Home tour: a Japanese-inspired mountain retreat in Colorado designed by an architect for his parents

The two-storey property spanning 2,500 sq ft did require extensive maintenance, but Mitch and Linda didn’t need to look far for a facelift, as Yuri is an architect who founded the New York- and Los Angeles-based multi-disciplinary design agency New Operations Workshop in 2017, after spending three years at Diller, Scofidio + Renfro, best known for New York City's High Line.

“I was initially uncertain about taking on the project, thinking my parents might encourage a more conservative, traditional approach than what we usually embrace,” admits Yuri, whose passion for design began unexpectedly in middle school, building homes in The Sims computer game. “But after a few conversations, it became clear that they were willing to trust us in whatever approach we decided to take.”

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For his parents, Yuri envisioned a home that honours its dramatic mountain setting, and embraced a philosophy of restraint. Through influences of Japanese minimalism, he anticipated experiences in the home that would be elegant and quiet, while leaving room for the stunning mountain setting to take centre stage. 

A knee jerk impulse to demolish the original structure and build something completely new was immediately replaced by the interest to preserve the vernacular quality and charm of the house’s traditional “mountain-style” architecture.

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Instead, the four-bedroom property was reinterpreted with a 1,500-sq-ft expansion, adding two bedrooms, one bathroom, a large living area, and two decks–a significant amount of outdoor space to maximise the connection to the mountainous setting.

“As a nod to climate change and in order to maximise solar gain, the house features southern glazing and integrates carefully placed skylights, allowing for passive heat gain and to frame mountain views through a series of edited windows,” Yuri adds.

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Sourced from the Nakamoto Forestry in Portland, Oregon, the façade is clad in shou sugi ban, a traditional Japanese technique of charring wood to create a protective carbon layer.

“While the dark texture presents a striking silhouette against the evergreen forest, its charred exterior also enhances solar performance [in the frigid climate] and provides fire resistance,” the architect elaborates. “Meanwhile, in stark contrast, the wide-plank white oak interior [from Dinesen] creates a warm, cabin-like feel.”

“Conceptually, it is as if the home was charred from the outside, while leaving the wood clean and unburnt on the interior,” he continues.

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In the main living area, the warm, pale timber unifies the flooring, walls and ceilings, maximising the brightness from natural light streaming through expansive glazing. When the weather permits, the glass walls and pivot doors can be toggled open or closed, transforming the living room into a pavilion that breathes with the mountain air.

Here, a central fireplace anchors the space, cleverly dividing it into two distinct zones: a lounging and home theatre area on one side, and a dining area on the other. With the option of more privacy for a growing extended family, the existing living space is connected via moving walls, which can close to create a smaller, quieter space or completely disappear to create a large, open space.

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Executed with a contemporary Scandinavian flair, furnishings that decorate the space include a coffee table crafted from stones by Foothills Stone and topped with concrete by Concrete Works East, while another, featuring repurposed timber from a collapsed mining cabin, brings the history of the mountains directly into the home.

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Meanwhile, in the dining area, Hans Wegner Wishbone chairs surround the table, whereas a Selección Marsella vase by “a very cool Mexico City design curator” adds an artistic accent, connecting the homeowners’ love of travel and art collecting to their everyday living spaces.

Up the sculptural staircase, the overarching minimalist theme permeates the private quarters on the upper floor, where custom, built-in furniture using the same white oak material–beds, desks and seating–integrates the interior with the architecture.

In the bathrooms, slate flagstone flooring blends the domestic spaces with the surrounding landscape. 

One with walls clad in wide-plank white oak exudes a spa-like warmth, and another decorated with a Selección Marsella chair–the spaces maintain the overall design philosophy: elegant, quiet, and focused on the quality of materials and light rather than ornamentation.

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