As the “baby boomer” generation ages one of the growing concerns for homeowners is universal design, or aging in place. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, over 25% of America’s population were born between 1946-1964. “Aging in place is a major issue,” said Stephen Melman, Director of Economic Services at the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) in D.C.. “Ninety percent of households say they want to age in place, but only 20 percent have done anything about it.”

One of the trends we are seeing in regards to universal design is ground level entrances and masters on the main level. We are also designing homes with wider interior doors, hallways and turn around space. Lever handles are replacing knobs, for they are easier to open and more task lighting, which makes it easier to see.

Bathrooms are becoming equipped with grab bars as well as stepless shower bases. For those who enjoy outdoor living we are finding more requests for zero-entry swimming pool.

If you are interested in learning more about universal design or aging in place please give us a call at 970-453-2230.

We recently came across Frank Lloyd Wright’s Pope-Leighey house on Apartment Therapy’s American Style. Wright along with other notable architects from the mid-century modern era helped shape American architecture. Their designs are as relevant and fresh today as they were over 60 years ago.

Completed in 1941, the Pope-Leighey home followed Wright’s Usonian design principle, which is considered to be the origins of the popular “ranch-style” homes.  Frank Lloyd Wright, like many of us here in Colorado, was inspired by his natural surroundings. The Pope-Leighey home, located in Virginia, could easily blend in with our mountain-style architecture.

Courtesy of Apartment Therapy

Courtesy of Apartment Therapy

Courtesy of Apartment Therapy

What do you think about Wright’s Usonian design?

What images come to mind when you think of Colorado mountain homes? Are you visualizing pictures of attractive timber frame homes, stonework, natural and local materials, lots of windows, passive solar technology and homes blended naturally in to the surroundings?

Add expert financial management, sustainability and energy efficient home building to that list of images, and you will be describing the design-build philosophy of Trilogy Partners, award winning custom home builders located in Breckenridge, Colorado.

With years of experience in building custom Colorado mountain homes, Trilogy successfully manages the entire project including oversight of the design process, permitting, construction documentation, contractor coordination, and financial accounting.

Winners of the Summit County 2007 Builder of the Year Award, Trilogy Partners employs an integrated and seamless design-build process that serves the best interest of the client.  Committed to excellence in design and craftsmanship, Trilogy Partners are experienced custom home builders who micro manage all of the details, from the conceptual design phase right through to the completion of your beautiful Colorado mountain home.

Take, for example, the Trilogy Partners’ ‘Buffalo Terrace home.  Designed as a retirement home for the owners, Trilogy combined beauty, energy efficient technology, and green materials to produce a stunning illustration of the best in Colorado mountain homes, tastefully designed inside and out.  Utilizing timber frame design and meticulous attention to detail, ‘Buffalo Terrace’ proved to be a notable success.

Trilogy Partners specializes in energy efficient home building, and cutting edge sustainable architecture.  It’s more than just a design philosophy; Trilogy works to set an example of social and environmental responsibility by using new technologies and maintaining the highest eco-friendly standards.  For the best in custom home builders of Colorado mountain homes, contact Trilogy Partners.

Photo credit: Trilogy Partners

Vacant Land For Sale

This has actually happened. A client contacts us. They want to build a new home. They’re about to close on a lot in a neighborhood development. At our introductory design meeting they  describe to us the kind of house they wish to build. A certain number of bedrooms, bathrooms. Energy effeciency. Passive solar design. Sustainable building. A two car garage. A relatively simple design without complex rooflines. And then we go to the site for the first time.

The site the clients had chosen was steep and in the trees. The building envelope was rather small, and because of height restrictions, the home would have to be built so that it stepped up and down the slope, complicating construction dramatically. Solar gain would be limited by shade and trees that by development covenant could not be removed. The steep lot also made it imperative that we locate the garage up-slope and to the front of the home so as to meet requirements that stipulated the maximum slope of the driveway at 7%. Expensive retaining walls would also be necessary. As much as we at Trilogy enjoy a challenge, we had to tell the clients that the lot they had chosen was not conducive to building the rather simple, super energy efficient home they were seeking. The clients did not take this news well for they loved that this lot was adjacent to community open space. They purchased the lot and hired another architect. About a year later the lot was back on the market, I suspect, because the clients had finally discovered for themselves how difficult a lot they had purchased.

Building in the mountain regions often means dealing with slope and trees. But even when the lot is relatively level, the site can still have an enormous impact on budget and design. Today, modern design and technology allows us to create passively energized, super insulated homes with dramatically decreased energy consumption.  But if the lot orientation is north or if the lot is shaded then energy costs will necessarily increase. Views are always a concern and in some developments, homes are built without taking into account that the vacant lot next door won’t always be vacant and views may be impeded when the neighbors build. Other subdivision and local government codes can also severely limit design opportunities. Some neighborhoods put limits on the amount of glass, or the use of solar panels, limiting the use of sustainable energy resources.

Which is why, if at all possible, the Trilogy Design Team likes to assist our clients in the selection of the site for their new home. If the lot is indeed going to constrain design, it’s a great idea to have the design and build team assess exactly what those limitations are going to be.

What would be the ideal site for the home of your dreams?

Every once and a while I think it’s probably a good idea to take a step back and think about why we’re doing what we’re doing. For instance, I’m currently in LA at the Design Bloggers Conference. I’m meeting people who work in the design world, like myself, who are also spending a lot of time these days writing, or blogging, about what they are doing and why they are doing it. Which begs the question: why am I writing this little piece right now? What’s this blog all about? It’s a question I think I know the answer to.  We at Trilogy Partners are different than most other firms in our industry when it comes to design and build because we are fully integrated and truly a “one stop shop.” We see it from all angles. We are designers and ditchdiggers. We are builders, planners, and accountants. We are carpenters and tradesmen and we are passionate about how things look and feel. We are storytellers. In effect, we wear a whole lot of hats around here for one reason. So that we can serve our clients fully and completely. And we want people to know that. But there’s more to it than just what we do.

We’ve been doing this for quite a while now. In the course of each project we learn a whole lot, and I want to take the time now to pass along some of what we’ve learned. The good lessons, the hard lessons. Each project is a journey and is its own story. Building a home is a rather long process that grows from concept to creation to a lasting realization of a vision and a dream. These journeys oftentimes take years, and during the course of these years things happen that are worthy of words and remembrance. Each project brings with it a separate wisdom. So I’m here to pass along the stories, and the knowledge of what it takes to design and build homes because, honestly, I couldn’t find anyone else who was. This is the only place where you can get a complete picture of both sides of the home design and build process that I’ve yet to find.

I can tell you this: designing, building, it’s hard work and harder still to do really well. But it’s a lot of fun. And it’s really rewarding to drive by a spot where once nothing stood and see, now, a wonderful home alight and alive with the people that live within its walls. That’s also what I want to write about. The joy and the how of what we do. And the gratitude we feel for being allowed to do what we truly love. With the hope that some out there will read our words and benefit from what we’ve learned. And be inspired to move forward, with confidence, in pursuit of their dreams.

Enjoy!

Some things about this industry so amaze me. Take for example the client who is hoping to get the best house for the least amount of money. So they hire a builder, any builder, who is willing to build for less. It’s a logic that even the clients don’t believe. These clients are driving expensive cars, not cheap cars. They spend more money to send their children to school. They have all of their lives invested sensibly but in quality. So why is it when it comes to one of the most important investments that they are every going to make, that they suddenly want to go cheap? Suddenly quality doesn’t matter. And that amazes me.

Lowest Bid Could Cost More

As I’ve posted before, I’m not a big fan of the bid process when it comes to complex residential builds. There’s just too much room for things to get overlooked in the bid. And it’s pretty much always the case that if a construction bid comes in low, that a lot of things are being overlooked. Left out, intentionally or not, there will be a day of reckoning. The rewards to the client for hiring quality are immediate and lasting. Quality building companies bring not only construction expertise to the table. But accounting know how. Problem solving abilities. A work hard ethic. And essential creativity. Not to mention that quality building companies are, for the most part, comprised of intelligent people with more than an average level of integrity. One need only check the builders’ references to separate quality builders from used car salesmen. In a “zen” sense, the house is ultimately a direct reflection of not only the architect and owner, but the builder as well. And chances are that if you blend all the above ingredients together, that the price of the construction is going to be what it should be, and both the owner and the builder will continue to have a strong relationship long after the last nail is driven home.

Quality Is An Investment

My belief is that in construction, as in other aspects of life, quality costs more. A quality builder is going to cost more than someone who is desperate for a job and will do anything to get it. Low bids go hand in hand with insufficient allowances for finishes and features. And with hidden costs and fine print. Quality costs, but quality is an investment. And we are used to hearing this, saying this, living this in life. But why is it when it comes to home building, we’re willing to forget about quality and be suckered in by the cheapest bid from fly by night contracting incorporated? It just doesn’t make sense. But I see it happen again and again. The construction industry may have a bad reputation, but it doesn’t help that clients sometimes encourage poor behavior by buying into it.

As I’ve posted before, when we started building homes we knew a lot less than we know today. Each day brought with it new lessons. I can remember the first day I met the building inspector from the Town of Breckenridge. His name was C and he was in a foul mood the moment he got out of his car. He’d come out to our building site to check to see if there was frost in the ground. We were installing pre-cast foundation walls, which are bedded in a gravel footer. Beneath the gravel was compacted dirt, and the building department had stipulated that we must lay our foundation walls on ground that was unfrozen. It was about 5 degrees that morning, and per agreement we’d called in our frozen ground inspection, and C had arrived thermometer in hand. After sticking the thermometer into the ground and consulting it, he told us in no uncertain terms that we were not going to be putting in our foundation walls that day. Determined to get the walls in (we had a crane on site charging us by the hour) I commenced to debate with C. I had gone on with my carefully crafted argument for about a minute when he gave me the blackest of looks and turned and walked away. And it dawned on me that I had just managed to completely annoy the one person who held sway over our entire project. I’ve previously posted about how we’d erected a plastic tent over the entire site to keep the soil from freezing. And how the wind had blown the tent away. Big mistake. And now another big mistake. The building inspector hated us. For minutes afterward my brother and I just paced in silence wondering what to do next. Because it certainly wasn’t going to be getting any warmer for months. How were we ever going to get those concrete walls installed?  Then someone suggested that there was a miraculous device called a ground heater that was usually used in situations like this. And so we rented one, and when C came back the next day, the ground heater had thawed the ground and we were allowed to proceed. I went out of my way to apologize to C telling him that I was doing the best I could to figure out how to build my first house. And to my surprise, C told me about feeling totally miserable the day before because of a terrible cold, and how he was feeling much better today, and we had a chat about colds, cold weather, and building in the cold winter. From that day on, C and I got along just fine. Over the years my brother and I grew to know, to respect, and to appreciate all of those who worked in the Breckenridge Building Department. They can be your greatest allies, or, should you decide to cut corners, your worst enemies. They are our partners in standards of quality and safety. And we are proud to join with them in producing the best product possible.

As previously posted, I often work with clients to develop a “fictional story” that will aid in the design of a home. This story is the lynchpin for a thematic approach for design. In the case of the house on lot 231, AKA Caleb’s Journey, we wanted a home that looked like it simply belonged in Colorado. The Highlands in Breckenridge development is filled with homes that fit the mold of mountain contemporary. We wanted something mountain authentic. So we invented Caleb, the man who built the house. His story goes like this: Caleb was a man who had spent years building homes for other people. Whenever he finished a home he took the left over scraps with him and they became, over the years, a very large pile in the backyard behind his cabin. One day Caleb estimated he had enough material to begin the construction of his own home. And over the next couple of years, he built the home of his dreams from castaway materials.The result was a rustic, well worn dwelling completely at home in the Colorado Mountains. This home features a timber frame made from 20″ logs and hewn douglas fir dimensional beams, reclaimed siding and ceiling cladding, and gorgeous oak floors recycled from a granary. Perhaps Caleb was only a figment of our imagination. But he came to life within the walls of Caleb’s Journey.

If you were going to design a home, where would your ideas come from?

Kitchens are just so much fun to design… especially if you enjoy food and entertaining as much as we do. The kitchen at the Timber Trail residence is different than any we at Trilogy have ever done if for no other reason than the kitchen space is an octagonally shaped room. With eight walls to address in design, we turned to Kathye Conti and the outstanding team at Kitchenscapes in Breckenridge, Colorado.  The result was a thoroughly modern and energy efficient kitchen rooted in old world European concepts. Because the theme of the house was “a centuries old european mountain chalet reborn” cabinets were designed to resemble antique furniture pieces drawn together and stacked one upon the other as though the kitchen had literally been shaped over years of use. The kitchen features multiple cooking, cleaning, and prep work stations, a center island, two sinks, two dishwashers, double ovens, and side by side super energy efficient Sun Frost refrigerator and freezer units. The kitchen is centered around a 48″ Viking stove top with four burners and a grill top with downdraft vent built into the center island. A large family breakfast table, a pass through to the living room bar, stone walls, travertine floors, and wonderful mountain views complete this uniquely envisioned space.

Many believe that the kitchen is the most important room in the house. What do you think?