Designed for avid art collectors, Smuggler considers how a home can function as a living gallery while remaining comfortable, flexible, and deeply livable. The architecture treats art as part of daily life rather than something set apart, allowing light, movement, and routine to shape how the home is experienced over time.
For the clients, a couple from Northern California, Aspen’s historic West End felt immediately familiar, with tree-lined streets, a small park next door, and an easy walk into town. The house responds quietly to this setting, conceived as both a home and a sculptural object within the landscape. From the street, a low stone volume grounds the home, while a lighter upper level rises above it, giving the project a calm and balanced presence within the neighborhood.
Inside, the plan is organized less like a museum and more like a sequence of lived-in galleries. Circulation paths double as moments for display, allowing for the couple's most prized artwork to be encountered in the flow of everyday life. Fritted glass panels and a sculpted perforated screen filter Aspen’s intense sunlight, protecting sensitive pieces while keeping interiors bright and open to mountain views.
Material choices reinforce the home’s role as a quiet backdrop for art and landscape. Rough-textured basalt wraps both exterior and interior walls, referencing Aspen’s mining history and anchoring the house to its site. Carefully placed openings frame views of a nearby park and Aspen Mountain beyond, turning each window into a shifting landscape painting.
Behind the calm façade, systems for snow management, solar power, and natural ventilation quietly support year‑round living. The result is a modern mountain sanctuary where art, light, and daily routines are fully intertwined.