Caleb’s Journey Winter Construction

Days like today remind me of the many years we’ve been building great houses in the middle of the winter at 10,000 feet. Last night we got over 2 feet of snow and as I sit here writing the snow is falling, horizontally, as it often does when the wind is howling. This is what they call a powder day. But for those who will spend the day in workboots and not skiboots there’s nothing like arriving at the job site at 7 in the morning and the temperature is below zero. Not optimal working conditions to be sure, especially if we’ve had a dump like the one last night. So the first thing we try to do when building a home in the winter is to get the walls up, and the roof on, and the framing sheathed. At that point at least we’re out of the weather. Unfortunately we still have to deal with winter temperatures. Inside the house “shell” the temperature remains frigid because the shell holds the night’s cold air inside. Hardly pleasant working conditions. Sure, we can and sometimes use portable propane heat, but that’s an expensive proposition. Once the walls are up and the roof on it will be weeks if not months until the plumbers lay down the radiant floor tubing and get the boilers and gas connected to the house so we can have real heat. It’s a hardy bunch of souls that live at this altitude and work building homes through the winters. Though building slows down this time of year, it certainly doesn’t stop. Because folks, it’s winter here 8 months of the year!

Trilogy Meadowview Rear

It was true what everyone said. We didn’t know what we were doing. The year was 1998. We’d borrowed more than a million dollars. And now we were attempting to build our first house. In December. At 10,000 feet. In below 0 weather. We’d spent a week excavating a big hole in the ground and were due to install the foundation walls in a couple of days. But the Breckenridge building department officials had told us they would not permit us to install the pre-cast foundation walls on top of frozen earth. But how could we keep the ground from freezing. We came up with an idea. We’d put a giant plastic tent over the hole and put propane heaters in the tent. Our vision quickly became reality. The tent was enormous. The size of a house. We were proud. It was warm inside. The ground was not going to freeze. And then, a giant gust of wind came along. And took the tent away. At 2am in the morning. We didn’t sleep that night as we watched our foundation hole grow colder and the dirt grow hard with frost. Our first home… was it going to be a disaster? At this point, it was beginning to look so.

2011 marks the 13th year Trilogy Partners has been designing and building homes. Almost as a lark we built our first home, biting off way more than we could chew, working our hearts out and then, miraculously it seemed at the time, selling it the day it was completed. Then came a second home, and more as we began building homes for clients as well as spec homes for sale.  As 2011 begins we look back to that first home. We broke ground in December. Crazy. We had much to learn about building homes. In Breckenridge, at an altitude of nearly 10,000 feet, the only reasonable outdoor activity that time of year is something that involves skis. And yet,  here we were digging a hole in the frozen ground so we could place the foundation for a house. John and I stayed in good shape that winter shoveling snow for hours at a time as a home rose from a snowy meadow. Here are photos of Meadowview, which is still occupied by the original purchasers.

Meadowview by Trilogy Partners

Michael Rath, a Trilogy Partner, has co-founded The Haiti Orphan Rescue Program (HORP) to build permanent adequate shelter for Haitian orphaned and abandoned children.

Mike M January 2010

Joined by builders Mike Mahon and Andrea DeLuca of sustainable building company Adaptive Building Solutions in Ann Arbor, Michigan, HORP will raise funds and assist Haitian labor to construct multiple orphanage projects over the coming years. Haiti’s “children without family” receive no aid from their government, and Mike M and his family have years of experience in Haiti helping these most vulnerable Haitians and their caregivers with support and medical aid. The earthquake of January 12, 2010 left more than 500,000 children without family or government support, spurring the two Mikes and Andrea to establish HORP as a non-profit 501(c) charitable organization. The next project commences mid April when members of HORP will travel to Haiti to refurbish a damaged orphanage housing 20 children more than half with disabilities. Visit HORP to learn more about this worthy cause and to contribute through programs like the “Adopt an Orphanage” and “HORP Ambassadors.”

The first match of the World Cup will be played tomorrow as the home team of South Africa competes against Mexico.  Although soccer (football) isn’t as big in the United States as it is for the rest of the world, there is still much excitement and anticipation whenever the World Cup is played.

In gearing up for the big match that is taking place Saturday when our team, USA, takes on England we thought we’d share something we came across on Inhabitots.com.

“Just in time for the World Cup tournament, a group of enterprising women entrepreneurs has unveiled a soccer ball that captures and stores energy generated by play. Called the sOccket (a mashup of “soccer” and “socket”), the ingenious little ball was created by Harvard alums Jessica Lin, Jessica Matthews, Julia Silverman, and Hemali Thakkar with developing nations in mind….” click here to read the article in its entirety.

We thought we’d share some beautifully designed American Stables that we came across in the June issue of Architectural Digest for those of you who witnessed Drosselmeyer 13-1 upset in the 142^nd Belmont Stakes over the weekend.

Below are a few of our favorites.

This ranch in Montana was made out of recycled pine logs and native fieldstone.

This above stable in East Hampton, New York belongs to Steven Spielberg and his wife, Kate Capshaw.  The weathervane on top of the stable is in the form of a dinosaur reminiscent of Spielberg’s film Jurassic Park.

According to Architectural Digest this stable is one of “Kentucky’s showplace for racing and breeding thoroughbreds. Located in Lexington, the property has 847 acres of lavish pastureland and more than 40 buildings, including a 14-room residence, 15 white barns with red-trimmed cupolas, a sophisticated veterinary clinic, an equine swimming pool and underwater treadmill, two racetracks, a gazebo and a modest log cabin.”

AD: “Frank Lloyd Wright couldn’t design an ordinary-looking building,” says producer Joel Silver, who restored the little-known Auldbrass, Wright’s 1939 plantation in Yemassee, South Carolina. A crushed-brick walkway leads to the barn. “By folding the roof down and the corners of the doors back, Wright created something origami-like,” Silver notes.

The next Team Trilogy member we wanted to highlight is Melinda Fleming.  For those of you who have worked with Melinda, you know she is more than just our business manager.  She is instrumental in making sure Trilogy Partners runs smoothly and efficiently.  Read below to learn more about Melinda.

Melinda Fleming

I grew up in Oklahoma and every year my family vacationed in Colorado. I fell in love with Colorado and the mountains on these vacations. My husband and I moved to Colorado in 1998. I spent the first years in Summit County working for Vail Resorts and an internet company before joining Trilogy Partners in 2004.

My husband and I have a hot air balloon and we spend our spare time sharing the sport of hot air ballooning with friends. We enjoy being able to view the Rocky Mountains from our balloon, the best view in town. We also enjoy snowmobiling and snowshoeing in the winter. These are great ways to experience the back country and truly enjoy nature at its finest.

I love my job and I feel privileged to work with the team of people that makes up Trilogy Partners. The thing I enjoy the most about my job is working with our clients through the entire project. It is very fulfilling to be a part of the team that takes the designs and ideas of clients and turns them into a home. It is great to be a part of taking people’s dreams and visions and turning them into reality.

Breckenridge is now the place that I call home. I hope in five years that I am still here enjoying the lifestyle the county has to offer and I still want to be a part of the great team here at Trilogy Partners.

We recently read an article on Residential Design & Build Magazine about the growing need for custom built second homes.  RBD magazine has found that  builders are still “creating high-end vacation retreats designed with a family-friendly emphasis, and with budgets that often rival those of their owner’s primary residences.”   With second homes, buyers are are looking to build a home complete will all the amenities of their primary residence, but with a more casual look and feel.

Residential Design and Build also stated in their article that “Creating these comfortable, laid-back homes can be a deceptively stressful experience.  First, from a planning standpoint, the lots often are challenging… the high demand for access to water and views means building sites can be both expensive and narrow, so architects have to be creative to make the most of the scenery while also protecting privacy.

Also, in many cases designers and builders are working with either clients or design professionals from other states. This forces the team to create — and stick to — communication plans. It also can require educating both clients and remote building team members about local codes and practices that may differ from what they’re used to.”

That is why when building your second or vacation home, it is important to find a firm who will work closely with you on all aspects of the project.  At Trilogy Partners we partner with our clients to guide projects from concept through construction to completion.

We were recently featured in Architectural Digest for our design work on Trey Parker’s (creator of South Park) home.  Architectural Digest is known for their featured stories on the inside of celebrity homes and below are photos from AD’s Celebrities’ Favorites.

AD: “Orange is the happiest color,” Frank Sinatra said of his favorite hue, which showed up in his clothes and his homes. Sinatra bought a modest house at the Tamarisk Country Club in Rancho Mirage in the mid-1950s and lived there until May 1995. A caboose, a gift from some of his employees in 1971, became the compound’s main hangout. Inside the caboose—with it’s orange-colored walls and ceiling—was a full-service salon, complete with a barber’s chair, a professional hair dryer, a massage table, a scale and a sauna, at rear.

AD: The living room of Diane Keaton’s Spanish Colonial Revival house in Bel-Air reveals the actress’s enthusiasm and knowledge of California art and design. Canyon de Chelly, a work by Edgar Payne, left, joins a 1937 oil by Pete Martinez, center, and Maynard Dixon’s 1923 The Grim Wall. A hand-painted Monterey sofa and an art-tile table rest on a rug by Stephen Shadley, Keaton’s longtime friend and designer. Of Monterey furniture, Shadley observes, “Diane has the best collection anywhere.”

AD: Throughout her life, Marilyn Monroe occupied a series of residences, owned no jewelry and counted books, records and a picture of legendary actress Eleonora Duse among her most cherished possessions. Even after attention-getting roles in The Asphalt Jungle and All About Eve (both 1950), she still kept a modest, one-room apartment at the Beverly Carlton Hotel in Beverly Hills. “I’m not interested in money,” she once said. “I just want to be wonderful.”

AD: “I love the warmth of reds and yellows,” Woody Allen told designer Stephen Shadley, who created the interiors for the Manhattan townhouse Allen shares with his wife, Soon-Yi Previn. The second-floor landing (above) is richly decorated with a marble mantelpiece and a pair of plush red velvet armchairs.

Which is your favorite celebrity home?

At Trilogy, we not only believe strongly in sustainable or green building practices, but we lead by example and encourage our clients to embrace these philosophies.  This year we built the first Zero Net Energy home every constructed in Breckenridge, Colorado and are excited to see other architects doing the same across the country.

Project FROG, a green-building company founded in San Francisco in 2006, is leading the way by building energy-efficient modular systems, primarily in schools.  The best part is that Project FROG can build these schools more quickly and with a cost of about 25% less than permanent structured schools.

According to Inhabitots.com, “A two million dollar budget got Watkinson School 3,500 square feet of classroom space built from 50 percent recycled material. The building is outfitted with 60 solar panels that reduce the electricity costs to zero (in fact it produces more energy than the building uses). And because of the modular design, the project took only six months to complete.”

Project FROG was recently featured on Anderson Cooper’s 360.  Click here take a look at this short clip and see why Zero Net Energy is leading the way.