2015 Home of the Year, Colorado Homes & Lifestyles
Ascent Group Engineers 2015 Home of the Year as Awarded by Colorado Homes & Lifestyles magazine.
If you dream of designing a new home that takes full advantage of unique geography and views of land that you love, you need a special team to make that dream a reality. Ascent Group, Inc. had the privilege of being part of such a team – a team that built the residence recently selected as the “2015 Home of the Year” by Colorado Homes & Lifestyles magazine. The Grace and Kirk Eberl residence, located in Evergreen, Colorado, is currently featured in the publication’s June/July issue. Barrett Studio Architects of Boulder, a full service environmental design firm focused on contemporary green architecture, sustainable design, and organic architecture, spearheaded the team responsible for the design of this award-winning residence.
The magnificent home was inspired by the amazing land it sits on – 160 acres covering a mountainside that enjoys quintessential Colorado views west to the Continental Divide. According to homeowner Grace Eberl, she and her husband Kirk, “wanted a house that rose out of the land like a tree” and had “one big heart-and-soul room as the main living space.” The couple also wanted large flowing spaces that combined “old” material – hand plaster, flagstone and masculine wood beams in modern ways. Ascent worked closely with Barrett Studio Architects to be sure the home’s design could accommodate all of the Eberls’ special requests.
According to Andrew C. Kelsey, PE, of Ascent Group, “This beautiful building needed structure to support some of the unique elements. The stone and the huge timber beams that are featured prominently around the house required quite a bit of engineering to both meet code design requirements and the aesthetic desires of the Owner and their Architect.” Floors throughout the home also had to be designed to accommodate special loads including massive granite finishes incorporated into the master bathroom and an 800+ pound pool table placed in a second-floor game room.
Building on a sloping mountain provided its own set of challenges as did considering the wind and the rain that can roll through such a wide-open space. The home features an extensive outdoor deck and designing the installation of the masonry, glazing and waterproofing was one of the greater challenges of the project.
But Kelsey says the most unique and fun part of the project for the engineering team at Ascent Group was designing for the ‘fins’ that run through the home which are 30” stone and block walls that provide both support and aesthetics. There are multiple levels and angles that work around the fins in the home, numerous sloping rooflines and heavy loads placed on many long clear spans. Kelsey states, “It’s a true work of art.”
According to architect David Barrett, AIA, it took a real community to create the home and for Ascent Group it was truly a thrill to work on making such a unique and amazing house stand up and perform.
The Team Behind the Magic:
Architect:
David Barrett
Barrett Studio Architects
Barrettsudio.com
Contractor:
Mark Eberl
Ercon Inc.
Interior Design:
Lance Fedderly
Fedderly and Associates Inc.
Fedderly.com
Kitchen Design:
Exquisite Kitchen Design
Myekdesign.com
Landscape Design:
Lifescape
Lifescapecolorado.com
Structural Engineering Design:
Ascent Group, Inc.
ascentgrp.com
To read the full feature on this year’s “Home of the Year”, please visit: http://www.coloradohomesmag.com/de/chljunjul15/.
