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.”
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!
Designing workforce housing is a huge part of CCA’s company ethos. We take the same passion, expertise and creativity as seen in our high-end residential projects into our affordable housing projects.
CCA was thrilled to design Snowmass’s new Coffey Place neighborhood, honoring the late Joe Coffey. Thank you to Aspen Sojourner for highlighting the project and the importance of quality design, no matter the scale or budget.
Designed to honor Joe Coffey’s legacy as Snowmass Housing Director, the Coffey Place Affordable Housing development equally respects its site, surrounding wildlife and wetlands, and its hard-working local residents.
The project combined 5 Snowmass Village land parcels, located along the perimeter of the existing Rodeo Place neighborhood, into one cohesive subdivision containing 12 residential lots with 15 units. This new addition to the Town of Snowmass housing program is comprised of 9 single family home and 3 duplex units.
The design compliments the qualities found in the adjacent Rodeo Place Housing and overall Snowmass Village mountain-ranch vernacular. The scale and mass of Coffey Place has been situated to allow the natural hillside and adjacent wetland areas to remain prominent features. All exterior materials were selected to blend in appropriately with the surrounding regional context while providing a durable and maintenance-free facade for the homeowners.
Protecting sensitive wildlife and wetland habitat areas surrounding the newly established neighborhood was a major focus of CCA’s planning and design effort. Equally, was affording the residents with quality-designed homes with ample passive solar and ventilation, generous floor plans and the upmost in livability and connectivity with the existing trail system.
The ribbon has been cut on Aspen’s new City Hall! Earning LEED Gold and WELL certifications, the City opened its doors with a ribbon cutting ceremony last week.
Aspen City Hall, designed by Charles Cunniffe Architects, 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.
The site was an existing 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 greenway to the park below.
The CCA Team
Along the central arrival access from Aspen’s downtown core, a civic alley opens all the way down from Aspen Mountain to the Roaring Fork River, featuring all the major public programs and facilities.
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.
Stair and Lobby
The 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.
The new Aspen City Hall is a lively urban ensemble, providing a new community resource and gathering place which will continue to grow and be used as an extension of the City’s history.
The building has many sustainable attributes:
LEED Gold and WELL silver Certification
Solar array on roof
Geothermal design utilizing existing natural spring under the building site and existing parking garage
North facing daylighting extends into the office space and common areas
Vertical circulation thru the building connects all levels, brings natural light thru the structure, and allows building occupants to easily access all areas of the building
All office space is designed for occupant ergonomic uses
Fully electrified building systems that rely on the city of aspen 100% renewable provided electric grid
Lighting and daylighting response system (IMEG narrative)
Located along city bikeways and close to bus routes
Bike storage for users onsite and locker room access to promote physical activity and well-being
Electric vehicle charging stations
Our team is extremely proud to design such essential community spaces — with a keen eye towards sustainability, community and wellness. For more on this project, please visit here.
Senior Project Architect, Chad Molliconi and Principal, Charles Cunniffe sat down with Mountain Living magazine to explore how Covid-19 may change the way we approach design. An interesting discussion about how our team’s approach to thoughtful and healthy designs instinctively benefit our clients, and what is to come. From mudrooms, to offices and maker-spaces, to bathrooms, they covered a lot of great territory. To read the article click here.
We’re always excited to share the latest happenings at CCA, as we complete the most rewarding projects, take on new and exciting work, are published in design publications and receive accolades for our team’s hard work.
Each quarter, we send out an e-newsletter highlighting the past few months of completed work, milestones, accolades, etc. Boy was 2018 a banner year for CCA! Between our features in Architectural Digest, Luxe, Modlar, etc – to the completion of essential affordable housing, pro-bono work, public safety facilities and luxury residential projects – 2018 was beyond successful. We’re excited to share all the news with you, and don’t worry – there’s more good to come in 2019!
“It’s important to give back to the community that I’ve gotten so much from over the past 40 years. It makes us better people– and it makes us a better firm,” stated Charles in a recent interview with Modlar. This has been a guiding ethos for our firm, led by Charles himself. It was also the impetus for our newly constructed affordable housing project in Telluride, Colorado.
Called Virginia Placer, the project is a combination of communal living, tiny homes and apartment units; designed for Telluride’s residents who are the backbone and soul of this often unaffordable ski town. Comprised of 18 apartment units, a 46-bed Boarding House and 3 Tiny Homes, the project accommodates a mix of incomes, individuals and families. The design team balanced budget, sustainability and livability by incorporating passive solar and ventilation, ample storage, large windows, and durable and maintenance-free materials.
While we love designing luxury homes, we also find it rewarding to give back to our community by designing community-based projects. “If you have the ability to have a positive effect on your community, I think you have an obligation to do it,” says Charles.
Last week’s Snowmass Fire Station ribbon cutting, was what architects’ dreams are made of.
“Everything was thought through. The thought and planning are phenomenal. You can tell the detail Charles (Cunniffe Architects) went through. And they came in ahead of time and on budget – what can you say about that?” stated Snowmass mayor, Markey Butler.
Too see over 150 residents touring the completed station made us all appreciate our profession and how great it is to work in our community. Thank you Town of Snowmass Village for the great opportunity to work with you all! To learn more, click here.
We are always honored to be featured in the press, so when Architectural Digest wanted to discuss the modern mountain home, Charles was thrilled to discuss the topic. To that, we’re so proud that AD selected to feature Elk Peak Ranch and Aspen Park – two projects recently completed by our team.
Whether it be more open floor plans and maximizing views or incorporating sustainable and high tech gadgetry, we loved being a part of this in depth discussion with one of the leading architecture and design magazines. “Cunniffe’s ability to infuse his projects with such a consistent feel comes, no doubt, courtesy of his deep familiarity with the vernacular styles in the areas where he works” stated Architectural Digest writer Hadley Keller.