Financial Times
Strawn Sierralta included among projects by Bohlin Cywinski Jackson, Mork-Ulnes Architects, and Florian Busch
Ski On Home, located in the Truckee, California, is included in a Financial Times article outlining trends in modern mountain living, alongside designs located in Lillehammer, Norway; Niseko, Japan; Golden, British Columbia; and Mont-Noble, Switzerland.
BEYOND THE LOG CABIN: NEW CHALET LIVING
Forget about Swiss chalets. Modern mountain living is more Bond lair than cuckoo clock.
by: Ruth Bloomfield
October 14, 2021
In countries where architects have free rein to reinvent chalet style, things get really interesting – and are intensified in areas that present their own sets of challenges for architects to overcome. Hired to build a functional five-bedroom home for a young family of extreme sports enthusiasts, Brian Strawn and Karla Sierralta of Strawn Sierralta Architects designed a house that could withstand the treacherous conditions of California’s Squaw Valley. “It is in both an avalanche and an earthquake zone, and there is an enormous amount of spring thaw,” Strawn says of the terrain.
The house has deep foundations that help counter the threat of earthquake, while the rear façade of the timber- and copper-clad building is angled to a point to diffuse the impact of an avalanche. Even the prospect of brown bears breaking into the property has been considered with the provision of metal frames on the strengthened glass windows. It’s a true ski-in ski-out house – each level has access to the slopes – and the triple-aspect midsection of the space is equipped as an après-ski hangout. When the original owners moved out in 2013, the 5,480sq ft property sold for $8.5m – a record for the area and proof of the strength of demand for modern mountain living.
See more NEWS