The brilliant team at Yatzer — my ultimate source for the crème-de-la-crème of design –just profiled the mindblowing “Wildcat Ridge Residence” of Aspen, Colorado, and I am nothing short of madly in love. And that’s a huge understatement, my friends. This A+++ beauty was designed by New York’s own Voorsanger Architects, and sits at a very impressive altitude of 9,200-feet. No one needs reminding of the tax bracket that is enjoyed by the multi-millionaire families of this posh, uber-elite Colorado city, but none of this matters in the realm of Architecture, because what you are about to feast your eyes on goes far beyond money. As any frequent FEELguide reader knows, I am an Architecture whore, and this design is seriously getting me warm in all the right places. It’s extremely difficult for even the most experienced lover of great Architecture to articulate exactly why any given design manages to stimulate such an immediate and passionate response, but if I were to make an attempt at explaining my love for this work I would have to begin with the structure’s deceptively simple glass box-meets-wooden blade roof. Take one look at the photos and you will likely agree: the fusion of The Wildcat Ridge Residence’s long glass curtain walls and its floating, angular wooden roof is pretty much perfect.
I once heard Stanley Kubrick explain in an interview that each and every one of his greatest cinematic masterpieces begins with 6 specific scenes that he envisioned. Over the course of several months, these 6 brilliant moments would coalesce into a narrative, which would coalesce into a script, which would coalesce into a final result (for architects, the equivalent is: concept/narrative, technical drawings, followed by the final built form). And many of the greatest architects operate with much the same design process: a stunning piece of Architecture cannot truly emerge until a handful of exciting “moments” spring forth from the designer’s imagination, and the following images indicate this may very well have been what happened when the team at Voorsanger began to put pen to paper. Take for instance the incredible protruding blade roof of the entrance, or the unbelievably gorgeous (yet simple) office desk with its accompanying heart-backed chair. Stanley Kubrick himself would be proud.
For more of Thomas Damgaard‘s terrific photos be sure to visit Yatzer. And for up-to-the-minute postings from the Yatzer team be sure to visit Yatzer.com, and follow them on Facebook and Twitter. To enter the world of Voorsanger Architects simply head over to Voorsanger.com. To learn more about the quality of (ski) life in Aspen, Colorado you can visit AspenSnowMass.com, and AspenChamber.org (which contains links to each of its social networks). NOTE TO SELF: contact the owners of The Wildcat Ridge Residence and arrange an exquisite Montreal-Aspen house exchange. For an archive of FEELguide’s personal crown jewel favorites of architectural design you can visit FEELguide Architecture. For more of Thomas Damgaard’s architectural photography simply head over to ThomasDamgaard.com.
