Vertical Arts

This year the Vertical Arts team has been fortunate to receive recognition from industry experts, peers and customers alike and has achieved award wins across a variety of categories. We are proud of the hard work behind each and every one of these awards and are grateful to those that champion our work. And as we sum up these achievements we look forward to the year ahead.

After more than a decade of the emergence of the sleek stone, steel, and glass modern homes that have come to define “mountain modern,” we’re seeing a shift toward more traditional design when it comes to new construction and remodels in the Mountain West. If there was a singular emerging trend in 2020, it was the confluence of mountain modern with traditional aspects, creating efficient, beautiful homes that aspired to blend modern aesthetics with the comfort and coziness of a rustic log cabin. We’ve been seeing the trend of incorporating more natural elements, like stone and timber, into modern designs and getting back to some of the traditional elements that made classic mountain homes popular to begin with,” said Sarah Tiedeken O’Brien, Partner at Vertical Arts. The new modern mountain home holds grandiose views of Winter Park ski area and the Continental Divide mountain range beyond.

The owner is a fine artist by trade and also had a long career designing luxury mini golf courses in Florida, so their love of art runs deep. Vertical Arts was inspired by an existing gallery hall in the home that features the owner’s own paintings and connects to the outdoor space through two large glass doors. We worked to design a seamless transition that would extend this gallery space outdoors into the patio area that went largely unused before its transformation. We expanded the patio’s footprint by moving the concrete pad further into the hill and used a natural snowmelt stamp pattern on the concrete, emulating how the ground might look in winter months.

With the rise of Houzz and Pinterest, many people assume it’s as easy as buying floor plans online, but those generic plans don’t take into account the site, or your lifestyle and personality” said Vertical Arts Partner Sarah Tiedeken O’Brien. Designing a custom home from the ground up is best suited for a full-service (and fully trained) architecture, landscape and interior design firm that can collaborate on all aspects of the project to bring your dream to life. Homeowners hire us because they want their home designed with every detail in mind to integrate with the land, be sustainable and incorporate technology,” said Vertical Arts Principal and Founder Brandt Vanderbosch. In the next part of our educational series, we’ll break down the pros and cons of working with a design/build team as well as how to hire an architect that will advocate for you throughout the construction process, making sure permits, licenses, fees and HOA requirements are met by the builder.