Andesite Ridge Retreat
- Award Year: 2021
- Award Category: Residential Design
- Award Designation: Honor Award
- Client: N/A
- Location: Gallatin Range, Montana
A modernist vision of simplicity and volume, the garden creatively combines engineering, technology, and artistry to celebrate the imposing infinite boundaries of a sparse and barren landscape shaped by wind, fire, water, and ice.
An artful and restrained composition of rectilinear forms, the home’s dark palette of stone, steel, and wood marks a successful intersection of contemporary minimalism in a rugged mountain context.
The entry court’s sharp geometries are softened by a grid of trees lining the walkway. During summer, filtered light casts organic shadows on the pavers, while in winter, columnar trunks provide vertical relief in the vast mountain landscape.
A horizontal stone walkway extends from the front door to a contemporary sculpture, designed by the owner/artist. A vertical wall captures and contains the courtyard, offering privacy from an adjacent road.
An abstraction of Montana’s barren alpine environment, the linear water feature permeates the home from one side to the other, its fluctuating reflecting pool capturing a moody and dramatic landscape of sky.
To reduce the need of potable water use, a rainwater collection system captures snowmelt and rainfall in an underground cistern. Collected water is utilized in the recirculating water feature and for irrigation.
Emerging from a frame of crisp architectural volumes, a small spring spirits its way through a field of alpine plants and crushed basaltic rock, sourced from a nearby quarry.
Mimicking the rugged and textural qualities of scree fields found throughout the region, the stream courses from one side of the home to the other, the sight and sound of water a constant reminder of the ephemeral qualities of landscape.
As the stream course meets the lower level of the home, water diffuses across an undulating stone delta, slipping beneath a trio of floating stones. An artful composition of stone finishes – cut, honed and natural – call attention to region’s geology.
The still pool appears to cantilever from the home, extending its uninterrupted, zero-edge reflective surface into the distant horizon.
To abstract the ephemeral nature of montane lakes, the landscape architect utilized engineering technology to create a performative art installation that transforms a dry talus bed into a glassy plane of water over a 30-minute period each morning.
Each day, the thin sheet of water showcases the changing colors and patterns of the Montana sky, introducing an ever-changing performance of light, shadow, and pattern in the garden.
Cut stone slabs float above the water’s surface, providing easy access to the destination firepit. Hidden beneath each stone, foundations diffuse the velocity of incoming water, slowing it to a state of stillness.
The garden celebrates the imposing infinite boundaries of a landscape shaped by the elements. A stone and steel firepit facilitates extended use of the garden in the high mountain climate.
Designed to carefully conform to existing topography and mature vegetation, the driveway is a journey of discovery. Prior to construction, the landscape architect specified the removal of existing deadfall to encourage native understory regeneration and minimize the threat of wildfire.
Representing a new vision for mountain design, Andesite Ridge Retreat exemplifies the resourceful application of engineering, technology, and artistry to create an experience of connection and interdependence in this sublime landscape.