After living around the world, a couple built a modern home in the foothills of the Wasatch where they plan their next adventures.
Photos by Scot Zimmerman
Traveler’s Repose
A pair of audacious travelers found their callings representing global corporate interests around the world, which allowed them to also explore destinations surrounding their homes in Europe and Asia. They carefully collected art and handmade pieces from their travels and made photographs. When it came time to retire, they elected to build a modern home in the Salt Lake Valley not too far from the mouth of Big Cottonwood Canyon with sweeping views and designed the home cognizant of how they wished to display their collected pieces.
They enlisted Jaffa Group Design Build, Park City, to design and construct the home and worked with architects Debbie Kairys and Scott Jaffa. The goal was a modern home that felt spacious but was not too big and with an emphasis on simplicity and strong design elements. They requested specific planned spaces to showcase their collected works, which include photographs, art, ceramics, and fabrics. The front of the home is restrained and private from the street with flanking rock walls screening the home. The entry is angled and screened from direct view, which allows for generous windows and a transparency through the home and out to the views.
Window walls topped with a clerestory run along both the front and rear sides of the entry, essentially forming a bridge between the social area that can be glimpsed in the distance, and the primary suite and office, which are behind the camera. The photograph above the bench to the left of the front door was taken by the owner. A unique system allows the display to be rotated with other photographs. Through the windows on the left, you can glimpse the upper patio, which we will look at next.
Just off the glass corridor is the upper deck with a pool/spa. The water quickly can heat up if it feels more pleasant to soak in a hot pool rather than a refreshing cool splash. Access is from multiple doors, and the views—they speak for themselves.
To ensure views from the living, kitchen, and dining areas, the design has an open plan. One of the two homeowners had a career as a product designer but was trained in interior design. She made the interior selections and worked closely with the architects. The fiery marble of the fireplace ensures that the fireplace is the room’s focal point.
The kitchen’s design is marked by rectangular blocks of materials and color. It has a pleasing sculptural design effect. However, when you look at the kitchen in terms of efficiency, the circulation, counter workspace, and split island makes it highly workable for a couple or a cooking fest with guests lending a hand. The camera in the last of these three shots is set in a hallway that has display and storage cabinets and leads to a walk-in pantry, laundry, and the garage mudroom and powder room.
The dining room has a lowered ceiling for greater intimacy. The soffit allows display space for a remarkable photograph by the homeowner taken in Southeast Asia. With windows on two sides and open to the living area, the space takes advantage of all the views.
Shifting to the private portion of the home, from the primary suite a wall of windows looks out to the valley views and the door connects with the pool patio.
The office is in the quiet private wing and features built-in furnishings.
This view down the back of the home shows how the upper pool patio juts out and separates the social wing from the private wing. Care was given to create a water-wise landscape with the use of stones, pebbles, ample paths and hardscape, and drought tolerant plantings.
The rear of the home at sunset shows how the home is designed to take in the western views. I used my “camera on a pole,” an aerial tripod, to get a balanced view of how the home is set against the mountainside. You can see the bottom floor of the home, which has a casual lounge area, guest quarters, and a home gym. While a luxury home, the homeowner felt that 5,000-square feet was ample.
I was truly taken aback by the views from this property, and the home sits comfortably on the site to fully take in all there is to be seen.
