We are proud to announce that three CCA projects were awarded with Gold Nugget Merit Awards. Selected by a panel of top industry experts who reviewed over 650 entries, we are proud that these three projects rose to the top! Thank you to our esteemed group of professionals who brought each project to fruition. We are incredibly proud and hope you are too.
“The Gold Nugget Award winners reflect our industry’s best, brightest, and most innovative architects, designers, and builder/developers,” notes Lisa Parrish, judging chairman and ceremonies administrator for the program. “The 2023 winners prove the beauty of design.”
Tour the Casa Cresta Project hereTour Aspen City Hall hereTour the Aspen City Hall here
Tucked into a unique site on Aspen’s exclusive Red Mountain, Casa Cresta embraces spectacular mountain views, while championing a modern-urban aesthetic. Entertaining, indoor/outdoor living and modern art inspired the design for this family home with contemporary yet relaxed luxury – artfully blending materials and pattern.
“This magnificent home was designed for a couple’s lifestyle – from throwing their annual summer party with 100 friends from around the world – to spending time together in their own private serene retret as they admire the nonstop views,” says Mountain Living Editor in Chief Darla Worden. “Our judges were impressed at the thoughtful details that went into the home’s design – ample space for large parties but also as a family for the homeowners, their children and grandchildren.”
Its not every day that an architecture firm earns the privilege of designing a new City Hall building in very their own town. When CCA was awarded the project after the successful completion of the Aspen Facilities Master Plan and Aspen Police Department, we knew this would be an impactful, challenging and all-encompassing project. That it was. Most of all, it was a rewarding project and one we are very proud of.
A bit about the design:
The new Aspen City Hall is a lively urban ensemble, providing a new community resource and gathering place. The site was an existing and underutilized city asset, fronting a municipal parking lot and city-owned Rio Grande Park. The location allowed for an extension of the existing rooftop plaza to further connect the downtown core, to the parks and river beyond.
Aspen City Hall is organized around existing municipal and civic facilities, parks and plazas which are landscaped on a series of public spaces connecting the mountain to the south, with the river to the north. As an artificial extension of the hillside, the green roof of the new building acts as the connective tissue linking the mountain to the river, creating a natural greenway. Natural paths extend from the landscape to the roofscape, creating wayfinding for people to move around and through.
On the ground floor, the facades recede to expand the public realm, creating canopies to welcome visitors, collaborators, and community members. Each area of the building is tailored to its specific program, with the floor plans creating a lively and varied interior architecture.
The art-filled interior provides a biophilic environment that aims to enhance productivity and well-being. The surrounding parks, with ample green elements, provide visual relief and access to the natural environment.
Recently completed, the building was designed to achieve LEED Gold and WELL Building certificates, which are currently in progress.
Each summer we gather the crew, their families (and dogs of course!), and enjoy a Friday afternoon eating, laughing, drinking, and playing lawn games. Its one of our favorite annual gatherings and one tradition of many, that we relish in. Seeing everyone’s families and spending time outdoors connects us in ways we never expect. So thankful to have this incredible group of professionals who are such strong design individuals – and just great people. How did we get so lucky?!
Throughout our 42+ years designing luxury homes and legacy estates, a great deal of focus is placed on indoor/outdoor living. Our team studies the outdoor environment just as intently as we focus on the indoor spaces. From hardcape design, lighting, kitchens, screening, technology…. every detail is carefully designed. We pay particular attention to how each owner lives, who and how they entertain, climactic implications to the site, view orientations, etc. etc. etc. To that, our team is careful to ensure the spaces feel as one – with the material palette carrying itself in & out.
Mountain Living magazine recently published our project, ‘Whitefish‘ featuring the outdoor living emphasis that this lakeside home has. We’re happy to share it with you today….
Whitefish
A Dynamic exterior balanced by undulating forms and varying rooflines. Glass, metal and horizontal cedar rain screen siding and locally sourced stone wraps the exterior in a contemporary interpretation. The stone wall transcends the exterior through to the interior, and houses two individually designed fireplaces.
Entering the 11’ tall fir and steel pivot door flanked by glass, the view is focused and projected through the existing trees and out to the lake. A 28’ tall wall of windows promotes ample natural daylight.
The intentionally restrained interior palette allows the architecture, art and views to take center stage. Several regional artists and craftsmen contributed to the interiors. Just steps from the water, the patio adorns a built-in pizza oven, barbecue, wood-burning fireplace and integrated screening for privacy and shade. Tucked away are the hot tub and outdoor shower, which reside off the window-filled gym and sauna.
The great room’s doors open completely to an outdoor fire pit. Just inside, a wrap-around bar opens to the home’s game-viewing & movie theatre. The large picture window into the theatre was designed for indoor/outdoor viewing– making this another popular spot for game-time.
Thank you to Tate Interiors and Denman Construction for joining our team, to complete a truly magnificent lakeside property in Montana!
We were thrilled to see our Aspen Park project featured in the Wall Street Journal today! We’re excited to welcome the new-to-be owners!
On a high rocky mountainside high above Aspen, our team along with the owners and DG&A Interiors designed an environmentally sensitive, 15,000 sf, art-deco inspired contemporary home incorporating 36-species of wood. Lavish entertaining spaces, two glass elevators, a fully outfitted theatre and performance stage, the latest in home automation and HVAC systems, make this home truly unique.
The challenge began on day one, when the Florida-based owners charged our team to responsibly deconstruct much of the existing house, and design a home that fused art-deco and contemporary mountain-modern design. The site provided a very narrow building envelope which necessitated the 15,000 sf of living area, be split between three floors. To access each floor, two steel and glass elevators with cascading wood staircases were seamlessly worked into the design.
The exterior design pays homage to the surrounding mountain vistas, with varying roof angles, and use of stone and wood. Massive floor to ceiling windows capture the unique views of famed Independence Pass and Aspen Mountain.
A glass pivot door opens the home, as views unfold through a window wall and clerestory windows in the great room and dining. A Jean DeMerry mosaic mural sits between two automatic doors with views captured above, with a juxtaposed art-deco fireplace.
Custom designed wood-inlay doors are seen throughout the home, to further infuse the design inspiration. The team was careful to subtly instill the inspiration in parts of the home without overdoing it. As the home cascades down the mountainside, its essence permeates the site and creates a wonderful entertaining home.
Our team was honored to design and construct the new Aspen City Hall, linking the Rio Grande Park to the civic and downtown core. An all-hands-on-deck dedication by all, and quite the labor of love. This week, we’re excited to see artist Koko Bayer, granddaughter of the beloved Herbert Bayer adding a mural, “In Search of Times Past” to the grand staircase.
Featured in the Aspen Times today, the mural adds to City Hall’s curated exhibition of local artists, in an effort to infuse art in public spaces. “The art on display not only adds to the discourse, but it also visually represents the openness and encouragement to having a multitude of voices and experiences in the governmental process, according to Sarah Roy, director of the Red Brick Center for the Arts,” the article states.
Koko Bayer installs her mural on the staircase beside the new Aspen City Hall building on Thursday, May 19, 2022. (Kelsey Brunner/The Aspen Times)
Seeing the art installations in public spaces around Aspen, makes us love our little town even more! Thank you to the artists who are filling our town with color and creativity! It inspires us every day!
We look forward to sharing more photos of Aspen City Hall with you….until then…a sneak peak:
A day we should celebrate every day! We are proud to have designed numerous earth-loving structures over our 4 decades in the Rocky Mountains.
Several projects have followed the USGBC’s LEED program and earned full LEED credits, including the award-winning Elk Peak Ranch and Aspen Police Department. Others have quietly weaved sustainable design methodologies and features within them, just by nature of client desires and given site opportunities.
Elk Peak Ranch | LEED Silver
In every project we discuss where the opportunities are to balance budget, sustainability and exceptional design. By designing structures with the environmentally friendly building materials accessible in today’s market, green building is not only essential to our environment but is easily attainable. The result is an optimal balance of cost, environmental and societal benefits, while meeting the mission and function of the intended facility. Building design through environmental response, functionalism, cost effectiveness and a commitment to LEED have remained critical issues in developing sustainable buildings.
Aspen Police Department | LEED GoldAspen Center for Environmental Studies Treehouse
To read more about our commitment to sustainability, click here.
Do you follow us on Instagram? If you don’t, you should! We highlight our studio happenings, latest work, historic projects, and team wins. This week we study entry designs.
Every home starts with the arrival experience. Each entry is unique to the style of the home, and ideally evokes a feeling that reflects its owners. To hone in on that feeling, our team studies various styles, heights, widths, door options, surrounding windows, materials, angles, views, functionality, weather considerations, etc. etc. etc.
We always look forward to seeing our clients open those doors to their first guests; hearing them say “welcome!”. Another reason we love what we do!
Each winter we gather the troops for our annual ski day on Aspen Mountain. Its a guaranteed day of fun, laughter, and camaraderie! Lunch at the Aspen Mountain Club, fast laps, blue skies and hilarious chairlift rides, made for a fantastic team outing!
Team lunch at the Aspen Mountain ClubThe CCA ladies-only chair
Our remote-employee gang also got together via video conference with paid-lunch and the afternoon off for recreating-where-you-are. This continues our tradition for quarterly outings, to take advantage of where we live and the great outdoors! Cheers to that!
