In a serene valley just outside Aspen, Colorado, a striking home defined by generous swaths of glass opens itself up to the vast beauty of the Rockies. Lift-and-slide glass walls peel away in the double-height living room, letting the mountain air flow in and framing uninterrupted views over the pool and patio to the alpine ridges and aspen groves beyond.

The home is the vision of Turkel Design, a studio known for its blend of warm modernism and precision-prefabrication. It features all the hallmarks of a bespoke mountain retreat—think custom cabinetry, rich wood cladding, and a seamless indoor/outdoor flow—and cleverly utilizes prefab construction.

“It’s such a unique thing for an architect to put together a package with the exterior envelope, cabinetry, and fixtures all with this level of precision and care,” says homeowner Bob Bridger.

For Bob, a former tech executive who has worked extensively with architects on other homes in the past, the process was just as important as the outcome—and he wanted to avoid the challenges of conventional construction. Turkel Design handled the project from concept through fabrication, delivering a building component package that the local construction team—guided by Turkel’s assembly specialists—installed with remarkable efficiency. “The building goes up at an incredibly fast pace,” says Bob. “And it’s remarkable how well it all fits together.”

Turkel Design’s approach appealed not just for its predictability but for its design philosophy: thoughtful and attuned to the rhythms of daily life. “Each square foot is so painstakingly considered,” says Bob. “The home feels bigger than it is.”

The house centers on a soaring great room that captures the vastness of the surrounding landscape. Retractable walls on both sides allow the views (and fresh air) to flow through the home, while the high ceilings and generous glazing further open up the interior to light and air. “When people first come in, there’s a moment of awe,” says Bob. “They pause and look in all directions and take it in. And then they look back with a smile and say, ‘Wow, this is a special place.’”

The home is cleverly divided, with social spaces on the ground floor and more private sleeping and office spaces upstairs. The one exception is the primary suite, which opens directly onto the poolside patio on the ground floor and wraps around the corner of the house, allowing for uninterrupted engagement with the landscape. “Waking up in the primary bedroom is like no experience I’ve ever had,” says Bob. “Nature is so robust here and the bedroom allows you to take it in from the moment you rise.”

The Turkel Design team detailed every part of the home with care and attention, from the thermally modified ash siding and cedar fascia to the dovetail drawers inside the custom kitchen. The material palette is equally thoughtful, reflecting both regional appropriateness and long-term performance.

Even seemingly minor design choices contribute to the overall clarity and function of the space. Take, for example, the clever storage solutions in the kitchen. “A lot of the efficiencies are, in a way, invisible,” explains Bob. “There’s all this functionality in this efficiently laid out and designed space.”

For homeowners in regions like Aspen—where local labor is scarce and building seasons are short—off-site fabrication drastically reduces build times by allowing multiple stages of the construction to occur simultaneously. Turkel Design’s thoughtful design process and high-quality material palette prove that prefab homes can be crafted without compromise.

“Turkel homes are designed for the long-term, to fit the different stages of your life,” says Bob. “I used it as an opportunity to reflect on my own life’s journey, and to ask, what does that mean for my guests? My children? My day-to-day existence? It’s a really special process.”

Project Credits:

Architecture & Cabinetry: Turkel Design

Photographer: Draper White

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An Aspen Valley Home Sets the Stage for Its Stunning Landscape—and a Better Approach to Building