Steps for Designing Your Mountain Home

The mountains are mountainous. It's an obvious statement, but the reality is that designing a home in rugged mountain landscapes is challenging. Home sites in the mountains are rarely flat. Whether designing your home on a steep, heavily treed site, or a modestly sloped open meadow, you are likely to encounter some design constraints that you might not in other environments. Constraints like earthquakes, avalanches, snow melt, soil conditions, and wildlife all influence the design of your home. A good architect can help you balance these constraints against how you want to experience the majestic landscape that surrounds your site. 

One of the unique experiences of designing a home in the mountains is that each site is different. Maybe your home site location provides a singular, yet spectacular view of one overwhelmingly beautiful mountain peak. When you work with A43 we will be sure to discuss with you your goals for the views surrounding your home. 

Designing a home in the mountains is all about finding creative ways to optimize the house’s location on the site. In addition to the physical constraints of the site and the experiential program of the site, we also must consider the economics of how the house relates to the site, Different topographies call for different construction methods. Being cognizant of how the house relates to the site can be key to staying on budget. We recommend engaging a builder early in the design process. A good builder will be able to collaborate with your design team and help guide the pricing discussion. The A43 team has vast experience with many of the local contractors and can help find the one that’s right for you and your project.

The best place to start designing your mountain dream home is by having your property surveyed by a professional land surveyor. A survey will allow you to begin understanding what’s possible on your building site. The survey will show your property boundaries, any existing structures, and elevations of various pertinent features in the terrain. Your design team, builder, and local municipality will all require a survey, so it’s best to get the survey completed early on. Be aware that labor in mountain communities is often in short supply. It can sometimes take weeks, or even months, to get a surveyor on site. Getting on a surveyor’s schedule early is critical to staying on schedule and A43 can help guide you through that process.

Finally, you should have an engineer perform a geotechnical report. This report details the quality of soil on your home site so as to identify any unfavorable characteristics. In the Rocky Mountains, not all soil is created equal and occasionally your home site may require special building methods. The design professionals and engineers that guide you through the building process will need to know the composition of the soils below your home in order to make informed decisions. Generally, Geotech reports are best to be performed during the warmer months so having one scheduled early is paramount. Once again, the A43 team is prepared to help you through this step to make sure all the necessary information is available when needed.

Designing your home in the mountains is a complex process that requires a large amount of detailed information about your unique building site. It’s likely much more involved than perhaps you were expecting, but assembling a great team that works well together can make that process fun! A43 Architecture can not only help you with all of the design considerations, but they can help you take the appropriate steps and connect you with the right professionals to get the job done. 

Call us today at 307-249-8650

See some tips for designing a mountain home here.