Houzz Tours
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Houzz Tour: A Cleverly Designed Family Home on a Tricky Plot
This airy, eco-friendly house, built in layers down a very steep slope, is a triumph of thoughtful architecture
Many developers probably would have deemed this steeply sloping site unbuildable, but architect and contractor Chris Price loves a challenge. His goal of designing the ski country getaway in Utah, USA, to meet Passive House standards created a black-diamond- (steepest ski slope) degree of difficulty, because it meant the home would have to use at least 75% less energy than a house built to code. But working with the slope inspired a striking house composed of stacked forms and helped him meet his passive-house goals.
Each of the home’s four levels rotates 20 degrees from the one beneath to open it up to different views and break up the facade. “The house steps and rotates up the hillside. It’s kind of like a twisting Jenga stack,” Chris says.
The style of the home is modern and responds to the trees around it. Chris chose dark-stained red cedar lap siding, oriented the boards vertically and varied 4in, 6in and 8in pieces in a random pattern to mimic the natural rhythm of the surrounding trees. He also altered the overlapping on each floor from left to right to further delineate the different levels. “There are not many places to add details on a minimalist house like this, so these little nuances are important,” he says.
Chris estimates there was about 6ft of snow on top of the roof last winter. “The snow adds thermal comfort,” he says. He engineered the roof to handle a heavy load of snow structurally, and it has a waterproof membrane to prevent any leaks.
The style of the home is modern and responds to the trees around it. Chris chose dark-stained red cedar lap siding, oriented the boards vertically and varied 4in, 6in and 8in pieces in a random pattern to mimic the natural rhythm of the surrounding trees. He also altered the overlapping on each floor from left to right to further delineate the different levels. “There are not many places to add details on a minimalist house like this, so these little nuances are important,” he says.
Chris estimates there was about 6ft of snow on top of the roof last winter. “The snow adds thermal comfort,” he says. He engineered the roof to handle a heavy load of snow structurally, and it has a waterproof membrane to prevent any leaks.
In arranging the rooms, Chris sandwiched the main living spaces between private bedroom floors. So from the bottom there’s a garage with a coat cupboard and storage area. The next level contains a bootroom, a laundry room, a mechanical room, two bedrooms and one bathroom.
The next level contains the living room, dining room, a flexible space and a kitchen in one open space, as well as a cloakroom, a pantry and a boiler room. The top floor contains two bedroom suites, and the main master suite has another flexible room off it that can be used as a sitting room, media room, office or dressing room.
The landscaping immediately around the house was not complete at photo shoot time. And Chris is drying trees that were removed during construction naturally (this takes about three years) so he can mill them to build furniture for future projects.
Find a local architect to help with your own home project.
The next level contains the living room, dining room, a flexible space and a kitchen in one open space, as well as a cloakroom, a pantry and a boiler room. The top floor contains two bedroom suites, and the main master suite has another flexible room off it that can be used as a sitting room, media room, office or dressing room.
The landscaping immediately around the house was not complete at photo shoot time. And Chris is drying trees that were removed during construction naturally (this takes about three years) so he can mill them to build furniture for future projects.
Find a local architect to help with your own home project.
By keeping the floorplan open, all of the living spaces can enjoy the views out to the trees and mountains. The space in the back left corner behind the kitchen is a flex space. Expansive white walls provide space for large artworks to make a big impact – here the large painting and a rug define the living room area.
The floors are engineered white oak. The house is heated through radiant floor heat.
The floors are engineered white oak. The house is heated through radiant floor heat.
This is the view from the top of the stairs. Lift-slide doors provide a large opening out to a deck. The structural steel ceiling beams mark the 20-degree rotation of the floor above.
A 12 x 4.5ft kitchen island serves as a main gathering spot in the open space. “It has a great central location between the two decks, and everyone tends to congregate here,” Chris says.
He wrapped it in a black granite waterfall worktop, and this side of the island is faced in the same stained red cedar siding he used on the exterior of the house. The island also serves as a focal point, and beyond it, the lack of upper cabinets creates a nice view from the living and dining spaces.
He wrapped it in a black granite waterfall worktop, and this side of the island is faced in the same stained red cedar siding he used on the exterior of the house. The island also serves as a focal point, and beyond it, the lack of upper cabinets creates a nice view from the living and dining spaces.
The doors seen here lead to a partially covered deck off the left side of the house.
The top level’s 20-degree rotation provides cover over the deck off the kitchen. Because of its placement up the hill in the trees, this outdoor space has a cosy treehouse feel. In fact, Chris named this project The Tree Haus, a play on its surroundings and “Passivhaus”, the original passive-house programme that began in Germany.
To make up for the lack of upper cabinets along the back wall of the kitchen, Chris concentrated the appliances and cabinetry on one wall. He matched the cabinetry paint to the wall paint and chose minimalist hardware to maintain a clean look.
A large painting over the sink serves as a focal point in the kitchen.
The stacked stairwell acts as a thermal chimney – windows at the bottom pull in cool air, while hot air that rises is released through windows at the top of the staircase. Thanks to the siting, the stairwell and the cross breezes provided by all of the doors and windows, the house doesn’t need air conditioning.
Chris’s father, a retired schoolteacher and talented metalworker, crafted all of the indoor and outdoor railings. “When you’re working on a project just for yourselves, you can add details that are different from the norm – we were able to make the vertical rails perpendicular to the stair treads here,” he says.
The railings match the steel stringers, beams and black metal light fixtures used in the home. The treads are Douglas fir.
Chris’s father, a retired schoolteacher and talented metalworker, crafted all of the indoor and outdoor railings. “When you’re working on a project just for yourselves, you can add details that are different from the norm – we were able to make the vertical rails perpendicular to the stair treads here,” he says.
The railings match the steel stringers, beams and black metal light fixtures used in the home. The treads are Douglas fir.
A mix of midcentury-modern-style furnishings and textiles creates a warm, modern feel in the living room.
Here’s the view from the deck to the living room, kitchen and flex space.
The flex space can serve as a media room, office area or, as seen here, a reading and game-playing space.
In the cloakroom, Chris fabricated the countertop from hot rolled steel, adding an industrial element that plays off the other steel details seen throughout the home. All of the lighting in the home is LED and all of the plumbing fixtures are low flow.
On the top floor there are two master suites. This one has direct access to a private deck. This suite also includes an adjacent flex room. Right now, it’s a dressing room, expanded wardrobe and sitting room, but Chris notes it could easily serve as an office or media room. It’s also conveniently located should a future owner need a nursery close by.
The master bathroom continues the clean black-and-white look. It has a bath, a large shower and a separate toilet. The floor tiles are natural slate and the counters are quartz.
Because of the ambitious design and Salt Lake City’s long winters, construction took about two years. This allowed Chris to complete all of the extensive work on the retaining wall and foundation and let it settle over the first winter.
“While this was a project for a family home, we were more in it for the fun of working on a project together,” he says. With the challenging site, long construction timeline, personalised design and extra expense of building to Passive House standards, this certainly was not a money-making spec house project.
But while they enjoyed staying in the house, the family realised they have more fun planning and working on a project together than sitting around in it when it’s completed.
An unexpected high demand for energy-efficient modern houses in the area wound up enticing them to sell. Now they can continue to have fun as a family working on a new project while spreading the Passive House ethos to others.
Tell us…
What do you love about this contemporary home? Let us know in the Comments section.
Because of the ambitious design and Salt Lake City’s long winters, construction took about two years. This allowed Chris to complete all of the extensive work on the retaining wall and foundation and let it settle over the first winter.
“While this was a project for a family home, we were more in it for the fun of working on a project together,” he says. With the challenging site, long construction timeline, personalised design and extra expense of building to Passive House standards, this certainly was not a money-making spec house project.
But while they enjoyed staying in the house, the family realised they have more fun planning and working on a project together than sitting around in it when it’s completed.
An unexpected high demand for energy-efficient modern houses in the area wound up enticing them to sell. Now they can continue to have fun as a family working on a new project while spreading the Passive House ethos to others.
Tell us…
What do you love about this contemporary home? Let us know in the Comments section.
Who lives here? Architect and contractor Chris Price of Park City Design Build
Location Park City, Utah
Size Four bedrooms and three bathrooms; 3,463 sq ft (322 sq m)
Photos by Kerri Fukui of cityhomeCollective
Chris’s family enjoys completing projects together. So he partnered with them on the development and building of the project, with plans to enjoy it together when construction was complete.
The first challenge was the steeply sloping site. To make the plot workable, Chris used the hill to his advantage. “Most people would carve out a big hole and put in a traditional house with a gap between the back of the house and the hillside,” he says. “By beaming the home into the hillside, we utilised the earth‘s natural heat capacity, which stays around 55 degrees, to help cool the building in the summer and help keep temperatures from swinging too cold in the winter.”
The second challenge was building to Passive House standards – they require that a home use 75% less energy than a new home built to code. Chris created a tight envelope by installing triple-paned windows and doors and building 12in-thick, double-stud walls that are highly insulated. Sealing all of the penetrations keeps the house airtight.
One super-efficient Navien combi-boiler heats all the water in the house and provides radiant heat beneath the floors. The house does not have or need air conditioning – the home’s design keeps it cool passively.