Plains, mountain, rural projects go green

Two mountain homes, one on Apple Valley Road and one on Spruce Way; and three plains homes, on Valmont Road, Nelson Road and Eldorado Springs Drive, were awarded Site Design Awards for their sensitivity to their surroundings. Two buildings were awarded for their compatibility with the community character and the La Vista Office Park on 71st Street in Gunbarrel was recognized for its development in a rural transition zone.

The award winners were nominated last fall by the Boulder County Land Use Staff and selected by a panel of citizen judges.

Mountain homes have faced scrutiny in recent years by people concerned with their impact on the ecosystem and with preserving the aesthetics of undeveloped forest. Designers and builders must be especially careful with their designs and take into account the materials their homes are built with, the colors of the homes and the energy efficiency, because mountain homes are often in harsher climates and have less access to utility services.

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Similarly, plains homes must be carefully designed because the environment provides little foliage and natural cover.

Dodge residence

“I do a lot of work out in the county on farms and ranches,” says John Mink, AIA, president of Architectural Partnership Inc., who designed the Dodge residence at 8524 Valmont Road in east Boulder. “My conviction has always been to try to make them blend into the terrain. What historically has been in Colorado are one-and-a-half-story designs. I always strive to have it blend in with the plains setting.”

Mink, 43, says it is very obvious when an owner or builder has not taken into consideration the type of surrounding the home will exist in. Tall, brightly colored or stucco homes are not the vernacular of the plains.

Mink worked hard on this particular house to see that it fit into its surroundings because of its high visibility. “The Dodge residence had a beautiful setting with unobstructed views to the West. It is surrounded by county open space, very visible from Valmont Road, so I wanted to be sensitive to the older farmhouses in the area,” he said. “I wanted it to blend in harmoniously with the setting.”

To achieve this effect, Mink utilized lots of wraparound porches and stone work on the outside, with lots of dormers and natural materials. The 3,800-square-foot home has three bathrooms, four bedrooms and is valued at more than $550,000.

Mink, who graduated from the CU College of Environmental Design, has been in architectural practice in Boulder since 1983. Although he has always specialized in residential custom design, and often works with Rosewood Construction, his homes have ranged in price from affordable housing to ultra high-end.

Lockwood building

Another long-time county designer is Bob Parich, who has owned his own design/build firm, Environmental Systems Design LLC, for 34 years. Parich’s design work began in the ’60s when the energy efficiency issue was heating up. He focused on passive solar designs, hence the name of his firm evolved.

“After the oil crunch, nobody cared anymore, and there were no tax incentives,” Parich said. His emphasis on energy efficiency did not wane as he continued designing and building for NOAA, NIST and other government agencies in the county.

But the project for which he was recently recognized was the Lockwood building in historic downtown Niwot on the corner of Second Avenue and Franklin Street. “We were limited to many things. We had to design it so it would fit in downtown,” Parich said.

The building was formerly the bank of Niwot, so Parich designed custom bricks to match the original bank building. The historic district also provided a chart of colors approved for use in historic downtown. Parich and his team photographed all the parts of downtown buildings and chose the elements they liked for the Lockwood building. The building also included kickplates of the old storefront, cornices and cornice detail.

“The process took three years,” Parich said.

Demarest residence

The Demarest residence on Eldorado Springs Road took half the time to design and build as the Lockwood building, although it had several of its own reviews and compliance issues. Originally, Garth Braun, 46, owner of Garth Braun Associates PC, planned to renovate the existing home, which sat on several acres, but their plans soon changed.

“It would be better to relocate the new home at a different spot on the site,” Braun said. “What was challenging was by the time you took away the flood plain, took away the septic systems and the well, we had a small piece of property to put the house on.”

The home sits on a knoll along Boulder Creek and is surrounded by cottonwoods and other foliage. The green color also helps the home blend into its surroundings. Braun said if you only saw the front of the house, you wouldn’t fully appreciate it.

“Understated house from the front. You see low key, asphalt shingles and exposed rock columns. But there are lots of surprises as you walk around to the back.”

The owner of the home, Chuck Demarest, founder of Kryptanics, is a mountaineer. The great room was built with that in mind. A tall rock fireplace runs the height of the room so Demarest can climb the fireplace and repel down. His wife picked out all the rocks from the yard for the fireplace and the wall. The home has 3,000 square feet of livable space, a garage and an outbuilding with a another garage and workshop.

Braun was not expecting to be honored for this home, although he said a lot of time and energy went into it. “I was shocked that the county recognized it. We didn’t submit anything. I was very proud of that fact.”