living area.

The indoor pond maintains a flora-filled interior even when it's snowing outside.

In the kitchen, a window over the stovetop lets daylight in, framing the front yard while keeping the neighboring house out of the picture.

Just as Moore tried to blur the line between old and new, he also worked to connect the inside and outside. Whereas most garage doors retract to the interior of the structure, here, the door opens out over the deck. There, it creates a roof over the patio, through which overhead lighting is diffused. He used the same locally salvaged pine for the flooring in the dining room and on the deck to further connect the two spaces. Photo courtesy of Mike Moore/Tres Birds Workshop

For those cold Colorado Winters, Sommerfield and Pyatt replaced some of the original windows and doors to minimize heat loss.

A view of Denver’s downtown cityscape from the surrounding central area.