Winner of the Outstanding Award in the 2026 WLA Awards – Built Private Residential category
Nestled within a narrow, glacially formed valley with distant views to snow-capped peaks, the 10.5-acre site lies at 8,500 feet within the Montane Life Zone, a fragile mosaic of mixed forest and meadow shaped by centuries of adaptation to altitude and climate. The land unfolds across gently sloping terrain before dropping sharply eastward toward the valley floor, where dense stands of mature mixed-conifer forest are interwoven with native wildflower meadows.
Low Impact Site Planning
Guided by rigorous site analysis, year-round observation, and a restorative design ethic, the team coalesced around a shared aspiration to create a year-round family home that would emerge from the land itself. Sited on the flattest portion of the property and accessed by a short gravel drive, the wood- and stone-clad home is screened from public view along the valley floor, preserving scenic character. As a result, disturbance was limited to less than 10% of the site, preserving 90% of the forest canopy and native groundcover.
Challenging Convention
Architecture and landscape were conceived as a single system, expressed through a series of modular pavilions artfully composed in a pinwheel configuration, immersed, both literally and figuratively, within the surrounding landscape. This organization allows each space to engage distinct views, respond to the site’s undulating topography, and create a sequence of intimate courtyard moments, each tuned to framed views. Fabricating the modules offsite, an underutilized regional practice, sought to reduce pressure on the local labor market, minimize site disturbance, control costs, and accelerate schedule. Together, these strategies demonstrate a precise, low-impact approach to building in sensitive and challenging mountain environments.
Regenerative Landscapes
Hayden House advances regenerative landscape principles through native plantings, water management, soil restoration, carbon reduction, and material reuse. A 3,000-squarefoot green roof planted with drought-tolerant grasses and forbs documented from onsite extends the valley floor across the architecture, reducing runoff, insulating interior spaces, and dissolving the home into its landscape, while integrated solar panels support county greenhouse gas reduction goals. At the ground plane, infiltration basins and restored native plant communities absorb and filter stormwater, stabilize soils, and support pollinators and wildlife, forming a resilient vegetative mosaic that merges seamlessly with the existing forest. Extending from the garden, trails are mulched with chips from aspens, closing the loop between disturbance and renewal.
Harnessing Microclimates
In alpine environments, particularly within a narrow mountain valley, outdoor living and planting design are shaped by access to sunlight, protection from wind, and rapidly changing weather. Between modular volumes, each courtyard is carefully calibrated to these conditions, merging curated regional planting typologies with functional outdoor spaces. A shaded northern entry garden of ferns evokes moist aspen forests; to the east, a restored meadow anchors outdoor living spaces; and to the southwest, a soaking tub immersed by sun-loving mountain perennials provides refuge from prevailing winds. Outdoor living extends beyond the ground plane to a green roof embedded within native meadow, offering expansive views while dissolving the boundary between the home and its extraordinary setting.
Hayden House
Location: Rocky Mountains, Colorado
Design Firm
Design Workshop: Principal: Darla Callaway, PLA, Principal: Mike Albert, FASLA, AICP
PLAS: Jacob Kraft, Josh Crawford, Sam Danial, Xinyu Li
Consultants:
Eigelberger Architecture and Design
Roaring Fork Engineering
Water Design, Inc
Text: Design Workshop
Photography: Brandon Huttenlocher / Design Workshop
Plant List:
Populus tremuloides
Picea Pungens
Cornus sericea ‘Farrow’
Potentilla fruticosa ‘McKay’s White’
Rosa woodsii
Symphocarpus albus
Astilbe x arendsii
Achillea millefolium
Bouteloua gracilis ‘Blonde Ambition’
Dryopteris filix-mas ‘Robusta’
Lupinus ‘Gallery White’
Rudbeckia hirta
Nepeta x faassenii
Pitkin County Irrigated Seed Mix
Nature’s Prairie Turf Sod
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