Description

Set within the wooded landscape of Evergreen, Colorado, Fox Run is a 5,500-square-foot residence conceived as a permanent home for a Denver commercial builder and his wife. Their experience with construction brought a clear understanding of materials, craft, and durability to the process, while the ambition for a true forever house required the architecture to feel both substantial and deeply personal.

The design responds to the site through a series of low, interconnected forms that settle into the terrain rather than dominate it. Cedar siding, Colorado buff sandstone, standing-seam metal roofing, and exposed structural steel establish a restrained material palette rooted in the mountain West. These materials were selected not simply for appearance, but for the way they weather, age, and gain character over time. The steel elements bring precision and visual lightness to the composition, balancing the weight and permanence of the stone.

A sequence of small steel retaining walls terraces the site and creates a deliberate transition between the house and the surrounding landscape. Behind these terraces, a sculptural water feature introduces movement and sound, giving the exterior spaces a strong sensory quality and reinforcing the connection between architecture and site. Rather than treating the landscape as a backdrop, the design allows it to shape the experience of arrival, circulation, and outdoor living.

The primary outdoor living area faces north, a deliberate choice that provides comfortable, shaded use during the warmer months while preserving commanding views across the Front Range. Large areas of glazing extend the interior toward those views and bring daylight deep into the living spaces. The house is organized to support both everyday life and larger gatherings, with a strong visual and physical relationship between the central living areas, terraces, and landscape.

From the entry, the plan unfolds gradually, compressing and opening to frame long views rather than revealing the house all at once. This measured sequence gives the residence a sense of discovery and makes the distant landscape a recurring presence, not merely a single dramatic gesture.

Inside, the material language remains consistent and direct. Stone, wood, glass, and steel are used with clarity, allowing structure, texture, and craftsmanship to carry the design. The result is contemporary without feeling delicate or temporary: a house with the toughness expected by a builder, but also the warmth and ease required of a family home.

Fox Run is ultimately an exercise in balance—between solidity and transparency, refinement and ruggedness, architecture and landscape. It is a home designed not around a passing style, but around longevity, daily use, and a specific way of living in the Colorado foothills.