light and shadow
Tucked within Aspen’s historic West End, Victor Lundy’s 1972 summer home is a classic example of modernist architecture. The home’s expansive walls of glass captured views of the distant mountain ridge lines, neighboring trees, and the naturalistic aspen meadow which comprised the bulk of the historic West End lot. Siting the expansion to the residence, as well as new outdoor terraces, spa, and play space, while preserving the character of the historic landscape created a compelling opportunity for Bluegreen and the rest of the team. Functional issues, such as problematic drainage of stormwater from the adjacent streets onto the property, were also studied.
The resulting design projects an order onto the landscape, derived from the historic home’s vertical massing, to organize programmatic elements while allowing the native aspen meadow to continue in its wild state. The landscape is also created on two additional planes—a sunken courtyard and a rooftop terrace and green roof. Strong visual and physical connections are created between these spaces enhancing Victor Lundy’s original design intent of captured views. Resilient stormwater design strategies make use of the occasional inundations by supplementing irrigation in the native aspen meadow and manage roof drainage through the planted roof and bioretention planters.
project type: landscape architecture
location: aspen, colorado
architecture: oppenheim architecture + 1 friday design
photography: marion brenner photography
client: withheld upon request