"Nature is its own adornment," says Philippa, 63, who along with her husband, Bryan, 65, hails from Great Britain. "This house is as near to living outdoors as you could possibly be."
When the couple moved to central Colorado to launch a global e-commerce business, they fell in love with the sky and views of the Bell Mountain development outside Castle Rock. However, the beautifully decorated spec homes in the development weren't to their liking.
"Building our own home was the last thing we imagined doing," Bryan says. "We knew of people having such headaches."
But they knew help was a phone call away, so they bought a beautiful lot in the development and called their son, Jonathan Davis, a 38-year-old architect in Los Angeles.
From an early age, Philippa said, Jonathan showed an interest in architecture. It was no surprise to his parents when he decided to study architecture in college, then went on to work with some of the country's notable innovators before opening his own practice in 1995.
"As soon as he could crawl, Jonathan was building things," Philippa says. "As soon as he could hold a pencil, he began connecting squares and shapes, like rooms. As soon as he could write, he would label them 'bed room' and 'living room.' "
Jonathan flew in to study the lot his parents purchased. To the west were the Rocky Mountains. To the south, the lot rose to the horizon, screening out other homes. And all around was prairie grass and scrub oak teeming with wildlife.
Next, Philippa and Bryan talked about what they wanted. They were looking for a home where they could operate their global e-business and later retire.
They wanted separate quarters for their sons, when they visited.
"If anyone had a need to come here and stay and rest, they could do that and feel they were not imposing," Philippa says. A separate living area with private entrance would allow them to come and go freely.
They also wanted to be able to enjoy the nature that surrounded them on the lot. "I've always loved nature because of the freedom that being outside in the fresh air and the elements gives you," Philippa says.
While the architecture and details of the home came together quickly in Jonathan's mind, he built a cardboard model to work out other spacial relationships. Six months later, a contractor broke ground.
Nine months later, construction was over; the family moved in just before Christmas 1998. "The house is basically a series of rectangular volumes put together using materials found around here in an effort to control the price," Jonathan said during a recent visit. The rocks were plucked off a local mountain top by crane. The synthetic stucco is a common building material.
"The windows are all standard, off-the-shelf sizes," Jonathan said. "The cabinets are standard. But it's how you put standard things together in a way that is a little different. It's how you use your aesthetic."
As Philippa had requested, the yellow kitchen is the most important room in the house. She can easily carry on conversations with people in other parts of the main floor in the centrally located room. Other rooms wrapping around the kitchen are defined by open walls and changes in floor levels, giving the light-filled home an airy feeling.
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