05 Mar A CURATORIAL APPROACH

ARCHITECTURE | Land+Shelter
CONSTRUCTION | Terralink Structures

After decades of living in Aspen and Snowmass, Colorado, Jocelyn and Dave Durrance migrated to Carbondale’s River Valley Ranch in 2017 to build their forever home on the 15th fairway of the 520-acre community on the Crystal River. For Dave, whose family has a long and storied history in Aspen, the move might have been difficult save for the fact that so many of their ‘up valley’ friends and neighbors now called Carbondale home. “We’d walk our dogs around the neighborhood and run into people we hadn’t seen in 20 years,” says Jocelyn. It’s no surprise, then, that this couple — she, a retired librarian who worked at the Pitkin County Library for more than 30 years, and he, a former U.S. Ski Team coach, beloved ski shop owner, and artist — would want to create their new home in this laid-back community.

Elegant single-story living flows seamlessly into a courtyard that takes advantage of a golf course and views of Mount Sopris. Photo: Brent Moss

With their three children long grown, the Durrances had a clear program in mind for their new home: a one-story, Americans with Disabilities Act-compliant, open floor plan that highlighted their vast art collection, emphasized seamless indoor-outdoor living, and included a separate art studio for Dave. And while an array of large two-story homes surrounds their lot, more square footage wasn’t necessary for the lifestyle they had in mind. “We knew what we needed and what we wanted,” says Jocelyn. “We didn’t need more.”  There’s not a door jamb in sight, and wide openings between the living spaces will easily accommodate a wheelchair should that time come. “In other words,” chuckles Dave, “we look at this as aging in place. You can just roll your way through the rest of your life in this house.”

The homeowner’s colorful abstract paintings line the gallery walls.

Dave and architect Andrea Korber met at Carbondale’s Third Street Center, a community center designed by Korber, where their art studios were located. “We started chatting about his work, which is very concerned with space and geometry,” recalls Korber, who is also a painter and printmaker. “And that naturally evolved into a conversation about architecture.” They also shared a common love of ski racing. She had skied for the Dartmouth College women’s alpine team; and prior to joining the U.S. Ski Team coaching staff, Dave was a coach at Dartmouth.

Featured prominently along one wall and visible above the fireplace facing the dining room is a screenprint of undulating blue tones by Bauhaus master Herbert Bayer, a family friend of the Durrances during Aspen’s Mid-century Modern era and an important influence on Dave’s artwork.

For Korber, whose firm Land+Shelter is celebrating its 20th anniversary, the Durrance home perfectly summarizes the work that resonates with her architectural practice. Fundamental to designing a personalized space, she says, is developing a relationship with the site and the people who are going to live there. “Custom residential should be right for its location and really right for the people who want to be there.” In this case, she adds, “the things that were interesting to them were also interesting to me.” It also helped that she and Dave held several meetings on the chairlift.

A simple wall featuring a double-sided fireplace separates the dining and living rooms. Photo: Hal Williams

Local contractor Andy Braudis of Terralink Structures oversaw the home’s construction. Paramount to the project was the creation of a gallery space and an exterior courtyard for indoor-outdoor living. In a larger home, combining these seemingly disparate elements would be easy; however, with 2,600 square feet to work with, the puzzle was apparent from the beginning, explains Korber. “They wanted walls of glass so they could enjoy garden views and distant mountain vistas from inside the home, leaving very few solid walls for displaying art.”

From the living room, windows and doors open to a courtyard overlooking a green on the golf course and the mountains beyond. Photo: Hal Williams

Together, Korber and the Durrances decided to transform the spine of the home — a long hallway connecting the primary bedroom on one end to the guest room and office at the other — into a light-filled two-story gallery. “Many galleries are concrete and drywall,” says Korber, “so that was our starting point.” Built-in casework interspersed with the Durrance’s Northern European antiques — “all things that you wouldn’t necessarily see in an art museum,” — make it homey.

The outdoor courtyard is sheltered on one side by Dave’s art studio.

The east-west gallery space is interrupted by a generously sized kitchen and informal living room. Doors and windows open to nature, drawing the outdoors inside. A courtyard, bookended on the west by the stone façade of Dave’s 300-square-foot studio, captures panoramic views across the golf course to the undulating piñon-covered hills and snow-capped higher elevations to the north. In mid-summer, clay pots overflow with basil and geraniums. This is Jocelyn’s domain. “I grew up in the tropics and didn’t want to have anything between me and the outside.”

From the street, the home appears as a modest compound of unified forms. Photo: Brent Moss

Dave’s art studio, an airy space with east-facing clerestory windows, is chock-full of Dave’s colorful abstract canvases. Over his desk hang mementos, including a 1988 photo of him with Rosalynn and Jimmy Carter outside his Aspen ski shop that reads: To Dave Durrance, Your helpfulness, advice & generosity gave us one of the finest ski experiences of our lives. Next to it, there’s a framed poster from the 1964 Olympics signed by the top three slalom medalists. “Those are all my friends,” he chuckles.

Nowhere is the pride Korber takes in the deep community ties forged through her projects so evident as in this deceptively humble yet highly livable home. “This project is a touchstone in my mind,” says Korber. In a built environment where larger architectural projects dominate the horizon, this one, she says, “just feels right.” So right, in fact, that she adopted elements of the design for her own home, also in Carbondale, which includes an artist studio and a large kitchen and dining area that flow into a protected courtyard.