MAAD PEAK

Designed and built by MAADKreatif™ Studio, this home in Northern Colorado is an on-going conversation with the wild, expansive, and awe-inspiring nature just outside its door.   Standing at over 2000 meter above sea level on a 16 hectare property bordering more than 325,000 hectares of forest land and the Rocky Mountain wilderness,  Marc Gerritsen, principal architect of MAADKreatif™, had to contend with wind factor exceeding 150 miles per hour, massive snow loads, extreme danger of wild fires, water shortage, dry climate, and intense year round sun exposure in designing the sprawling headquarters.

“Instead of dictating, acquiescing or adapting to Mother Nature, I engage her in a friendly banter”, Marc says with a smile.  “We designed and engineered the main building to withstand extreme conditions, but nature had plenty to say in regards to the location, form, orientation, and cladding of the massive structure.  “Although we have 16 hectares of land to work with, much of it is too steep, exposed, or impenetrable to build on” Marc continues, “the building stands on the only location where we could carve out a large enough area without inflicting too much damage on the land.  As it happens, it is also the best location we could hope for.   From this location,  we have a Southwest orientation that gives the building the optimum amount of sun exposure in the winter, protection from the strong easterly wind, access to water, and a vast, un-interrupted views of the bright city lights, vast plains and the majestic snow-capped mountains”.

The building’s frontage features two sets of 8 meter long panoramic windows to take it all in, and its slightly sloped roofline allows high wind to glide over the building and sends melted snow into a 5000 liter underground concrete cistern.  And, to protect the building from wild fires, the entire structure is cladded in raw steel.    Exposure to the sun, wind, rain, and snow has begun to corrode the raw metal and transformed its cold, polished, steely surface into a warm, rusty patina that will continue to darken overtime while the extremely low humidity in the air will stop the rusted steel from withering away.  

And so, the friendly banter between man and nature continues.

“Our home embodies the philosophy of Resilient Design + Living,” said Adria Lake, “it is built to last and thrive in any condition, not by force or concessions, but through an on-going conversation and collaboration with nature.”