This home is sited at the edge of downtown with spectacular panoramic views overlooking Salt Lake City. The passive design takes full advantage of the solar path and captures dramatic views, including the Wasatch mountain range to the east and valley and urban views to the south and west, with city lights creating a sparkling horizontal field below at night.

The design team explored ideas of western mountain architecture and its materiality, history, proportions and form. The foundation of the home emerges from its steeply-sloped site with a textural, board-formed concrete plinth with exaggerated joints incorporated to create coarse vertical fins. The street elevation is a refined minimalist form detached from its textural foundation through a 12” recessed reveal detail that makes the home appear to float above the site.

The main level volume is clad with shop-fabricated, large-format natural limestone panels hung with a clip system on a framework. A recycled, aluminum-clad, dual-purpose wood floor sheathing system was used to accommodate both the energy-efficient radiant floor heating system and structural shear. These innovative building technologies significantly decreased dead load design requirements, allowing for simple framing methodologies, conserved cost, and helped minimize construction waste.

The home interior was designed by the architects and lighting designer to celebrate the views with a material palette of stone, wood and bronze. The interiors include an international photography collection, a glimpse of which can be seen from the street. Passing through the screened entry, Atta Kim’s image of Fifth Avenue greets the arriving visitor, who is also welcomed by a bubbling water feature framed above by a dramatic oval oculus.

How different measures for design excellence (Integration, Community, Ecology, Water, Economy, Energy, Wellness, Resources, Change, Discovery) were integrated into the project’s design objectives:

Ecological stewardship was integral to the design and technical requirements of this residence. A continuous overhang along the South façade for the main and lower levels provides protection from the summer sun and allows the winter sun to warm the space. All primary spaces are oriented along the view corridor to the South, allowing the East and West facades to contain no openings, creating an uninterrupted high-efficiency wall assembly (R-35) to protect against the Western sun. A continuous vegetated strip is incorporated between the home and patio to create a passive cooling thermal barrier at the exterior envelope. The home was designed to meet LEED-H (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design for Homes) standards.

In addition to the passive design strategies, high-efficiency mechanical equipment is utilized. The predicted EUI in kBtu/sf/yr excluding on-site renewable energy contribution is 17.8 kBtu/sf/yr, a 50% reduction from baseline. The project incorporates a robust active solar system, including an 11KW solar panel array on the roof to power the home.